VRI postpones testing day for Viking 45 X-Prize vehicle, will reschedule

The team working on Viking 45 for the Progressive Automotive X-Prize competition has postponed its testing date for the shakedown stage of the competition, Vehicle Research Institute Director Eric Leonhardt said Tuesday.

The team originally was scheduled to run through a technical inspection with X-Prize officials on May 17 but had to reschedule when it became clear the vehicle was not quite ready, Leonhardt said, adding that the team is working diligently on the vehicle and will have the inspection and track testing completed as soon as possible.

The next stage of the competition, the Knockout Qualifying Stage, starts June 15. Viking 45 is technically on "probation" and has to show that a number of small issues identified by the judges in the last stage have been fixed before it can begin.

The Knockout Qualifying Stage will pit the vehicles in each class in series of performance tests, such as zero-to-60 acceleration speed, 60-to-zero braking length, lane change, an emissions test, a durability test, and the all-important miles-per-gallon test. In this stage, any vehicle that can’t meet the minimum specification of 67 miles per gallon is automatically disqualified. That number rises with each successive stage, reaching 100 miles per gallon in the finals.

Only 10-20 teams will advance to the Finals Stage in July, and about 8-15 teams will likely go on to the final Validation Stage in August. In September, three of the remaining teams will be chosen as the contest’s winners, splitting $10 million in prize money between them.

For more information, visit http://onlinefast.org/wwutoday/features/wwus-viking-45-advances-second-stage-10m-progressive-automotive-x-prize-competition.