- 2011 Ford Mustang V6 set a new horsepower/mpg record at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- The Mustang averaged 48.5 mpg at an average speed of 43.9 mph.
- The car completed 1,457 laps at the speedway on a single tank of gas.
BRISTOL, Tennessee — It's definitely not a speed record, but the 2011 Ford Mustang with V6 engine has set a record on the racetrack nonetheless. The Mustang with the new 3.7-liter, 305-horsepower DOHC V6 and six-speed transmission averaged a very impressive 48.5 mpg over 1,457 laps of the Bristol Motor Speedway at an average 43.9 mph. The entire run used up one tank of gasoline.
Ford had promoted the economy run as the Mustang 1,000-Lap Challenge and asked people to guess the number of laps the 2011 Mustang V6 could run on a single tank of gasoline. Out of 51,000-plus contestants, 24 people guessed the correct number of laps of the half-mile track, Ford said. One of those guessers will have his or her name randomly drawn to win a 2011 Mustang V6 on Thursday afternoon.
David Ragan, who generally drives the No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion for Roush Fenway Racing, and Ford engineers Seong Park, Tom Barnes, Jonathan Mehl and Carl Ek made up the five-man driving team for the Bristol event, rotating once an hour. The total distance, 776.5 miles, took them 17 hours and 40 minutes. Ford notes that it added up to more miles driven than the total of both NASCAR Sprint Cup races held at Bristol each year.
Ford said minimal use of A/C, keeping rpm low, avoiding sudden stops and starts and "steady and consistent driving" were the keys to the high mpg.
Ford Racing posted video from the final lap on YouTube.
Inside Line says: Inspiring use of engine technology in these fuel-questioning times. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
Add A Comment »
vitellius says:
12:02 PM, 08/09/2010
Ive had 2011 stang v6 for about 3 months now, and i have a good streatch of straight and flat highway through my city and have found;
at 80mph, 25-26mpg
at 70mph, 31-33mpg
at 40mph, 45-47mpg (inside the city on a almost straight road)
desmolicious says:
05:17 PM, 06/25/2010
Most boring use of Bristol Motor Speedway.
Ever.
gam2 says:
11:33 AM, 06/25/2010
I haven't seen anyone get over 25 mpg in real world driving conditions. Hell, my 2003 GMC Envoy gets 30 mpg at a steady 40 mph on a flat road.
wizard8873 says:
08:03 AM, 06/25/2010
not really impressive at all. I would like to see them go out in to the real world and drive in real conditions and see what they can get.
lostboyz says:
04:18 AM, 06/25/2010
@kevm14
ford's 3.7 isn't DI, just has variable valve timing
dagmar3 says:
07:09 PM, 06/24/2010
Was this Mustang hogging the left-hand lane with its turn signal on while wearing Ontario plates? We really don't want to encourage these people.
kevm14 says:
07:08 PM, 06/24/2010
The Camaro V6 can probably get very close. The aerodynamics or weight will have very minimal impact at 44mph in top gear. Both V6s have direct injection. I believe Ford uses their variable valve timing to run the engine in the atkinson cycle under light load, which probably gives it the edge over the Camaro's 3.6 DI V6. But yeah, most production cars probably get their peak mileage right around this speed in top gear, so this really is a lot less surprising than what people may think. It sure is great marketing though, no doubt about that.
cr_driver says:
06:17 PM, 06/24/2010
Wow, who can beat this?
What other 300 hp+ car can do it? Somebody have done it?
flwind says:
04:03 PM, 06/24/2010
agnh: Because going slower would achieve fewer laps per gallon burned. At some point, the engine achieves it's peak effeciency no matter how slow you go. The 43.9 mph is probably the best balance between effeciency and distance travelled, hence highest MPG.
ronix2720 says:
03:59 PM, 06/24/2010
They wanted to make it realistic to how real people drive thats all