2014 Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge, Vintage Days

2014 Vetter Fuel Challenge

AMA Vintage Days, Mansfield, Ohio Friday, July 11, 2014

154 miles to the AMA Hall of Fame Museum and back

Updated Aug 6 , 2014

Diesel? Gas? Electric? We expected it to be close, and it was!

The Winners:

(They all carried the groceries)

Traditional Fuels: Alan Smith 181.6mpg 1.57¢ / mile on regular gas!

(See, I told you that streamliners are Babe Magnets)

Alternate Fuel Winner: Fred Hayes 178mpg 1.85¢ / mile on 20% Bio-Diesel

Best Electric: Prof. Richard Goff’s Zero: 1.38¢ / mile

He went 139 of the 154 miles before running out of juice. Nobody expected an electric bike to go so far at the speeds we really ride.

The Official Results below:

(As of July 19, 2014)

The car

The Illuminati Seven

Kevin Smith wrote: "I saw on your site that you may accept some 4 wheel vehicles in your event and was wondering if Seven would be acceptable and if so what are the associated requirements, application paperwork, fees, etc. for competing in your event.

Originally built for the Automotive X Prize, Seven is a full size, four door, four passenger, fully electric car titled, licensed, and insured in the state of Illinois as a Custom Sedan. Seven is able to travel 200 miles at highway speeds on a single charge, has a top speed of 130mph and a 0-60 time of 6.5 seconds, of course performance does vary if we're carrying a full load of passengers, pulling a trailer or when driving up hill in the snow both ways while doing donuts in a parking lot ;)

More information about Seven and our team can be found at our website:"

http://illuminatimotorworks.com/

Thank you for your time

Kevin Smith

What a great opportunity! I suspect that cars ought to be able to beat motorcycles . They have about the same frontal area and can be cleaned up and streamlined better than our bikes. This was our chance to find out.

I answered right away. As long as he was willing to add in the same road tax as the best gas bike, I would love to have him. Kevin agreed.

Kevin went all the way... all 154 miles! And he did it at the rate of 2.28 cents per mile! This was better than me and my streamlined Helix. In fact, had he been an official competitor, he would have come in 4th overall!

Mighty impressive.

This brings us to the whole issue of "MPGe"

Consider the folowing: Alan Smith finished at 1.57 cents per mile which is actually 181 mpg.

Kraig Schultz and Professor Goff' agree that 1.38 cents per mile would be 374.5 "Government miles" or MPGe

Does this sound reasonable to you?

Postscript: After the Challenge, my Streamliner was stolen!

It was found 20 hours later

My Streamliner and trailer were stolen Saturday night July 19 from the Holiday Inn Express, Kankakee / Bradley, Illinois.

Officer St. Louis, a biker himself, responded and began the investigation. I had a good feeling about this man.

11:05 PM Sunday night, July 20: The Bradley Illinois Police Dispatcher called to say the bike has been recovered, but not the trailer. That is all they would say but that somebody will call me tomorrow. I may be needing a trailer to go home.

Bradley Officer St. Louis

3 pm Monday, July 21: Detective Walters met me at the towing company. I did not know what to expect. Since the Streamliner is so unlike anything else, Detective Walters had no idea if it was OK or damaged. After a quick look, it was clear that the thieves had not used the ramp and simply pushed it off the trailer. Most of the electrical plugs were disconnected, as well as the battery. Otherwise, things looked OK. The good stuff was missing from the cargo hold: The Corbin seat, my Riding into History leather jacket, driving glasses, helmet, gloves, etc.

Disappointing. But I was sure glad to get the Streamliner back. I would like this bike to be in a museum someday. It would have been a great loss had we not recovered it.

My dear friend Ed Rutkowske drove up from Rantoul with his trailer to help. Detective Walters pitched in, too. It cost me $120 to "free" my Streamliner from the towing company. Doesn't seem right that I have to pay for this, does it? Detective Walters said he wasn't done with this case. Maybe he will catch the bad guys. Maybe they will have to reimburse me for the $120 yet!

Just in case my trailer was not found, Ed had already located a replacement trailer carried by a Farm and Fleet Store... one of those great mid western Farm Super Stores we don't have in California. By 5 PM, Monday evening, my streamliner was lashed down and I was ready to roll. For now, I must carry it backwards because the tail extends beyond the trailer. We'll fix that when I get home.

Thank you all for your concern and help.

You guys are great!

Craig

Posted July 19, 2014

Updated August 6, 2014