Each year, drivers race in 70 events across the country to qualify for one last, winner-take-all event in October–the National Championship Runoffs. Some of the most famous American racers have won at the Runoffs, including Bobby Rahal, Boris Said, Paul Newman, Scott Sharp and Skip Barber. There is a strong possibility that the next great American racing driver may be racing at the Runoffs this year.

Now that they have secured a spot at the track, the team is busy preparing the car for the race. Working late into the night, Mike and his volunteer crew are burning the midnight oil to build the car in order to have it inspected this weekend in Daytona.

“There’s a lot to get done in a short period of time” says Mike, as sweat drips from his forehead on a cool Florida evening. “We’ve just got in the new parts for the rear-end, I’ve got that almost put together now. I’m also adding an oil cooler to it, fabricating the mounts and fittings.”

In addition to fresh safety equipment, adding new sponsorship logos like FuelClinic.com, Mike has spent every bit of his free time going over every piece of this car. And he knows what he’s looking at - as Mike has literally built this car himself.

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Season 28 of PBS’ MotorWeek Holds Keys to Fuel Efficiency

Owings Mills, MD — With high gas prices fueling significant changes in how Americans buy and drive cars, PBS’ award-winning automotive series MotorWeek launches its 28th season focused on vehicle technology that is fuel efficient, eco-friendly and reshaping the auto industry.

Beginning Saturday, September 6th (check local listings) MotorWeek rolls out its “Clean Power Drive Season” with all-new, consumer-oriented content including Energy Smart Road Tests, expanded fuel efficiency ratings, interactive opportunities for viewers and audio podcasts. A special “Clean Power Drive” edition of MotorWeek, airing October 18th (check local listings), takes a realistic look at fuel economy currently available and what the future holds for automotives.

“MotorWeek is tuned in to what consumers want in their automotives – comfort, versatility, performance, and now more than ever fuel economy,” said host and executive producer John H. Davis. “Even if gas prices drop, consumers know it is probably a temporary reprieve. They are demanding significant gains in fuel efficiency, without giving up capabilities. That’s a tall order that all automotive companies will have to meet just to survive.”

All 52 new episodes will feature MotorWeek’s traditional Road Tests, along with exclusive Energy Smart Road Tests which will highlight new vehicles that best blend practicality and affordability with increases in fuel economy. Many small cars will be included, as well as new hybrid, diesel and alternative fuel vehicles, and other new technologies to increase fuel efficiency.

Also new this season, viewers will have more tools to determine a vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Carbon Footprint ratings will be included in many of the automotive reviews, indicating how much carbon dioxide is emitted annually by a vehicle.

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Fuelishness! Feed

• Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout. Oil shale in America’s West is estimated to hold be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil — that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.
   
• JD Power: More People Rejecting Vehicles For Fuel Economy
   
• Back-to-back hurricanes, Gustav and Ike, recently swept through Texas and Louisiana resulting in lost output at the refineries and shut-in crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. As of Thursday, 62 percent of the Gulf crude oil production remained shut-in and most refineries have restarted their operations with limited production.
   
• “Now is not the time to panic and think that gas is running out,” McCrory said at his press conference, alongside Mecklenburg County Board Chairperson Jennifer Roberts.

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FORD TESTS SHOW ECO-DRIVING CAN IMPROVE FUEL ECONOMY BY AN AVERAGE OF 24 PERCENT

PHOENIX, Ariz., Aug. 27, 2008 – Tests performed by Ford Motor Company show that motorists coached by eco-driving experts can significantly improve the fuel economy performance of their cars, trucks or SUVs.

Eco-driving refers to specific driving behaviors that can improve fuel economy, save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote safe driving.  Ford and Phoenix-based Pro Formance Group have teamed up to pilot an eco-driving program for fleet customers.  The program would employ certified master trainers to deliver hands-on coaching to maximize mileage in everyday driving.

Over a four-day period, Ford and the Pro Formance drivers conducted validation tests using volunteers from Phoenix who were given individual coaching on specific driving behaviors.  The Sports Car Club of America verified the results, which showed an average 24 percent improvement in fuel economy as a result of hands-on eco-driving training. 

