One of the fastest cars at the Autumn Classic Car Races at Le Circuit Mont Tremblant last weekend was this orange coloured McLaren. At the moment seen in the photo it was probably going around 150 miles per hour, perhaps a little less having left the pit straight and beginning to set up for a series of corners just up ahead. It might be a fun car to own, but then I got thinking about his fuel consumption...
Driving the 280 kms to Mont Tremblant I had left later than expected and consequently pushed it a bit more than usual, averaging roughly 90 kph along mostly multilane highways. I was a bit shocked to notice my gas consumption was high, 12.6 liters per hundred kilometers (lphk) in fact. Without a tow, my car averages just over 9 lphk at that speed, so towing Big Trill was making a big difference. Or did it...?
On the drive home, there was no rush, so I backed off the throttle and lowered my average speed to around 80 kph. By the time I passed through Montreal I noticed consumption was running around 8.6 lphk, a drop of 4 lphk! The cost of going just 10 kph faster was dramatic!
The road from Montreal to home heads gradually up a series of long hills, so consumption increased again, giving me an over all figure of 9.4 lphk for the trip home. Still a healthy drop from the outward trip of over 3 lphk. While that might seem much, over a longer trip, the savings can add up when a liter of gas can cost $1.40 and sometimes more. There is definitely a cost to speed! I think I'll cancel the McLaren purchase...
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