Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Shell Eco Marathon


Made it back home about 10:15 Sunday evening. The crew had some ups and downs with the cars but they made scored runs in both of their divisions. The Urban Concept car had a mileage of 256 miles per gallon. The prototype car got over 800. This was the best of the 26 high school competitors. There were 92 teams all together from eight countries in North and South America.

Sonoma Raceway was an excellent host for the event. Likewise, you couldn't ask for much more from Shell for the considerable outlay in cash and time they invest in this event. They fed the whole group dinner one evening - even offering a vegetarian option for guys like me.

The weather was crappy the whole time I was out there. It literally rained every day  we were there. Most days it was just an annoyance but on one of them it was a gully-washer. We got to the track at 7:00 AM for the drivers meeting and then had to stand around until 1:30 before the track opened up. Plus, I managed to catch a cold while there. That's the first time I've been around a bunch of high school kids in a long time. Apparently my resistance to their cooties has worn off. Needed a booster shot or something.

The weather at home yesterday was a pleasant surprise, however. 75 degrees and sunny. I spent most of the day unpacking and doing the laundry, but I did get the Royal Enfield out. I rode it over to the Dollar Store to get some house brand Theraflu and a couple of other things. First time I've actually had it out at road speeds. 60 mph has the engine running about 48-4,900 rpm. Not much vibration through the handlebars or the foot pegs. The bags are going to be nice for trips to the store or carrying my lunch to work. I think I'm going to be real happy with this rig.

I've got a few more items to discuss about the trip in my next post.

1 comment:

Kevin Kaluf said...

Looking forward to the trip update next post!