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8128 miles Per (US) Gallon
idletask writes: "Yes, you read well. This is the new record established this year in the Shell International Mileage Marathon (NOTE: English link, their figures are calculated using UK gallons), held this year on June 1st and 2nd on the Circuit of Nogaro, by a team from Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. This yearly
contest, sponsored by Shell since 1977, consists in travelling the longest distance with only one liter of gas (the record is therefore actually 3494km with 1 liter), at a minimum pace of 25kph (~15mph). Full results of the contest can be found in a PDF file. The only US team who participated this year scored 69th, with 1136mpg (483km with 1l)."
it would be much more interesting to see who, given one liter of gas, could win a race over a road circuit. steady-state driving at low speed doesn't relate to most real-world driving.
but then even if a full tank of petrol and other weight led to 1/20th of the fuel efficiency that means you'd get a bit over 100mpg. oh and look, here comes the vw lupo.
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Why not just build a solar powered vehicle
Why not force a guy to drink a liter of gas, then make him bicycle a ludicrious distance.
Why not build a sailboat and pour the gas overboard?
What about nucler sumbarines?
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
I am not sure the source, but a lot of it probably comes from the 'US first attitude', that is portrayed by both national USA news and international news. What ever you might feel about Bush, much of his international politics is seen, from outside countries, as being a very naive and selfish.
Another difference is probably the fact that most European countries share a certain social agenda, whereby the good of the people is just as important as the good of corporation. In the US, its dog eat dog, though this is what allows the US to advance so much faster.
There is no country that does not have a certain arrogance when it comes to national pride. Like a ship, the larger tanker's errors will always be noticed more, and have a larger effect, than the small sail ship's in the same waters. For this reason the larger ship has to be more careful about errors it makes, if it isn't then the small sailing ships see the large tanker as being a bully, and arrogant towards it neighbours, in the pond. This is the way things are, like it or not.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.