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2010 Energywise Rally: Day #1 & the pavlova pedal
A team of Trade Me staff is crewing a Commodore Omega in the 2010 AA Energywise Rally, courtesy of Holden New Zealand. Over the next four days the team will blog about their rally experiences.
The first day of the Rally proved the toughest day for many years. From heavy rain in the Waikato, through to fallen trees across roads in the King Country and howling northerlies in the Taranaki, all the teams are finding it hard going.
Two years ago we took out the overall Energywise Drivers Award in an HSV Maloo, delivering a useful 39% improvement in fuel economy. This year we’re seeking to be the most efficient large car and the competition is fierce: 49 cars are seeking line honours and the weather has made our mission much harder. Added to that, the route has changed and now involves driving through 10 small towns, as well as downtown Auckland and Hamilton today.
Gull CEO David Bodger has also lobbed in an interesting twist. All rally cars have to deliver total driving times within 5% of a normal car driven at the speed limit, which means you can forget about low-speed cruising to drop your consumption figures.
This bit us badly this morning when we finished the initial 225km section some 11 minutes over the “normal average”. So, this afternoon, we’ve had to work hard to make up for lost time, but do this while driving efficiently (and being buffeted by 70 kph winds).
The concentration to drive a big car efficiently isn’t trivial - we were exhausted by the time we hit Wanganui. According to the Omega’s onboard computer we've managed to beat the official rating of 9.1 km/100 litres by only 5%. Our aim is to finish the rally with an improvement of over 10%, so it's time for us to pull finger! Tonight we swap over drivers with Chris P and Shanin taking the wheel.
We’re using a bunch of driving techniques the folks at EECA and AA have put together around momentum, anticipatory braking and smart use of the auto gearbox.
We've also developed a useful technique for engaging the accelerator. With an unshod right foot we imagine the pedal is a pavlova and, if you push too hard with your toe the shell will break, and you’ll end up with egg on your foot (and metaphorically on your face).
We reckon Chris and Shanin will kick butt tomorrow and deliver double figures as they get amongst the Wanganui – Wellington – Palmerston North section.
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