Test Car Gets 1595 MPG

Test Car Gets 1595 MPG ENERGY Fuel-Saving Devices 7-6-19 If you think your new foreign import gets good gas mileage, take a look at this experimental car built by students at the University of Saskatchewan. It recently attained a record 1,595 miles per gal. in the Society of Automotive Engineers' fuel economy competition at the Eaton testing grounds in Michigan. The Saskatchewan team shattered the previous record of 1,344 mpg in a cigar-shaped auto sculpted from lightweight steel tubing covered with heat shrinkable plastic film. Student advisor Professor Barry Hertz says the car has almost no wind resistance and slices through the air with "an almost eerie lack of sound." The Ultra V, as the car is called, weighs only 66 lbs. Its bicycle tires were inflated to 180 lbs. and its 2 hp. Briggs and Stratton engine was totally redesigned, with displacement reduced from 109 cc. to 77 cc. Construction costs were about $1,000. The students also built a second car, the Zeppelin, which finished second at 1,159 mpg. The third-place car came in at 739 mpg and the collective average of the 18 cars competing was 575 mpg. During the competition, cars must average 15 mph in their laps around the 1.6 mile oval track. Hertz says that 90% of the time the cars' engines are turned off and they simply coast. The Saskatchewan car, however, could be equipped with higher gearing capable of reaching speeds of 80 mph. At that speed, its mileage would still average 440 mpg. In fact, the University's next project is to transfer the knowledge they gained in the high mileage contest to a super high mileage two-seater over-the-road car. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Professor Barry Hertz, College of Engineering, Saskatoon, Sask., Canada S7N OWO (ph 306 343-3101).

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