I took part in an interesting contest last week. The challenge is to attempt to drive the longest distance with only 1 litre of fuel. It is organised by Shell in conjunction with the launch of their new FuelSave Unleaded. Its a new breakthrough petrol to help drivers save up to 1 litre with every full tank. The new FuelSave 95 and 98 will replace the existing Formula 95 and 98 at no extra cost.

Also taking part in the challenge is Joe Augustin, Adele and Angela.

Oh, and that’s Eunice Olsen, Shell FuelSave Ambassador for Singapore. She competed against six other Shell FuelSave Ambassadors from around the world at Germany and came in 2nd. She managed to drive 20.8km with 1 litre of fuel, losing to Malaysia by just 500m. Check out the video.

Our challenge is slightly different from Eunice’s. We are driving a automatic car on public road instead. It’s going to be hard for us to do 20.8km with 1 litre of fuel although we heard that someone from Shell did 20 plus while testing out the route. Before the challenge, we were given tips on how to drive efficiently. There are 4 things to lookout for. Service your car regularly, making sure fuel cap is closed properly, check tire pressure and remove excess weight in the car. These can help you save fuel.

And while driving, there are 11 points to remember. 1 Drive, 3 Uses, 2 Keeps and 5 Avoids. They are:

DRIVE smoothly
USE higher gears
USE air-conditioning sparingly
USE cruise control (if applicable)
KEEP windows closed
KEEP constant speed
AVOID over revving
AVOID high speeds
AVOID excess idling
AVOID rush hour
AVOID breaking too hard

If you notice, using aircon sparingly and keeping windows closed doesn’t really go hand in hand. Haha. And you can actually save more fuel by turning off your engine if you need to wait more than 10 seconds.

For this challenge, we will be using the new FuelSave from Shell. OK, maybe we can’t really see the difference with 1 litre. But you should be able to see the savings from FuelSave in the long run.

There is a meter in the car to measure the distance we travel with 1 litre of fuel. Honestly, I think every car should come with something like this so that drivers can constantly track their fuel consumption. And since this is a challenge, the folks at Shell placed some a golf club set and baby pram at the back seat. The right thing to do is to remove them since more weight means more fuel consumption. If you don’t need it, don’t bring it along on your trip.

My strategy is simple, turn off the aircon and wind down the car window by a bit for ventilation. It is not good to wind down the windows completely as it will create more drag. I also try to keep a constant speed of around 60 to 65km/h and no sudden acceleration/braking. I was told later that I might actually achieve better fuel consumption if I go around 80km/h.

I managed to drive 17.792 km on 1 litre of fuel. Quite surprised with the results. I guess FuelSave and the crash course from Eunice does help a lot. I admit I’m not a very fuel efficient driver. I’m used to accelerate hard. But after this challenge, I will definitely watch the way I drive. (and hopefully I’ll maintain these good driving habit) Well, of course I’m not going to turn off the aircon while driving. But using aircon sparingly should help.

And here is the interesting part. We have a tie. Both Joe and I drove the same distance and come in first. But I think Joe should be the winner since he has extra weight in his car. (OK, he is going to kill me if he sees this) Kidding kidding…..

I got $200 worth of Shell voucher for winning the challenge. Woohoo! Can use them to try the new FuelSave which is launched today.

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