Continental Tire North America has named Lillibridge Transportation as Fuel Savings Champion of the tire company's inaugural "Beat the Best" competition.


Lillibridge, a dry goods long and regional haul fleet, accomplished a 7.01 mpg average, or 14.28 gallons per 100 miles, on its participating truck with Continental tires.

Lillibridge was also the Midwest regional winner of the competition. Other regional winners included Houff Transfer for the north region, Southern Cal Transport for the south region, BJ Trucking for the west region, Scotlynn Commodities for Canada and Transportes Unidas Mexicanos for Mexico. The winning fleets achieved an overall average fuel consumption of 6.39 mpg.

Four Lillibridge staff members have won a trip to the ContiSpeed event, a racing experience outside of Charlotte, N.C., which will feature autocross, karting and stock car driving at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.

The company decided to participate in the contest after Robert Tucker, fleet maintenance manager at Lillibridge, purchased two new trucks for the fleet and needed new tires.

"We were able to run the Continentals from coast to coast in rain, snow and ice and we were impressed by how they were able to perform," Tucker said. "I also had the drivers collect a lot of data that I requested including idle time, weight and cruise usage, so we were able to pattern our drivers' fuel mileage to their location, weather and load. "

Owner Lance Lillibridge said the company was looking for proven technology that could maximize the fleet's fuel efficiency. Lillibridge's drivers did not know about the contest until the last minute.

"The result was that with the Continental tires, our driver was able to increase his mileage but his driving style never changed," Tucker said.

Beginning in April, each fleet chose two trucks to monitor for fuel consumption and mileage on a weekly basis. One truck used the new Continental HSL2 or HDL Eco Plus truck tires, while another was equipped with new tires of any other national brand. The fleets drove at least 10,000 miles over a 10-week period, keeping track of fuel consumption and mileage statistics, which were published on the Continental website. Criteria for selection was based upon the lowest gallons of fuel per 100-mile average on the truck with Continental tires.

"Because fuel consumption has such a deep impact on overall driving costs, it's important to explore every technology and fuel saving technique on the market today," said Clif Armstrong, Continental's director of commercial vehicle tire marketing for the Americas.

More info: www.continental-truck.com.