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The 3000km Challenge, which starts on October 24, will test the real-world fuel consumption of 21 production cars. Photo Gallery
Former 24-hour Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan has built a career on high-speed race tracks.
Later this month he will face a different challenge - driving to save fuel.
The Aussie-born long distance sportscar driver has raced in Formula 1, the Indianapolis 500 and Bathurst, and now the 66-year-old veteran of speed is tackling the Global Green Challenge from Darwin to Adelaide.
The 3000km Challenge, which starts on October 24, will test the real-world fuel consumption of 21 production cars. The winner will be the car which can return the greatest improvement over its official fuel rating. The event, with a mix of urban and highway conditions, has been sanctioned by the FIA and is being run under the control of CAMS. And it's not a go-slow event to save fuel. Cars will have to keep within speed limits but also maintain a minimum average of 75km/h on open roads.
Schuppan will be behind the wheel of a Mini Cooper D, trying to better BMW's official figure, achieved in a laboratory, of just 3.9l/100km. "Driving in the first Global Green Challenge is a very exciting prospect. It's such a unique event which allows the general public to see how far modern production cars have come in terms of fuel consumption," Schuppan said. "I'm sure that the event will grow into something really big in the coming years."
Schuppan has never driven the Cooper D in its latest form, but says he finds it "amazing that you can have such impressive fuel economy packaged in something like this and still have the performance people expect." "I think we're in with a shot. The Cooper D has a good chance of winning its class," he said.
