Toyota: The Hybrid (and Hypermiler) Texas Tour

OK.. Status update. 10:50pm and I'm finally off the clock. These guys are real pro's. The trip has gone 4 star all the way. This is really been a fun trip and were trying to keep the news bites pretty light and fluffy.

Now for the deep stuff...

Although I missed 70, I gained 650 feet of elevation. Absolute Murder!



Now thanks to Wayne calling in some favors, the state was rotated about 14 degrees counter clockwise to line up with a near perfect tailwind! Way to go buddy! This all but canceled out the hit I got from climbing the hills.

Now I'm uni-gauged. My bi-polar swings from ADHD to OCD preclude me from monitoring 8 gauges, an FCD, 2 side mirrors, rearview, camera remote, cell phone and video van all trying to get my attention. I'm sticking to 4 simple gauges... that's it.

rpm (XGauge version, realtime request coming from ECU).
gps (XGauge version, realtime request coming from ECU).
TPS (standard gauge)
IGN (standard gauge)

Now if you look at the chart, you'll notice the glide of a lifetime at about 70 miles in. I gained 0.3 mpg on this single glide. This was fantastic news and I was very excited when I saw it layed out in front of me. Miles and Miles of slow steady downgrade. SHM glide entry at 52 MPH. At 62 MPH I transitioned to WS. Held WS down to 48 MPH. Unreal!

A few handy-caps. This is their show, so MPG is always sacrificed in order to get a good media shot. The team we are working with is amazingly accommodating and under stand my strong wishes not to hurt my numbers. The local news teams don't quite understand my motives, and I usually give as opposed to putting up a fight.

Another hit is that I'm not offloading anything. I'm even carrying a few (small + light) pieces of gear for the AV team. I've also got about a 5 gallon cooler loaded to the gills with ICE (weighs a lot). It has served as a life saver on Day 2 and a huge thank you to Micheal for providing it for me. The high today was 102 degF and I fighting to keep from sporting a sunburn.

Now.. One thing I wouldn't give in on happened here at the Menger in San Antonio. This is a real piece of history. It's literally next to the Alamo (the first piece of stone past the Menger is the Alamo wall). It's also one of the oldest hotels I've seen. It was where Teddy and the Rough Riders would have there meetings.

So as I pull into the Menger, I get a sinking feeling. VALET

Well it got worse from there. I tried to explain as best I could, that dispite the valets best intentions there is not a snoballs chance in h3ll that I'll get my car back with 64.2 still on the FCD. They exchange funny looks as I make calls to the team.... Eventually they relent and give me one of the spots used for the shuttle bus, once we convince them that this is part of that Prius Moive .

The tons of gear in my car was really the only reason why I didn't just pull out and park in city lot. That gear ended up going a long way at convincing them that we were shooting a "Prius Movie". The flurry of Toyota guys thrown in moments later didn't hurt either .

After that, it's dinner, shower and bed starting again in the Morning. I'm still pushing the MParrish Escort, so I have high hopes of having nice segment of capped out castle bars!

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Alright... ready to start in on Day 3.

I managed a 69.7 with a tailwind and while climbing 650 feet of elevation. I've got another 450 foot climb this morning then it's down hill all the way till Houston.

Winds should be at my back today, and I have a few tricks rolled up my sleeve. The ONE TANK trip is beginning to seem only on the fringes of impossibility...

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OK... at the news station at 6am again, so this is gonna be quick.

Good news... I've refined SHM. Makes more sense now, someone remind me to post to the SHM thread next week after I sleep for 18 hours. "Set and Lock" will jog my memory.

OK... I'll update with my notes so far

On the Record Numbers

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
0	Tank Miles	Tank MPG	Segment MPG	Notes
1	0	0.0	-	Leaving Sugarland	Day 1
2	201	61.8	61.8	Official Landing in Corpus Christi	Day 1
3	348.9	64.2	67.8	Official Landing in San Antonio	Day 2
4	440	66.2	75.2	Official Landing in Austin	Day 3

Now compare that with the point for point "off the record" numbers

Off the Record Numbers

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
0	Tank Miles	Tank MPG	Segment MPG	Notes
1	329	63.4	-	First Pip Fell	Day 2
2	348.9	64.2	81.1	Official Landing in San Antonio	Day 2.
3	349.9	63.7	17.1	After the Media blitz Morning of Day 3.
4	353	63.3	37.0	Day's low after merging on to the highway 2 miles in the highway leg	Day 3
5	385	64.5	81.6	Gruene TX for Lunch	Day 3
6	400	64.7	70.3	Second Pip Fell	Day 3
7	425	65.2	74.4	Met Marc in Buda (watch this... gets good)
8	440	66.2	117.0	Official Landing in Austin	Day 3
9	441	66.1	39.7	Tucked in for bed in the Parking Garage (no valet)	I think the third pip fell here

I did want to take some time and put perspective on these numbers as well. Even though the 1 mile jogs to media stuff is killing the tank numbers, Gulf State Toyota has gone through excruciating effort to bring as much as they can to us. Without the media shots, none of this would be happening. It's a cause I completely willing to spend a little gas on.... even if it lands me 5 blocks from the Houston Landing pushing my Prius.

