What Kind of Fuel Economy Do You Get On Track?

David S.
Update by David S. Wallens to the Mini John Cooper Works project car
Aug 11, 2016

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What Kind of Fuel Economy Do You Get On Track?

We have been keeping track of our MINI’s fuel economy. Around town we get right around 25 mpg. Coincidentally, that’s exactly what the EPA says we should get.

During our Sebring track day—three 20-minute sessions—we used 7.571 gallons while covering 91.3 miles. (That distance includes driving to and from the gas station.)

A little math shows that we saw 12 mpg on that tank.

So, a question for the floor: What kind of economy numbers do you see while on track?

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Comments
captdownshift
captdownshift GRM+ Memberand UberDork
8/11/16 12:50 p.m.

I used to get 7-8mpg on track back when I had my Subaru on corn syrup.

ross2004
ross2004 Reader
8/11/16 12:52 p.m.

Depends on the track, but we burn anywhere from 10 to 12 gallons an hour. Never figured it in MPG.

Tyler H
Tyler H GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/11/16 12:54 p.m.

I burn 8 gal/hour in our Civic race car, which is very roughly 14mpg.

akylekoz
akylekoz Reader
8/11/16 12:55 p.m.

With my 5.0 mustang I get about 10 gal/hr. Two miles per lap, 30 laps, 6 mpg. With the 2.3 race car its about double that at 5 gallons per hour 12 mpg. Same track relatively same speed. Can you tell how slow I am at two miles per lap?

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
8/11/16 1:01 p.m.

Oh man, a word problem!

I got into our new Fiat 124 Spider the other day and the fuel economy gauge said "14.2 mpg average". For a 40 mpg street car, we must have been working it a little hard

No odometer on the real track car, but I wouldn't trade its speed for efficiency. If I was running enduros, then we'd pay attention.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde UberDork
8/11/16 1:02 p.m.

Back when I was local autocrossing regularly I was getting about 9mpg from my 05 Mustang GT and about 8mpg from my wife's '05 Cooper S. That's just using the onboard meters reset just for the runs.

Bobzilla
Bobzilla UltimaDork
8/11/16 1:05 p.m.

Interestingly enough for my one 20 minute session I reset the onboard computer version. IT showed 7.8mpg. The whole tank netted 27.x on that one. I think that was 12 or 13 laps at Putnam. I probably spent 80% of the time WOT with the Forte after I got comfortable.

markwemple
markwemple SuperDork
8/11/16 1:07 p.m.

Is it wierd to say that I don't keep track?

bigev007
bigev007 Reader
8/11/16 1:16 p.m.

According to the trip computer, my 328is gets 6.0 MPG autocrossing. My Civic used to get close to 30.

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
8/11/16 1:18 p.m.

The saturns we ran in chumpcar would go 1 hour 45 minutes on 12 gal. At beaverun that was about 76 laps. I don't have data for other tracks handy.

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