The Cotswold Economy Drive is a slightly eccentric event run in August by the Lancia Motor Club which is now it’s tenth year. The whole event is based on guessing how many miles per gallon your car will do over a tortuous 111 mile circuit around the Cotswolds - it’s based on some post-war events run in the fifties. Most entrants are Historic Rally Car Register people and some take it very seriously, all petrol tanks are sealed by event officials and there are lots of check points to stop any cheating.
So how many miles per gallon can you get out of a 1970 fuel injected 3.5 v8? I guessed at a conservative 16.7 based on nothing in particular. If you want to seriously compete then the technique involves toping up your cars tank to a predetermined mark and then driving very steadily at a constant speed. At the end you can then refilling to that mark. But the whole thing seems a little hit and miss; the winners for several years running were in our team and despite very careful driving and toping up they still got a 19.2% error.
There was a good selection of cars in the 45 entrants, ranging from a 1930 Alfa Romeo 1750GS to a 1995 Lancia Delta Integrale Evo 1. I was particularly pleased to see a couple of my favourite Lancia Aurelia B20s.
The whole event was immaculately organised by Lin Baker; the Hatherley Manor was an ideal hotel for the night before the start, and there was a very sociable pre-event dinner. On the day of the event there was a civilised ninety minute lunch break, and then tea, sandwiches, scones, strawberries and cream at another great hotel (Dormy House) for the finish. I’ve no idea were we went but the roads were fantastic, hardly any traffic and a couple of fords thrown in for fun.
The winner was a driving a Porsche 911 and achieved an incredible 0.161% error. In the end the coupe did 25.4 mpg and we came second from last (52.2% error!) but it’s the taking part that counts (and I’ll know better next year).
