Shell Eco-Marathon In France This Weekend

Rev up for this weekend's Shell Eco-Marathon Finals in Nagaro, France. The principle of the race is simple: to drive the maximum number of kilometres on a motor circuit with the highest energy yield possible. Teams are free to use any conventionally available energy source, including petrol (gasoline), diesel, LPG (propane), solar, electric, hydrogen or biomass. Over 21 years the fuel economy has improved dramatically- in 2003 team Microjoule from France achieved fuel consumption of 10,705 miles per gallon, which beats your usual CAFE standards by a bit. (Warren covered an entry yesterday that got 3556 MPG, but we think we are getting into conversion problems between metric, imperial and American gallons. Lets just say they all get damn fine mileage) 255 teams from 20 countries are participating this year- 163 running on gasoline, 21 on diesel, 19 on Propane and 52 on alternative fuels like hydrogen, biofuel, solar or electric. We suspect that in terms of excitement it is not exactly NASCAR- how long does it take? However the air will smell better and being in France, the concession food will be just fine. ::Shell Eco-Marathon