Round the World on 2.9 Gallons: Honda Eco Mileage Challenge 2011 Winner Achieves 3644 KM / Liter
For those of you who thought the 40 km / l of the upcoming Toyota Aqua hybrid was something special, let me tell you that this is nothing. I mean, not even close to what it takes to be even a back marker in the Honda Eco Mileage Challenge.
Now, admittedly, the Team Fireball winning entry that achieved a new record 3644.869 km per liter in the standard class does not have the same level of amenities as a Toyota Aqua. And, let’s face it, with a name like “Fireball”, I can’t imagine it is going to be endearing itself to any safety-conscious drivers. But 3644 km / liter! Wow.
To put that into “real” money, that’s 8,571 MPG. Which means that Team Fireball could drive the circumference of the planet on just a few drops over 2.9 gallons of fuel – assuming there was a road pancake-flat enough for their low-slung machine.
The first Soichiro Honda Cup was awarded to the winner of the Eco Mileage Challenge back in 1981 at the Suzuka Circuit. To put this year’s result in perspective, the 1981 winning figure was 292.5 km / liter – less than one tenth of the figure achieved by Team Fireball.
This year, the 31st annual running of this event was held at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit that is more used to the sounds of crackling Super GT exhausts than to the put-put of the 50 cc engine more commonly found in the Honda Cub bike, which the 412 competing teams had to use as their power source.
Team Firball’s record eclipsed the previous record of 3435.325km that had remained unchallenged for 10 years. Standard Class entrants have to circle the oval ring 3 times at speeds of 25 km/h or greater. The amount of fuel used is then measured and the overall fuel economy computed from that.
