Oct 20, 2008

Lightweight Car Sets Fuel Economy Record

In mid-October, Craig Henderson smashed his old Guinness Book of World Records record of 103.7 miles per gallon and set a new world record in fuel economy when he drove his lightweight and aerodynamic automobile, the Avion, from the Canadian border to the Oregon border. Henderson, a native of Bellingham, Wash., was able to do the run with a fuel economy mark of 113.1 mpg.

He completed the first Avion prototype, long a fixture in the high-mileage set, in 1984 and drove into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1986, after a border-to-border trip that averaged 103.7 mpg. In that record-setting trip, he drove along the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. This time, he started at the Canadian border in his home town at 7:25 a.m. and ended at the Oregon border, at Fort Vancouver, at 1 p.m. Henderson traveled 263.1 miles and used 2.326 gallons of diesel, averaging 113.1 mpg, despite getting stuck twice in Seattle traffic.

Henderson is a contender in the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize. He is among more than 120 teams from 28 states and 17 countries who signed a letter of intent to compete for their share of a $10 million prize purse, which will be awarded to those who can design and build production-capable, 100 MPGe (miles per gallon energy equivalent) vehicles that people will want to buy and that meet market needs for price, size, capability, safety and performance.

“The Avion is fun to drive, and it gets great mileage,” said Henderson. “Our car has achieved 113.1 mpg, driving on I-5 from the Canadian border to the Oregon border. That’s pretty amazing, especially considering we designed and built it over 25 years ago.”