I can't thank Marc enough for the gift of a full 1.0 MPG on such a hard fought tank. I'm sorry the crew didn't get any footage of us on the trail, but I had fallen far enough behind that they were already preparing for Micheal's landing and couldn't double back to catch us.

:Banane35: <= Cheers and many fine Shiner Beers to my Austin Brevren.

I'd also like to mention Lewis Thompson. A San Antonio Native that came out to see me off. Since were not announcing launch times, he waited much of the morning for us, and only wish I could have had the rest of the day to work clinics out with him. He's gone old school and picked everything up in a vacume. As far as I could gleen, he's not on any forums and is still pulling 63.3.

Thanks again to Mr. Thompson for sending me off, and my deepest apologies for not having the more than 30 minutes to visit after your long wait.

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Forgot to ask...

Anyone in Dallas or Houston want to offer up an escort?

I should have Houston covered, but I am a bit worried about running out of gas. Last time I put a gas can in the car I got kinda loopy and not interested in repeating the experiment. Plus since both of these segments are very long, they might nix an escort since it would push the landing footage back to after dusk which is bad.

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OK... more PIP math... I'm still saying this is too close to call. Winds have been to my back from Corpus, but last time I had a headwind, I only popped 62...

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
0	PIP	Miles	MPG	Weight (US gal)
1	1st	329	63.4	5.189
2	2nd	368	63.7	0.588
3	3rd	[/B]400	64.7	0.405

I'm currently showing 7 pips with 441 miles @ 66.1 mpg. My calcs put the next (4th) pip DOA within the next 10 miles

Quick tip on the Vimeo feeds. If you hit play then pause it will cache the feed. Come back in a few minutes and you'll have the whole video (bar is gray instead of black). This is helpful if you have a slow connection.

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Cool... thanks for the link...

I know Corpus had a piece too:
Taking a Spin In A Hybrid - First Edition - July 14th, 2008 | KIII TV3 South Texas | Local News

 

I landed with only 6 pips dead in the ground (4 showing). I lost the 7th pip doing media relations.

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
0	PIP	Miles	MPG	Weight (US gal)
1	1st	329	63.4	5.189
2	2nd	368	63.7	0.588
3	3rd	400	64.7	0.405
4	4th	447	65.8	0.611
5	5th	490	66.6	0.564
6	6th	563	67.7	0.959
7	7th	640	68.6	1.013

Now.... Heading back to Houston will be into the wind. Dead into the wind. So I certainly don't expect another 75. But since it's a headwind instead of a crosswind, it could be worse than the Corpus leg. If my leg average drops below 60 I'm out of gas. As long as it's above 60 or 61, I should make it.

Final miles driven will be... Wait for it....

890 miles

Yes... there have been over 40 miles of media stuff... But I'm glad it's getting attention. Anything to get people to slow down... even if it's me out of gas pushing my car to the finish line (sound familiar?)

Wish me luck... and is my pip math right. Does the flashing pip really weight 1.6 gallons?

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Not off yet Sean... the 3am wake up call was for the news shoots.

I'm busy crunching numbers.....

The route I plan to take. Basically it's:

45 to Spring: 216 miles
Kuykendahl to Airline to Main into Downtown: 24 miles.

Dallas to Houston Route

Once I get to my car I'll program up a early warning gauge that should tell me when I'm 25 miles to empty. This is the Prius "gas" XGauge. Per Aether glider's advice, when it first registers a 0.0, I'll be about 25 miles from empty. If I'm still on 45 when it goes off, I'll go strait to a gas station. If I'm past spring I can get at least 5 blocks on the battery so I should be fine. Kuykendahl and Airline have stations every other block.

Toyota has asked that I fill up if there is even a remote chance of running out on the freeway.

Also, I'm sending Aether glider my cell number with hopes of getting some "gas" XG and pip weight mission control while I'm on final approach.

The last batch of interviews start at 11am, then off. I've planned enough runway to get warmed up before I hit 35. These warm-ups are tough if done incorrectly.

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Here's the final map.

Map 844 mi route...
Hybrid Texas Tour Route

Final video is up at:
The Hybrid-Tech Texan

I've got another media blitz so I'll check in later....

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