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Fuelishness! Feed

• Crude oil prices jumped $25 a barrel on Monday – the largest one-day rise – as financial investors betting on falling oil prices were forced to cover their positions ahead of the expiry of the current benchmark futures contract.
   
• Washington, DC - More than 200 truckers from nearly 10 states have planned a large convoy through Capitol Hill to protest high fuel prices.
    
• Houston, TX - Some gasoline stations in parts of the Southeast are out of fuel and shortages could persist for days as refiners continue to recover from the one-two punch of hurricanes Ike and Gustav.
   
• Washington, DC - For the fourth consecutive year, EPA is reporting an increase in the average fuel efficiency for cars and light duty trucks, to a projected 20.8 miles per gallon (mpg) for 2008. This year’s projection is a 0.2 mpg up tick over last year’s value.
   
• The European commercial vehicle manufacturers are taking the lead in pushing fuel efficiency to new levels, with the clear goal to contribute further to sustainable mobility around the world.
   

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Scania Training Sveaskog Truckers in Eco-Driving

Source: Green Car Congress

Scania is now running a training course in fuel-efficient driving for trucking companies that haul timber in parts of central Sweden for the Sveaskog forest product company. Results indicate that after training, the drivers can reduce their fuel consumption by 9%. For these truckers alone, this would represent 8,000 tonnes less carbon dioxide emissions each year.

Scania’s driver training course is designed to meet the requirements of a new European Union directive on mandatory periodic training of professional drivers.

Our timber transports by truck total about 70 million kilometers a year. If their fuel consumption can be lowered by 9 percent, this will save more than 3 liters of diesel fuel and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

—Olof Johansson, Senior Vice President Environment and Social Responsibility at Sveaskog

Sveaskog’s investment in driver training is one element of the State-owned company’s efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its silviculture operations. Sveaskog has signed an agreement with Scania Sweden which covers training in safe, fuel-efficient driving for about one hundred drivers employed by trucking companies responsible for hauling timber for Sveaskog in the Bergslagen and Södermanland regions of central Sweden.

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Airlines Hurt by Fuel Price Hedging

Slacking oil prices has United Airlines paying more for fuel than what it currently costs on the openmarket - and unintended consequence of hedging oil contracts.

 Source: Wired

Here’s a very simplified explanation of how fuel hedging works, using a hypothetical scenario: Let’s say oil is selling for $130 and the price is expected to rise. An airline signs a deal with a supplier to buy, say, three months worth of fuel at $110 a barrel. That’s called a fuel hedge. The price of oil rises to $140 a barrel, but since the airline is locked in at $110, it can sit back and laugh as its competitors pay more for fuel…

But let’s turn that scenario on its head and say the airline hedges at $110 but the price drops to $92. Oops. Now the airline is paying more for fuel than it costs on the open market, placing it at a competitive disadvantage. The balance sheet craters.

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Fuelishness! Feed

• Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp said on Tuesday it had developed an advanced stop-and-go system, diesel engine and other technologies aimed at boosting its cars’ average mileage by 30 percent in seven years.
• The worst oil shock since the 1970s has put a permanent mark on the American way of life that even a drop in oil’s price below $100 a barrel won’t erase.
   
• “There is no fuel shortage in Florida,” Bronson said. “There’s hundreds of millions of gallons available.”
   
•  Digital device can help steer you to better mileage
• More companies are paying fuel surcharges to independent truckers for empty miles, or the miles when a driver is not hauling cargo.

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Fuelishness! Feed

• Crude oil fell to a five-month low as the Saudi Arabian and Venezuelan oil ministers signaled that OPEC will maintain production levels when it meets today in Vienna.
   
• Oil prices have now been falling for two weeks consistently, despite a short-lived rally yesterday on the back of concerns over the impact of Hurricane Ike in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico. 
   
• Senate Democrats promised a series of votes next week on offshore oil drilling as Republicans agreed Monday to let the Senate proceed on a defense bill that had been bottled up because of partisan disputes over the country’s energy priorities.
   
• The Interior Department, the agency that handles oil-and-gas leases in U.S. waters, is preparing to lease swaths of the outer continental shelf to companies that want to erect massive wind turbines.
   
• Ford’s Fiesta ECOnetic gets an astonishing 65 mpg, but the carmaker can’t afford to sell it in the U.S.

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