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Subject:Re: FW: On Fuel Economy - Some Teutonic Observations
From:Frank Grunthaner
Date:Thu, 9 Aug 2001 20:13:56 EDT

Mike,

Of course you are right. There is no news here. Faster costs, more mass
costs. I was only trying to show the clean quantitative relationships. Linear
in mass, exponential in velocity. I was just trying to poke at the I get xx
mpg in town and yy mpg on the road. Too often there is the implication that
brand name or design studio have a corner on fuel efficiency. As I tried to
say more qualitatively some time back on the issue that "it was obvious that
high engine rpm means lower fuel economy", the point is the power demanded
mapped back to the brake specific fuel consumption curve determines the fuel
consumed. A state-of-the-art engine operating within its designed cruise
interval will perform superbly.

Sorry, got carried away, again, as usual. But it's true. This post was self
evident and boring but I found the data to be reassuring and refreshing.

Frank Grunthaner