An Economy Run with a difference.

The Economy Run with a twist seemed to intrigue our members as there was an excellent turn out with 18 cars and crew venturing forth of a hot summer afternoon in January to complete the course. At the driver's briefing the drivers nominated what they thought their fuel economy would be over the set course. The estimations  ranged from almost spot on to miles under and over.

Geoff Smith won the run last year and was keen to show it wasn't a slight of hand. From the start he found the going too hard and decided to overtake the snail that followed him around last year. He estimated he’d roar around with a still healthy 38mpg, but alas he couldn’t replicate his previous win as he went to the other end of the results. It has to be a fault with the MGF’s filling system rather than super economy as Geoff could only squeeze 3.05 litres of petrol in to give a consumption figure of 86.91mpg.

At the other end was George Quinn. He estimated a very practical 29.87mpg for the Rubber Nose B. He was only .61 out with a final figure achieved of 29.58mpg. Bill Van Der Veen was a dribble behind. He and George used exactly the same amount of fuel but Bill nominated 28.7mpg (.88mpg out).

The lead foot goes to the 4^th place getter in Nev Roxby with his MGCGTS. Probably the best sounding car on the course, there was no way the triple Weber carbies were going to be thrifty. He actually did better than he estimated and ended with a lusty 24.82mpg was only 2.07 mpg out .

Asho in his MGF revised his figure from an initial guess at 68.8mpg to a more practical 45. He ended with 42.21.  

Along similar lines to Smithy, Pat (Mrs) Martyn (MGF) reckoned on a final figure of 26mpg but achieved 40.78. Peter Brown and Cheryl did the same in his B. He estimated 27.5 and got 44.55mpg.  It sounds like a few of them will break from the pack next year and put their foot down and enjoy themselves.

A touring diff might improve Mr Burn’s YT’s top speed when it is fitted, but performance could be hampered. With 4 up in the Tourer, they struggled to keep up the blistering (for those that forgot to apply sunscreen) pace of some of the more modern MGs but at the final fill up they only squeezed 7.82 litres of petrol in to end with 33.90mpg.

Considering the cars all kept one another company whist doing the course, there was a very wide variety of MGs (and MX5... someone left the gate open) and drivers.

It was nice to see a few of the newer members out in their Bs. Robert and Lyn Young gave it a go along. Robert was just over 13 mpg out in his estimation with a final tally of 35.82mpg. 

The battle of the V8s was fought out between Denny Bowden in a slightly older MGBGTV8 and Peter Currie in his newer MGRV8. Peter was  more economical with 38.87mpg over Denny's 31.82, but Denny got the last laugh by ending in 8th place ahead of Peter's 12th.

The competition between the BGTs saw the Tippers take on the Blanches. Brad and Julie Tipper thought that the extra aerodynamic of a GT should bump their economy to the low 40mpg. Austin agreed and also nominated the low 40s. Brad picked the right amount of throttle to get almost right on 40mpg where as Austin needed to put his foot down. Austin was a mile out with over 64mpg being recorded against his name. He claimed the petrol was overflowing the tank filler at the final fill up so he could squeeze another drop in.

A pair of B's that recorded very similar consumption figures were those of Jim & Mary O'Neil and Don & Glenda Noble. Both teams ending showing figure just over 25mpg (they must have enjoyed their drive). The difference showed in the nominated numbers. Don was optomistic when he picked 33mpg. Jim a lot closer suggesting he could do it in 28mpg. Jim 5th, Don 10th.

The only foreigner on the run (non MG) was Tese & Chris Bulter in their MX5. In such classy company, Chris nominated a 37.6 (though to confuse me he did it in litres per 100km) and finished with 38.9mpg.

John & Noeleen Flucker rounded out the field in their MGF. Another to suffer from the modern MG's problem of getting excellent consumption, they thought just on 50 mpg would be easy. Wrong again ... just over 60mpg would have got them a gong.

At the end of the day it was good to see everyone out on country roads enjoying the drive. Even though the roads are right in our backyard, several members commented that they had never been on a few. The course will be the same next year. Check the results and join in next time around.