Insight into the future
Breaking the magic 100 miles per gallon barrier, or 2.82 litres/100 kilometres, on a seven-day drive around the edges of mainland Britain was a challenge inspired by Dr Shigeru Miyano, a Japanese medical doctor who enjoyed a special connection with New Zealand. Shigeru had initiated successful fuel economy runs in the past, but his June 2000 attempt came with a significant difference.
While today’s motoring world is now awash with electrically linked HEV, BEV, and EV vehicles, that seemed an unlikely alternative future 22 years ago. But Shigeru, a true pioneer of electric assisted motoring, pondered on the idea of using an early petrol/electric hybrid car to smash a fuel economy record as a pointer to the future.
In August 1981, the good doctor visited Germany and the Nürburgring where he watched a Honda S800 competing in a race. He researched the history books to discover that Honda’s first international race win came in 1964 with a 3.3m-long S600 driven by Denny Hulme. Shigeru wrote to Hulme in Rotorua inviting him back to the Nürburgring in June 1989 for the 25th anniversary of that historic Honda event where the New Zealander would race not only a small
