Challenging Expedition: Latest Generation Honda, Exotic Cool Nordkapp and Strange Crew Members
After a very spirited competition between more than 1 500 candidates, on the last day of April this year, 14 best were finally sure one of the most impressive adventures of life was there for them: they were selected members of HONDA CIVIC Expedition Eco Drive Challenge 2012. 10 men and 4 women are going on a special ecotrip by 7 same Honda Civic cars with 1.8 l capacity petrol engine and automatic transmission.
The members of the HONDA CIVIC Expedition Eco Drive Challenge 2012 are about to drive more than 4 000 km via the roads of the Baltic States and Scandinavia within 7 days. The organiser of the expedition, Honda Baltic, covered all possible travel costs: hotels, food and fuel. Besides, all members of the expedition will be insured.
To be among the lucky 14, the candidates of this contest had to pass the test of theoretical knowledge on Honda, which 1 685 members did. 101 candidates were invited to the test of driving skills, and the action began.
During the test of driving skills, the candidates had a chance to try the brand new Honda Civic of the ninth generation – most of the finalists were happy they’ll have to cover an unusually long route within a rather short period of time by this car, reaching the northernmost European location, Nordkapp, with negative temperature remaining there up till now.
According to the Director General of Honda Baltic, Tonu Vahtel, “the cars are “armed” with winter tyres and navigation equipment, and the members of the expedition will be provided with maps as well as other information necessary to travel the route.” Besides, fleet management and vehicle tracking system is installed in the cars, which regularly provides data about the vehicle operating mode via GPS receiver. As a result, throughout the trip, the organisers will be able to see the location of the crew on their computers, and a special programme will fix a number of parameters: the time of car engine ignition/off time; the duration of the intervals of the trip; covered distance; maximum and average speed; fuel consumption etc.
Despite the good technical preparation for the expedition, the results will be substantially influenced by the human factor: only several days before the start, the members who have never met each other before, will be randomly paired up. They’ll have to spend the whole week closely working together: to agree on driving strategy, the route of the trip, and to deal with the habits or character of another team member…
Similar expeditions have recently been organised for the representatives of Estonia and Latvia. The result of the best Estonian team – average fuel consumption on the route 5.1 l/100 km. Latvians managed with as little as 4.73 l/100 km. Average fuel consumption of the Honda Civic 1.8 Elegance AT, as declared by the producer, is 6.4 l/100 km (highway – 5.0 l/100 km, city – 8.7 l/100 km). Lithuanians aim to improve the Latvian result.