My Ford EcoBoost Challenge experience

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: dparm
You guys had a bigger course, it looks like. My fastest time was down in the 29s.


Yes, it was a different course. Looking at the pictures of your event, it looks like you pulled up to the scanner and then the green flag was a hard turn to the left. At the absolute least, our course was a mirror of yours, as we turned right. But yes, I'm sure the course was a bit longer one, and is likely customized to the venue.

How many times did you hit the rev limiter? They told us we probably wouldn't hit it in the Focus and would probably hit it twice in the Fiesta. I hit it once in the Focus and three times in the Fiesta. I just BARELY got it at the checkered flag in the Fiesta, but that's because I kept getting the last turn into the last straight perfect (by luck I'm sure). It was a hard left with a slight juke to the right just after, so I'd slow to set up for the left, ease on the throttle as I was coming through, go full at the apex and the right tire would push over to just BARELY make the green cone on the right side.

I was pushing up white chalk each time. So I used everything up. I'm lucky I didn't hit a cone, which is a 2 second penalty.



We were made to run the entire course in 2nd gear (basically get it rolling in 1st, then immediately shift to 2nd just before the start line), which proved to be just fine. I approached the rev limiter just once.

 

[threeputtpar]

No turbo whistle? They must have tuned them very conservatively then.

When my A6 was stock at 8-9 psi, I couldn't hear any turbo noise either. Now that it's tuned to 16-17 psi, they make that beautiful noise all the way up to the redline!

If the ecoboosts perform that well stock, they will be really nice once the aftermarket tuners get them figured out.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Schmoe
Why is a CR-V in that? They are no where near a sports car, nor designed that way.


Sorry if I wasn't initially clear. They had three modules: the Hypermile Challenge, EcoBoost Challenge, and the ST Performance Academy. You had to do both the Hypermile Challenge and the EcoBoost Challenge before going to the ST Performance Academy.

Hypermile Challenge: see how high you could push the MPG on a C-Max or hybrid Fusion. It was (obviously) a set course, and a coach rode along with in the passenger seat, giving you tips on how to maximize it. That was a good event.

EcoBoost Challenge: this event allowed you to free-drive four vehicles around a course, set up with an acceleration section, a braking section, a slalom section, and an evasive maneuver section. The idea was for Ford to put its Escape EcoBoost against a competitor (they chose a Honda CR-V for this) and to put its Fusion EcoBoost against a competior (they chose a Toyota Camry for this). You had four laps; you could run all four in any one of the cars or you could run one lap in each (which is what I did).

ST Performance Academy: this is what most folks came for, and why Ford wanted you to see its other products first. You had four laps, and ran two at a time. You went out in either the Fiesta or Focus (your choice) and ran a lap, went through the bypass lane, then ran a second lap. They scanned the barcode on your credential and then scanned a barcode on the car, so the lap time that was recorded got attributed to you personally. I thought it was a very nice way of doing it. Anyway, after your second lap, you got out of the car and got back in line. Then you could either go out in the same model or get into the other one.

They tracked the lap times for each hour and at the top of the hour, stopped the driving and picked the best two lap times for that hour. Those top two competed in a shootout, just one lap each, to race for the victory prize, a model of a Focus ST. They had a technical glitch, so I raced against two others instead of just one other. I was the first guy out after they ran the first shootout, and they hadn't yet reset their computer software that tracks times before I posted my best one, so my time got lumped into the first group's times. So even though it was faster than Donato's or Tom's, they had already ran their shootout. That's why my time doesn't show up in the shootout leaderboard below (see picture in OP). So they ended up taking the two shootout leaders and added me to the group so there were three of us in the shootout.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: dparm
We were made to run the entire course in 2nd gear (basically get it rolling in 1st, then immediately shift to 2nd just before the start line), which proved to be just fine. I approached the rev limiter just once.


