Sneak peek, part 2: WWU VRI students take Viking 45 to the track prior to the X Prize kickoff in April

Western Washington University students involved in the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition have been furiously preparing for the kickoff of the competition, which is set to take place in late April. The first stage of the competition, the Shakedown Stage, is set for April 26 to May 7 at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

The purpose of this first stage, according to information from the competition, is to conduct safety inspections and on-track dynamic safety evaluations of competition vehicles. Teams must submit their cars to on-the-ground challenges for the purpose of shaking out problem areas and preparing their vehicles for the Knockout Qualifying Stage that follows, all without risk of elimination by the judges. Vehicles will be tested on braking speed, lane change ability, acceleration and refueling/recharging time, among other elements.

To meet the requirements to date, students and faculty members from WWU's Vehicle Research Institute put more than 100 miles on their car this past weekend, conducting numerous vehicle tests in the process. This is raw video from that event.

In the X Prize competition, $10 million in prizes will be awarded in September to the teams that win a rigorous stage competition for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPG energy equivalent (MPGe). More information on the competition is available at http://auto.xprize.org/.

The video was shot and produced by University Communications intern Jon Bergman. Be sure to check out part 1 of this video, available here.