I
n planning our homage to the original
“Mobilgas Grand Canyon Economy
Run” story, published way back in 1950,
wewe made an early decision to not use themadeanearlydecisiontonotusethe
rules our forebears set. Time is money, sorules our forebears set. Time is money, soulesourforebearsset.Timeismoney,so
ourour winning driver would be the one whowinning driver would be the one who
spent the least amount of money on gaspenttheleastamountofmoneyongas
andand the least amount of time on the road.theleastamountoftimeontheroad.
But what if we’d followed the old rules?
In the original fuel economy run, we
usedused a “ton-mpg” figure designeda“ton-mpg”figuredesigned
to level the playing field between bigto level the playing field between bigolevel the playing field between big
andand small cars. “To provide a basis ofsmallcars.“Toprovideabasisof
comparisoncomparison for all cars,” we wrote, “afor all cars,” we wrote, “a
ton-mpg figure was chosen instead ofton-mpg figure was chosen instead ofon-mpgfigure was chosen instead of
vehiclevehicle mpg, for with the latter method,mpg, for with the latter method,
aa heavy car with good fuel economy forheavy car with good fuel economy for
the particular engine could not comparethe particular engine could not compareheparticular engine could not compare
favorably with a light car of equally goodfavorably with a light car of equally goodavorablywithalightcarofequallygood
fuel economy. The added weight of thefuel economy. The added weight of theueleconomy.Theaddedweightofthe
heavyheavy car would drop its economy.”car would drop its economy.”
Ton-mpg sounds complicated,
butbut it’s actually pretty simple: It’s theit’sactuallyprettysimple:It’sthe
weightweight of the car and passengers inof the car and passengers in
tons, multiplied by miles driven, dividedtons, multiplied by miles driven, dividedons,multiplied by miles driven, divided
byby gallons of gasoline consumed. Thegallons of gasoline consumed. The
top three finishers of the 1950 run weretop three finishers of the 1950 run wereopthreefinishersofthe1950runwereSo how did we do
compared to the
original fuel run?
70 years makes a
major differencea Mercury V-8, a Cadillac 60 Special,
and a Cadillac 62. The winning Mercury
netted 61.27 ton-mpg and 26.52 mpg; the
Cadillac 60 came in with 59.12 ton-mpg
and 22.08 mpg; and the Cadillac 62 got
58.57 ton-mpg and 22.53 mpg.
So how did we do? Well, perhaps
not surprisingly considering the fuel
spill (which has to count toward gallons
consumed), the Police Responder
Hybrid finished last, achieving 65.44
ton-mpg and 33.35 mpg. Consider both
of those numbers to have a big, fat
asterisk—without the spill, we’d guess
the Ford scored around 71 ton-mpg
and about 35 mpg. In second place, the
Ioniq Blue scored 78.26 ton-mpg and
averaged 49.39 mpg. And despite the
time discrepancy when playing under
our new rules, the Insight still would have
won under the old ones; it achieved 82.83
ton-mpg and netted 52.09 mpg.
Christian SeabaughAn unplanned fuel
stop forces a change
of plans for Scott.The Insight might look like a Civic, but there’s
no denying its extraordinarily efficiency.do at that point. I’d left the climate control
off the entire drive to save energy. The rain
and snow had forced me to use the head-
lights and wipers, but I turned off each
whenever it was safe. All of the standard
active safety systems were already off to
save power, and if I could have turned off
the infotainment screen, too, I would’ve.
All that was left was my feather-footed
driving and confidence in my prior experi-
ence road tripping a pure-electric car.
The glowing sign standing watch over
the snowy, nearly deserted gas station at
Ash Fork was the most beautiful thing I’d
seen in 500 miles: $2.52 a gallon. I leaped
out of the car, whipped out my credit card,
and filled that little Honda right to the gas
cap like I had before I left.
Yes, I know, you’re not supposed to over-
fill because it can damage the emissions
system. But dammit, I had a race to win,
and gas was a dollar a gallon more at the
finish line. Back in the car, I laid into the
throttle getting back up to highway speeds,
desperate to stay ahead of Miguel. I’d made
it to Vegas in less time than he had, and I
didn’t want him closing the gap in the final
miles. My tactic would use more gas, but
I’d paid a lot less for it.
Spotting Christian’s Fusion at the finish
line, its police markings somehow still
covered in a haphazard application of
gaffer’s tape after 550 miles of rain and
SEPTEMBER 2019 MOTORTREND.COM 77So howdid we do
compared to thecompared to the
original fuel run?original fuel run?
70 years makes a70 years makes a
major differencemajor difference