How Far Can You Go On One Tank?
I don’t know about you, but I’m always trying to go for as long as possible in between trips to the bowser. There are a number of ways of eking out the fuel and minimising your fuel consumption, but how far can you go on just one tank?
According to the Guinness Book of Records for 2014, the furthest you can go on one tank of fuel is 2545.8 km, which was achieved by a pair of Croatian drivers named Marko Tomac and Ivan Cvetković. They were driving a Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI Bluemotion which was not modified and had to carry two people plus their luggage. This is the second time that the Volkswagen Passat 1.6 TDI Bluemotion has picked up a world record for hypermilage, as the pair of British drivers who held the record busted by the Croatian team also drove one of these super thrifty little beasts. Drivers watching their petrol pennies take note. Crunching the numbers reveals that this adds up to 32.2 km/litre, which is the equivalent of 3.10 litres/100 km. As the drive was made over a variety of roads in Croatia, we can presume that this is combined fuel economy.
Vale Sir Jack Brabham.
The words “household name” get thrown around loosely at times, however in the late 1950s through help me with my homework to the 1960s it was hard to not know of Jack Brabham. Knighted in 1979, Sir Jack Brabham passed away at home on the morning of May 19, at the Gold Coast in Queensland, aged 88.
Born in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville, April 2nd 1926, John Arthur “Jack” Brabham was exposed to the automotive field very early; at the age of 12 he’d learnt to drive the family car and trucks of the grocery business his father had. He studied metalwork and technical drawing, before moving into a duopoly of study (evening course in mechanical engineering) and daytime work at a garage. On the 19th of May, 1944, he enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force, becoming a flight mechanic, contrary to his wish to become a pilot however there was already a surplus amount of aircrew.
An American colleague, Jonny Schonberg, persuaded him to watch a category of racing known as midgets. Popular at the time, it was enough to have Jack interested and he built a car and engine which Schonberg raced. After Schonberg’s wife stepped in, Brabham took over and won on just his third night of racing. He won the 1948 Australian Speedcar Championship, repeated the feat a year later and also added the South Australian Championship plus the 1950 and ’51 silverware. From here, Brabham became interested in road racing, buying and modifying cars from the Cooper Car Company. He raced in Australia and New Zealand until 1955, picking up the nickname Black Jack along the way. After competing in the 1955 New Zealand GP, Jack went to the UK to try his luck there. He drove an ailing car in the 1955 Grand Prix, retiring with a broken clutch. It was also around this time that the Brabham and Cooper name became intertwined, with Brabham working with the Cooper factory and racing their cars, including the Formula 2 category.
Book Review: “History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumours Revealed”
In my blogs over the last few weeks, I’ve been drawing inspiration from a fantastic book picked up by chance from the local library: History’s Greatest Automotive Mysteries, Myths and Rumours Revealed by Preston Lerner and Matt Stone. It’s such a fun read and is bound to be interesting to most visitors to Private Fleet, so I thought I’d better let you all know about it so you can read it for yourselves.
Czech Mate: Skoda Octavia Ambition Plus sedan.
Octavia: younger sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. Skoda: younger sister of the automotive giant, Volkswagen. Together they’ve come up with a surprisingly capable vehicle with a definite Ambition to be seen. A Wheel Thing says hello to the Czech based manufacturer for the first time and likes the first impressions of the Ambition Plus sedan.
Physically it is a decent sized vehicle, it’s just shy of 4.7 metres in length with a 1.8m width and stands just under a metre and a half tall. 
Under the test car’s bonnet is a seemingly small 1.4L turbocharged petrol engine, 
with 103kW and 250 Newton metres of torque. It’s this figure that comes into play with a weight of just 1340 kilos (dry) to move. Putting that grunt down to the front wheels (225/45/17) is the job of a seven speed DSG; the close ratios have the Octavia motivating quickly, especially once the stutters of first and second are out of the way. A good prod of the go pedal sees the numbers change quicker than a blink, with the DSG ‘box sliding home gear after gear seamlessly, providing a wave of get up and go, belying the size of the engine. It’s that torque, available from 1500 revs through to 3500, with the tacho flicking up then down on changes, through to the peak power point of 5000rpm keeping things bubbling. Being front wheel drivem it’s partial to the occasional snort of the tyres when provoked yet torque steer is noticeably absent.
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