X PRIZE update: WWU advances past first week, faces safety trials today

The Western Washington University X PRIZE Team is one of just nine teams to successfully complete all of the efficiency and range trials in the first week of the finals at the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition.

The team from WWU's Vehicle Research Institute will compete in the dynamic safety events today and will conclude the on-track portion of the finals with a combined efficiency and performance event on Tuesday.

According to the updated standings from the Progressive X PRIZE website, seven teams remain in WWU's side-by-side alternative class, the winner of which will get $2.5 million in prize money.

During the efficiency events this past week, the WWU team achieved 112 MPGe overall but had its numbers reduced to 97.2 MPGe because of a driving penalty of 20 percent, according to the official results. The WWU team also had no difficulty achieving the required 100 miles in Friday's range test.

Today's dynamic safety events comprise a 0-60 mph acceleration test, a 60-0 mph braking test, a lateral acceleration test and an emergency lane change test, which must be done at a minimum of 45 mph.

'We've already won'

No matter how the WWU team does in the remainder of the competition, team members feel they've already been successful in the competition. They've impressed their competitors, they've impressed the judges and they've impressed themselves.

"We never expected to get where we are today," said WWU team member Jon Bremer. "Even if we dropped out of the competition at this point in the finals, I still view it as a complete and total victory for Western Washington University."

Don Hayward, a current consulting engineer at Grand Am who has had a long career in the automotive industry, including at Rahal Letterman Racing and Ford Motor Company Racing, said he has been more impressed by WWU than by any other team.

"For them to have made it to this stage is a real accomplishment," Hayward said. "I told the guys I really admire them; they're the ones I admire the most in this contest. I couldn't be more pleased or proud of a group of guys that I've never known before. However this turns out, they deserve, I think, some special recognition. They've made it to the finals of a competition that a lot of teams with a more professional background haven't been able to achieve. These are college kids, but they're bright, hardworking college kids."