Is it possible to drive from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and back on a single tank of fuel? Absolutely. But you will want to take your time and be dressed casually, says RIDZWAN A. RAHIM.

FOR the life of me, I never thought that one day I would be driving on the PLUS highway at 80km per hour, under scorching sun and — get this — with the air-conditioning turned off! But that’s exactly what I did recently.

In the car with me was my co-driver, Fabian from Hitz FM, who struggled to remain his jovial self in the heat.

“I feel like we’re putting up an act. This is not who we really are,” he said. “Malaysians don’t drive at 80km per hour on the highway. And we certainly don’t turn off our air-con!”

So what’s up with the painful driving lah? We were actually on a journey up north as participants in an event called Shell Super One Tank Challenge organised by Shell Malaysia.

The idea was to drive from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and back on just a single tank of fuel — a scary proposition.

So one way to ensure that we arrived safely back in Kuala Lumpur, in addition to using the fuel-saving Shell Super fuel, was by turning off the air-conditioning and driving at an optimum speed all the way.

Well, Shell called it the Super One Tank Challenge but “we shall call it the Shell Super Long Journey Challenge,” I told Fabian.

After all, it does take at least six hours to get to Penang driving like that (and six hours under the hot sun feels twice as long).

Sharing the torture with us were some 30 other people consisting of local celebrities, members of the media and winners from the Shell Spot The Medal contest.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to use our own cars. Ten cars, all fairly new 1.5-litre Toyota Vios(es), were provided by the organiser for the trip.

And best of all, for instructors, we had Australian couple John and Helen Taylor, arguably the best teachers in the world in fuel efficient (or fuel stretch) driving.

The Taylors, if you have not already heard about them through the Shell ads, are an outstanding couple. They recently set a Guinness World Record together with Shell for the most fuel-efficient circumnavigation of the world ever undertaken in a standard car.

Driving a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 FSI, their journey started in January in London. They spent the next 78 days (around the world in less than 80 days!) driving through all sorts of temperatures, climates and terrain — -15ºC in Macedonia, 46ºC in the Australian Outback, storms, cyclones, torrential downpours, snow.

By the time they returned to London, John and Helen had covered 28,970km across 25 countries with just 24 fill-ups of the Shell Fuel Economy Formula. They averaged 22.2km per litre, surpassing Volkswagen’s official consumption figure of 14.3km per litre.

In addition, between the two of them, John and Helen hold 34 notable fuel economy driving achievements. So our little drive to Penang was child’s play compared to what the Taylors have achieved.

Before the trip to Penang, the couple shared with us their “secrets”. We were told that so many factors contribute to fuel efficiency — the way we drive, the fuel we use, tyre pressure, whether the car’s engine is well-tuned, driving conditions, etc. (see accompanying story)

Apparently, one of the major culprits of fuel usage is the air-con. According to the Taylors, it consumes about one-third of the car’s fuel.

So turn off the air-con, we were told. Everyone groaned. But we had no choice; Toyota said the Vios could travel 630km on one tank of petrol and we were expected to go a total of 760km.

On paper, the task looked simple — take the car to Penang and bring it back — but once we got behind the wheel, we found it to be an exercise in patience, concentration and mental strength.

We had to bring the car up to 80km per hour (engine rev at 2,000 to 2,500rpm) and keep that up for the next six hours or so. Every time another road user — cars, bikes, trucks — overtook us, the temptation to just let go and drive like “normal Malaysians” was overwhelming.

To make matters worse, the Vios’ fuel pedal is sensitive and comes without cruise control so it was quite a challenge, initially anyway, to maintain speed.

But we did eventually reach Penang where we spent the night. And the next day, all we had to do was drive the same way all the way back to Kuala Lumpur.

Happily, everyone made it back to KL with at least a quarter tank of fuel left.

Wanna try the same thing? First of all, you should be dressed comfortably. T-shirts and jeans are the best. Some of the participants showed up in Bermudas and tank tops.

It is also important to have comfortable seats. The Vios had fabric seats that were comfortable enough to fall asleep in during the hot trip. I doubt that would be the case if we were sitting on, say, PVC seats.

You also need to bring plenty of bottled water to drink, because there is the danger of dehydration. Finally — and this is something parents can relate to — perhaps it’s not a good idea to have children in the car.

All in all, the Penang trip was a hot and sticky affair. By the time we got back to KL, everyone was decidedly smelly. Some of us were seen treating themselves to ice-cream. Eating it, I mean.