The MPG Marathon, now in its fourteenth year, takes place on Wednesday, October 8 and Thursday, October 9, when it will be based at the luxurious Cotswold Water Park Four Pillars Hotel, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
This year’s 360-mile route begins at Cirencester and takes in the Brecon Beacons in Wales plus a number of points in between, but contestants are allowed to plan their own routes, provided they include a number of pre-agreed, fixed points. So keen navigational skills will be important.
New for this year, and symptomatic of the growing interest in the area of alternative fuelled vehicles, are three new classes: for electric vehicles, range extenders and plug-in hybrids.
They will be joining the more familiar diesel and petrol engined cars and vans that traditionally take part in the event.
There are eight main classes of passenger cars in this year’s MPG Marathon, restricted to a maximum carbon ceiling of 190g/km, as follows:
Class 1: Passenger cars powered by petrol with CO2 emissions of 110g/km or less
Class 2: Passenger cars powered by petrol with CO2 emissions of 111g/km or more
Class 3: Passenger cars powered by diesel with CO2 emissions of 110g/km or less
Class 4: Passenger cars powered by diesel with CO2 emissions of 111g/km or more
Class 5: Passenger cars powered by hybrid drive systems
Class 6: Passenger cars powered by diesel with CO2 emissions of 111g/km or more
Class 7: Passenger cars powered by range-extender hybrid drive systems
Class 8: Fully electric vehicles.
There are also five classes of light commercial vehicles, which will not have a carbon ceiling, as follows:
Class 9 Light vans and car-derived vans – GVW of less than 2001kg
Class 10: Small vans – GVW between 2001kg and 2600kg
Class 11: Medium vans – GVW between 2601kg and 2800kg
Class 12: Medium vans – GVW between 2801kg and 3499kg
Class 13: Large Vans – GVW of 3500kg
Event organiser, Ross Durkin, said: “This year’s MPG marathon presents an outstanding opportunity to showcase the very latest developments in alternative fuelled vehicles against the more conventional but increasingly fuel-efficient internal combustion engined models. Entries are now open and we look forward to welcoming a varied but highly competitive field to this year’s event.”
For more details of the MPG Marathon please phone 01727 739160, or visit the event website at http://www.thempgmarathon.co.uk/
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