Anyone doing the "Mini Miglia" next month?
Discussion
A couple more similar events to note
Slaithwaite Motor Club are promoting an Economy Run on Tuesday 5th Aug 2014 starting at Fenay Bridge Filling Station (OS 110/180157) at 7-30pm. Look on the Slawit web site for regs and rules. There are conversion factors for larger engined vehicles. It is a bit of a larff trying to get round without using any fuel.
Wakefield Motor Club are holding a Touring Assembly on Wednesday night 20 August. The route is about 50 miles and never goes more than 12 miles from Wakefield. It uses some classic roads which were used on the Motoring News Road Rallies of the 70s and starts around 7:30pm. I can't find the regulations on the web site but there's an email address for more info. I have been sent a set of regs which I can forward if anyone wants them.
Slaithwaite Motor Club are promoting an Economy Run on Tuesday 5th Aug 2014 starting at Fenay Bridge Filling Station (OS 110/180157) at 7-30pm. Look on the Slawit web site for regs and rules. There are conversion factors for larger engined vehicles. It is a bit of a larff trying to get round without using any fuel.
Wakefield Motor Club are holding a Touring Assembly on Wednesday night 20 August. The route is about 50 miles and never goes more than 12 miles from Wakefield. It uses some classic roads which were used on the Motoring News Road Rallies of the 70s and starts around 7:30pm. I can't find the regulations on the web site but there's an email address for more info. I have been sent a set of regs which I can forward if anyone wants them.
The start was in a filling station, as was the finish. You brim it before you start, drive round a set route and finish at the same place, necking it again and the organisers watch you fill it up to work out how much you've used. Mileage is checked to make sure you've done the right route and there are often route checks as well. They can also seal the filler cap but this one was just done on honesty.
The official mileage was 39.8 or something and the actual on the calibrated Rari clock was 41.4 so although I'd got almost 36mpg the official figure was just under 34. Same for everyone who did the correct route so not a problem.
On this particular event, the results were amended with a fiddle factor. A 2 litre petrol has a factor of 1 whereas a 1.5 diesel has a factor of 0.58. A 2.4 petrol is 1.15 and so on. A 3.4 petrol gets quite a good handicap.
The fiddle factors are intended to make it very close at the end (which it was) but there were exceptions to the rule like one team turned up in a Land Rover Defender and got 33mpg but as it's a diesel, the fiddle factor made this even worse. They will look into this for future events to make it possible for any car to enter.
It was won by a 1.8 Mazda MX5 which was doing 50mpg with no fiddle factor.
You could just run them on scratch but that would be no fun as the fully charged Prius would win it every time. Or would it?
There are a couple of essential cheats you need to do like filling the car up well before the start and then going back and doing it again just before you go as you get air bubbles in the fuel when you pump it in. I got an extra 37p worth in which can make a big difference.
If I hadn't dropped it in to second and blasted through all the tunnels, I could well have been second!!! But that wouldn't have been any fun.
The official mileage was 39.8 or something and the actual on the calibrated Rari clock was 41.4 so although I'd got almost 36mpg the official figure was just under 34. Same for everyone who did the correct route so not a problem.
On this particular event, the results were amended with a fiddle factor. A 2 litre petrol has a factor of 1 whereas a 1.5 diesel has a factor of 0.58. A 2.4 petrol is 1.15 and so on. A 3.4 petrol gets quite a good handicap.
The fiddle factors are intended to make it very close at the end (which it was) but there were exceptions to the rule like one team turned up in a Land Rover Defender and got 33mpg but as it's a diesel, the fiddle factor made this even worse. They will look into this for future events to make it possible for any car to enter.
It was won by a 1.8 Mazda MX5 which was doing 50mpg with no fiddle factor.
You could just run them on scratch but that would be no fun as the fully charged Prius would win it every time. Or would it?
There are a couple of essential cheats you need to do like filling the car up well before the start and then going back and doing it again just before you go as you get air bubbles in the fuel when you pump it in. I got an extra 37p worth in which can make a big difference.
If I hadn't dropped it in to second and blasted through all the tunnels, I could well have been second!!! But that wouldn't have been any fun.
