Honda will put the real-world fuel economy of its 1.6 i-DTEC engine to the test in an 8,500mile drive across all twenty four contiguous EU countries. The aim is to set a new Guinness World Records title for fuel efficiency.

On Monday, June 1, 2015, two members of Honda’s European Research & Development (R&D) team will start their journey in a Honda Civic Tourer and start their trip taking them through Aalst, Belgium. Heading towards the Netherlands and Germany, their trip will see them navigate the Continent in a clockwise direction, with the aim of returning to their starting point twenty five days later, on June 25th, having covered a planned total of eight thousand four hundred and fifty nine miles.

The Guinness World Records title has never been attempted before in Europe.

The two Honda R&D colleagues are Fergal McGrath and Julian Warren, based at Honda’s European manufacturing facility in Swindon. The pair volunteered to take up the challenge and will be charged with driving an average three hundred and seventy miles, taking around 7.5 hours each day.

McGrath said: “We are very much looking forward to the record attempt, and while we’re excited we’re both a little nervous about the scale of the task that awaits us. A huge amount of planning has gone into taking on this challenge and we look forward to what we hope will be a successful result when we return to Brussels on June 25th. But we’ve got more than one hundred and seventy hours behind the wheel to contend with first.”

The official Guinness World Records title is ‘Lowest Fuel Consumption – all twenty four contiguous EU countries’, measured in litres per hundred kilometres and miles per gallon calculated over the entire journey. If successful the new record will apply to all cars, including hybrid and electric models. Based on strict guidelines, the record attempt requires the car to enter each of the countries specified, collecting a range of evidence including a fuel/mileage logbook, GPS readings, video, photographs and independent witness signatures to prove that it has done so.

To ensure accurate monitoring of the route, journey time and distance driven, the record car has been fitted with a tracking device, provided by fleet telematics and stolen vehicle recovery expert, Tracker. The unit will provide a superior level of journey information, in real-time to ensure that Honda can supply robust and reliable automated data-evidence to meet the requirements stipulated by Guinness World Records. 

The car which attempts the record must be a standard model in every respect, with no modifications to give an advantage. This will be judged by an independent witness at the beginning and end of the record attempt. The car can only travel by road, therefore the route does not extend to the UK, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta, which make up the remainder of the twenty eight EU countries. In order to ensure no unfair advantage by reducing weight, the tank of the car must be filled to the maximum at each fuel stop.

Philip Crossman, managing director of Honda UK comments: “Since its launch in 2013 we have seen the 1.6 i-DTEC engine consistently over-perform on real-world fuel efficiency in our Civic, Civic Tourer and CR-V models, and this is our opportunity to put it to the ultimate test on a huge scale. We are very confident of a great result and we wish the team all the very best of luck as they take on the challenge.”

The countries which are covered in the route, in alphabetical order, are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

You can follow Honda’s record attempt at #RealFuelChallenge.

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