To go a little further. I remember some time back reading something that said cars were optimized for 45mph as the best balance of power and mileage. Beyond that, rolling friction is not the main determining force that must be overcome. Air resistance becomes the determining factor on horsepower required. Don't remember all of the specifics (it was many years ago) but it seems to hold pretty close. Cars seem to get about the best mileage aroun the 45mph range or at least mine have. Doesn't mean I can't cruise along at 80 in my flying brick. William -----Original Message----- From: Sam Walters [mailto:sam.cooks@VERIZON.NET] Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 9:25 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: mpg - How Stuff Works link on fuel efficiency There is an excellent explanation of the factors impacting fuel efficiency in the How Stuff Works material. See: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question477.htm Sam -- Sam Walters Baltimore, MD 89 Syncro GL, Zetec Inside 85 Westy Weekender 85 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbodiesel - to become veggie oil powered All incoming and outgoing email scanned by automatically updated copy of Norton AntiVirus. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.