Fuels rush on.. .and on...
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Mhen a Volvo FH12 rumbled round CMs scottish test route at better than 8mpg my technical colleagues were most impressed, and all credit to those canny Swedes for building such a thrifty tractor. Maybe they'd care to turn their hand to the 1996 Shell Helix Mileage Marathon, to be held at Mallory Park on 19 July. A selection of miserly tiddlers will be attempting to beat the world fuel economy record, which stands at an almost unbelievable 7,591mpg. That figure was set by a French team in 1992; a British team (from Kings College, London) last took top honours in 1987 with 3,804mpg--last year the Japs managed 5,590mpg. Leading British contender Brian Toft of Chester hopes that his team will take the record for diesel power. Undaunted by four fruitless attempts, Toft says: "We're just over 1,000mph behind, but we can make this up." There's British pluck for you. He's looking for a light-footed driver, preferably weighing no more than seven stone (I fear that the CMteam is ruled out by too many truckstop banquets). If you're talented, determined and very, very small contact Toft via The Shell Helix Mileage Challenge Marathon, PO Box 19, Blackpool FY1 3NT. By the way, if the FH12 could match the record holder, its 500lit tank would fuel it for some 835,000 miles, which is more than 33 laps of the world (that's enough irrelevant arithmetic—Ed).