Drafting off a Big SUV

[BadQ45t]

I was driving back to SF Bay Area last week in my 84' 300ZX late at night after a wedding. Since it was late and I was already pretty sleepy I decided to take off my drivers side t-top to keep me awake. At first I was being a good boy and just going 80-82MPH, which for some reason is the highest my cruise control on the old girl will hold (the original factory specs were for 87 MPH).

In any case after like 100 miles out on I5 I got tired of being passed by every car under the sun, so when I big Caddy Escalade passed me going like 95MPH I ducked in behind him. I mean real close in behind him, and once I settled in I noticed two things. First the wind noise was like cut in half (from the open t-top) and second the MPG meter (thank you 1984 300ZX with all the Disco computer effects) gave me another 6-7MPGs back. I ended up following this guy for like 50 miles, he hated it since I have bright PIAA Superwhites (offroad use only, ya right) and PIAAA driving lights but I stuck in behind him and averaged like 21-23MPG driving 90-100MPH. There were certain points were he was just pulling me along and I felt like I was barely using my own power.

Well finally found a use for big SUVs, when he got off the freeway I was instantly getting 16-17MPG at 95MPH, but a big Ford Excursion was next and I drafted on him for like 30 miles, same effect. I never really understood how dramatic drafting was, but when you put a low car behind a big SUV it is unreal.

[Mr1der]

yeah, I do that with big trucks a lot, when they switch lanes you feel a huge difference

edit: on a dumb note, I used to play the little game "how close can I get to touching the bumper, I think at one time I was less than a foot doing 85 or so, I'm glad they didn't hit the brakes...