Originally, the prospect of driving a full-size SUV like some kind of hypermiling superdouche--with the air switched off, mind you--had all the appeal of listening to Fran Drescher on infinite loop.
And the Audi Mileage Marathon certainly would have been a supreme bore had James Tate (of Traction Magazine) and George Achorn (Fourtitude Forums) in Q7 number 4 not put on their game faces for Day Two. In doing so, the team turned the friendly-but-daft Audi marketing campaign into a manhunt.
After Dan Edmunds and I took a commanding lead in Day One, Tate and Achorn said they were throwing in the towel for Day Two, which stretched from Mammoth Lakes, CA to Monterey, CA. This, of course, meant that they were planning to give it their all. In competition, nearly 75% of what opponents tell each other is a lie.
Starting off Day Two at the hotel in Mammoth Lakes, we waited for all the other competitors to depart before us. We wanted to drive our own race. Bonus--the hotel parking lot was perched atop a hill, so we coasted the Q7 as far as we could with the engine off. Or about a tenth of a mile.
Then we whipped out our portable air compressor and inflated the tires to, uh, an elevated pressure. Don't do this at home, kids.
We'll have to assume the scenery was great as we drove to the lunch stop in Yosemite Valley since our focus was elsewhere. Roads marked 45 mph were taken at 60-65 mph when traffic cooperated. When you're focused on fuel economy, speed variations are killer. The irony of the Prius driver in front of us needlessly accelerating and braking when he could have just maintained speed wasn't lost on us.
As we pulled into the lunch stop parking lot, Tate and Achorn were getting ready to depart. We swapped lies regarding the average fuel economy and speed displayed on our respective multifunction screens and went our separate ways.
We drove a short distance after lunch, and then pulled over to spend the next half hour outfitting our Q7 in its full fuel-saving regalia. We had picked up some raw materials in Vegas before the event began and cobbled up some body mods on Day One.
A few strips of tape and a couple pieces of plastic signboard later, the panel gaps and fog lights at the front of our Q7 were sealed up, and our rear wheels partially enclosed. There was nothing in the rules saying we couldn't do this, so that means we could.
Whether these mods actually did anything to improve fuel economy is another question. The Audi crew scoffed at the suggestion that anything could be done to improve the aerodynamics of their finely engineered vehicles. Maybe that's German for "the imposing driving skills of you and your teammate cannot be topped."
Despite a by valiant effort by Tate and Achorn, the top spot went to us and our lead increased yet futher. In fact, we swept both the best average fuel economy and fastest average speed for the day:
Day Two Results, Top Three Finishers:
Team Avg. MPG Avg. MPH Day Two Points
Edmunds/Kavanagh 31.5 47 191
Achorn/Tate 30.6 45 174
Brennan/Roy 30.2 45 167
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
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