Zambesi Auto Economy Run: 2 June 2012
Supported by Bridgestone South Africa
With a lot of recent global focus on “going green” and with BMW having made great strides with its EfficientDynamics technologies, after an extended sabbatical of a number of years, we decided to bring the Economy Run out of hibernation. So while BMW’s EfficientDynamics technologies have improved consumption over the years, massive economy gains can still be had with the correct driving style. The object of the Economy Run is the lowest possible fuel consumption, with the proviso that the course must be completed within a prescribed time. Bridgestone showcased their new highly efficient Ecopia tyre. Mark Jones from Performance Media managed to secure us a BMW 5 Series Active Hybrid for the event. This is a 3 litre TwinPower Turbo petrol engine as found in the 535i which also has an electric motor and battery cell which is charged by the petrol engine and other energy regeneration mechanisms.
Zambesi Auto BMW Dealership in Montana, Pretoria kindly hosted us for the Economy Run and we were greeted by their very friendly and helpful staff and were also provided with a delicious breakfast.
Following the welcome briefing and an overview of the dealership, all drivers and their navigators were given step by step instructions of the route with distance to the next turn as well as the total distance travelled to that point as well as a photo of each turning point. The route I had planned out consisted of a mix of start-stop traffic driving, highway driving and national road driving to simulate a large mixture of driving conditions. The route began from the BP filling station 200m from the Zambesi Auto Dealership where each car was filled up to the first stop on the petrol or diesel pump. The route went from Montana towards Onderstepoort, on to the N4 highway, up toward Moloto, circling round to Cullinan before ending at the same BP filling station in Montana. The drivers had up to two hours to complete the route before filling up again at the same pump and recording the fuel used.
While the results were computed, the participants were provided lunch by Zambesi Auto. For prize giving, cars were grouped into classes according to engine capacity, fuel type and aspiration with the class winner having the lowest fuel consumption.
We would like to thank our sponsors Bridgestone and Zambesi Auto for making this great day possible, with great fun being had by all.
Colin van Son
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RESULTS