The ilkley one uses the same basic idea, but the fiddle factor, is a complex formula based on a percentage of gain over the official mpg figure. Trouble is it tends to favour large inefficient patrols, because it's easier to get within a reasonable percentage of a low figure. The highly efficient modern stuff is at a disadvantage because the economy figures don't tend to be that easy to achieve let alone better in the real world. Ours has been won the last two years by an MGB GT, because the figures are more accurate and also smaller so in percentage terms they tend to be larger. just to add fairness there is an alternative fuel prize, for the best Diesel if a petrol wins or Vic versa.
Last year I did it in my wife's fabia. Trouble is I didn't read the rules and thought the idea was to get the closest to the theoretical. I was monitoring the mpg all the way and had to bring it down a bit towards the end, so I thrashed it for a few miles. Then when we filled it up at the finish I ended up putting another gallon into some sort of overflow tank which comes in if you try and overfill, Ithey do exist I checked it out!!!. The mpg was spectacularly bad, 19mpg or something silly from a 1.4 fabia.
Last year I did it in my wife's fabia. Trouble is I didn't read the rules and thought the idea was to get the closest to the theoretical. I was monitoring the mpg all the way and had to bring it down a bit towards the end, so I thrashed it for a few miles. Then when we filled it up at the finish I ended up putting another gallon into some sort of overflow tank which comes in if you try and overfill, Ithey do exist I checked it out!!!. The mpg was spectacularly bad, 19mpg or something silly from a 1.4 fabia.
Well that was another good day out 
Thanks for navigating Jez!
Excellent roads although a tense moment with a bull in a field plus a couple of big potholes caused me some consternation. Don't seem to have any damage except some more scuffs on the front plate. Smaller event than the Mini Miglia with no tests or treasure hunt element but the roads were very similar and everyone seemed keen to make good progress
This time we did 160 odd miles pretty much non-stop which was a bit of an endurance test. Drove over 300 miles in the Elise today, spending 8 hours in the driving seat with no aches or pains which I'm pleased with.
Thanks for navigating Jez!Excellent roads although a tense moment with a bull in a field plus a couple of big potholes caused me some consternation. Don't seem to have any damage except some more scuffs on the front plate. Smaller event than the Mini Miglia with no tests or treasure hunt element but the roads were very similar and everyone seemed keen to make good progress
This time we did 160 odd miles pretty much non-stop which was a bit of an endurance test. Drove over 300 miles in the Elise today, spending 8 hours in the driving seat with no aches or pains which I'm pleased with.
Edited by moribund on Sunday 10th August 21:19
, Cheers for the ride it was a good day out and an ideal way to have a bit of fun with your car without being serious about motorsport.I'm glad I went the option of using map refs to plot up as it gave us the chance to miss out some of the less suitable roads if needed and we always sort of knew where we were,
Just put this on IDMC's FB page.
Wednesday 17th September. Navigational Training evening. Start 19:30 at the Otley Rugby Club. An hour or so of informal practising and discussion about the navigation techniques and timing likely to be found on our 12 Car Rallies. There will then be a short practice run which will allow you to put theory into practice without any pressure. The run will finish at the Shoulder of Mutton in Kirkby Overblow which will coincide with the Clubs Noggin and Natter. You will need Map 104, a romer, pencil, sharpener, rubber etc.
No need to pre-enter, but if you could pop a post on here or contact me on ian.mitchell57@ntlworld.com we can judge the number of people we might get and work around that.
Wednesday 17th September. Navigational Training evening. Start 19:30 at the Otley Rugby Club. An hour or so of informal practising and discussion about the navigation techniques and timing likely to be found on our 12 Car Rallies. There will then be a short practice run which will allow you to put theory into practice without any pressure. The run will finish at the Shoulder of Mutton in Kirkby Overblow which will coincide with the Clubs Noggin and Natter. You will need Map 104, a romer, pencil, sharpener, rubber etc.
No need to pre-enter, but if you could pop a post on here or contact me on ian.mitchell57@ntlworld.com we can judge the number of people we might get and work around that.
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