[Land-speed] Tires,Mileage,etc/non LSR ?

[Bryan Savage]

Cars in Europe designed to be extra high MPG vehicles, all use CVT 
transmissions
so they can do what Mayf said while cruising, keep the engine at min 
BSFC. They
also use low rolling resistance tires which are available in the US, but 
the sizes are
very limited.

How about an Opal 1.9L TDI four. In a small sport coupe it will get 51 
MPG at
70mph on the A-4 with two people on board and AC on. It is governor limited
to 145mph because of the tires.

An HCCI engine running gas or whatever will do better, some day.  60-70 
MPG. 
Later when the camshaft is discarded and each valve is controlled 
separately, we'll
have 2.0L engines that will deliver 100 MPG in a 3,000 lb car that seats 
4 6'2" adults.
Max HP with the correct fuel will be 400 HP.
Probably in 20 years, 10 if cheap oil does go away.
They will have to keep the engine very small to make room for all of the 
Engine
Management Computers and the 10KW alternator. :-)

Bryan