Same in Charlotte. They had that kink after the scanner and before the green flag to force you to short-shift into 2nd before starting the course. They said many times in the driver introduction that it's intended to be a 2nd gear course and that you would lose time by staying in 1st across the green flag, or by shifting into 3rd when you hit the "rev chip" (as they called it). I was against the rev chip for a full second twice (and a third time just briefly) in the Fiesta, so it was tempting to want to shift, but there was no way to make time doing it.

I watched a YouTube video of someone else doing the event at a different venue and the course was clearly different from ours, so it looks like they simply have to design each course to fit the parking lot they have at that location.

I didn't notice how fast the top of 2nd gear is in either the Focus or the Fiesta. I figure it's somewhere in the neighorhood of 55-65 mph, which is pretty good for what is essentially a free autocross in the name of marketing.

dparm, you said you posted one of the fastest lap times at your event; were you able to compete in a shootout? I found that aspect a ton of fun...just the adrenaline of competing directly against someone else. And of course, they stop all of the other cars and get on the loudspeaker to announce what's happening, so everyone comes to watch and they tell the folks in line, "these guys are posting the best times, watch what they do." So it's somewhat intimidating to be under the gun. My shootout lap time was about .5s slower than my free lap time, and it was probably nerves and some conservatism, to not want to chunk a cone in front of everyone.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: threeputtpar
No turbo whistle? They must have tuned them very conservatively then.

When my A6 was stock at 8-9 psi, I couldn't hear any turbo noise either. Now that it's tuned to 16-17 psi, they make that beautiful noise all the way up to the redline!

If the ecoboosts perform that well stock, they will be really nice once the aftermarket tuners get them figured out.


There is faint turbo whistle on my parents' 2013 2.0 escape.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd


dparm, you said you posted one of the fastest lap times at your event; were you able to compete in a shootout? I found that aspect a ton of fun...just the adrenaline of competing directly against someone else. And of course, they stop all of the other cars and get on the loudspeaker to announce what's happening, so everyone comes to watch and they tell the folks in line, "these guys are posting the best times, watch what they do." So it's somewhat intimidating to be under the gun. My shootout lap time was about .5s slower than my free lap time, and it was probably nerves and some conservatism, to not want to chunk a cone in front of everyone.




My practice/first run was in the mid-29s, which blew everyone away because no one had gotten below 32s until I ran. My second run was 29-flat.

Unfortunately there were some guys who got pretty annoyed by that and got back in line repeatedly and they finally whittled their times down below mine by a few hundredths. The whole time they were in line they were just [censored]-talking and rambling about their amazing technique and how easy it would be after autocrossing their Miatas...then I schooled them on my first run. How I felt after seeing them rage about it:

 

[Hokiefyd]

Ha ha. I was talking with the two guys who were on the shootout leaderboard at the time, and after they found out that I could knock one of them off (we didn't know yet how Ford was going to handle the glitch), they started in on, "I wasn't really concentrating on getting a fast time, I was just having fun." To which, inside, I was:

I emailed the Ford EcoBoost program HQ today asking for the fastest time of the day, and they said that the fastest time posted at the event was a 36.6xx, to my 37.537. Glad I got there early.

Given enough more laps, I probably could have cut my lap time by a half second or so, but a full second would have been hard for me. I'm too fat...most of the other guys there had a 50 pound advantage!

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
No, we get NO French hot hatches/rally homologation specials here what so ever (including Peugeot's great offerings)


Shame, too. One of the cars on my highest list of wishes is the Lancia Delta Integrale. I know it's not French, but it is a rally homologation model...

Just pure awesomeness...

Thinking about this again, I may have to make this my "if I could have any car forever" car in the tread that dparm started, because the rules DO say that as long as maintenance is performed, reliability is a given.

I always wondered if the engine, and front section of that thing's drivetrain could be shoehorned into an X/19!!

Yes, that was one of the most successful rally machines of ALL time, and THE most winning Group A one ever!