HFM!? - Petrol Prices

The message from "AstraVanMan" contains these words:

I remember 65p a GALLON!

The message from Adrian contains these words:

A mythical dimension in which a London cab is supposed to be able to do a U-turn.

The message from "Matt F" contains these words:

Like the bloke in the Smart sportscar yesterday who overtook me just to get to the red light ahead of me. Since I was going right I ended up in the lane next to him anyway - but he steadfastly refused to make eye contact.

The message from "Well_i_Wonder" contains these words:

Engines are more efficient at higher compression ratios. Throttling a petrol engine allows in a lot less air, so decreasing the effective compression. Full throttle allows highest efficiency.

However, you're up against diminishing returns because as the revs increase the "housekeeping" losses in the engine - friction, pumping losses, breathing inefficiencies and so on - mount up very fast as revs rise until they're soon using a large proportion of the power output. That's why the advice is to keep the revs reasonably low.

The message from Simon Dean contains these words:

He's talking (or should be) about accelerating, not driving at a steady speed, so it will work just as well in an auto.

The ultra-mileage competitions use tiny engines with a coast-burn-coast technique, during the burn portion the engines are flat out full throttle to maximise efficiency - then they're shut off. If you're barking and have nerves of steel you can do the same in an auto or a manual.

In message , Guy King writes

Sh*t! I can remember 4/11½d a gallon! (That's four shillings and eleven pence halfpenny - just under 25p in today's money) when I started to notice the price of petrol (circa 1963?).

It was 5/3d a gallon (2*) when I actually started driving in 1967 (26½p) and 5/7d for 4* - for 5/11d you could get a gallon of 5*.

The first pint of beer I bought was 10½d (ten pence halfpenny - about

FX - Toddles off to buy walking stick which I'm obviously going to need soon. :-(

Erm, volumetric efficiency, eh, what? What?

But if you use wide open throttle on an automatic, doesn't that extend the shift points above 2000 RPM?

Cya Simon

It wasn't your eye he didn't want to see. It was your lightly clenched fist, thumb uppermost, moving slowly up and down. :-)

I noticed that - Sainsbury charge 83.9 at Newbury, 89.9 at Basingstoke! Almost worth the drive to fill up.

when I started driving bikes, I was paying 38.9 a litre for unleaded, or

I could fill my tank for under a tenner, and go from London to Stafford on a single tankful - at an average speed of 30mph...

I was born only a few years after you, and I have a full understanding of Lsd

Can you do sums in it though? That was a challenge to your maths skills!

The message from Conor Turton contains these words:

Yes, several times a week for many years. Though to be fair, I've adjusted the kick-down cable so it changes up earlier.

was cheap (er) we would do well to look to the future..... there are 1000 million people in china who want the living standard we have. Thats a lot of people, theres about 300 million in europe and 200 million in the US. They are already getting the oil up almost as fast as they can .... and so as demand rises the price will go up. I can well imagine it will get up to £5.00 a litre in my lifetime. I was around the last time the oil went up a lot and when there is a half mile queue at the garages and no petrol or diesel people will be only too happy to pay a LOT more for something we have always taken rather for granted. meanwhile .... well how much was a tanner worth then? steve the grease

Paul Cummins ( snipped-for-privacy@spam.vlaad.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I thought that LSD was more of a 60s thing?

Isn't that the stuff that makes you want to fly?

I seem to remember paying 2s 11d a gallon for my first motor, not

sure if a BSA three wheeler counts as a car!

Pete

A sixpence surely!

Surely that's guinea pigs, no? :-)