WINDOW

Alone in the crowd: WWU’s Viking 45, center, appears in a
parade during the X PRIZE finals as the only hybrid vehicle to
make it to the last round of competition. In fact, the car could
draw on three separate sources of power: two electric motors
and one gasoline engine.
Total
dedication
Story and photos by
Matthew Anderson (’06)
Don Hayward takes one
look under the hood of
the sleek, modern car
and frowns.
The longtime auto racing guru is staring at
Viking 45, Western Washington University’s
ultra-fuel-efficient entry in the Progressive
Automotive X PRIZE competition, and he’s
perplexed.
“What I saw was a wad of wires on top of
some structure that I couldn’t understand,”
Hayward would later recount. “I frankly
thought that this car was not appropriate for
this competition.”
This is the shakedown stage of the X
PRIZE, when serious contenders are separated
from also-rans. Hayward, a consulting
engineer at Grand Am who notes stints with
Rahal Letterman Racing and Ford Motor
Company Racing on his resume, should
know an also-ran when he sees one.
He begins listing the problems for the
students gathered around: Occupants aren’t
fully sealed from the engine compartment.
There is no horn or windshield wiper. The
complicated electrical system has several
ground faults and not enough weatherstripping
to prevent water from ruining the
electronics or creating a shock hazard.
“It’s a pretty stressful experience, being
ripped apart like that,” says Kyle Foley, the
team’s crew chief, “but it’s also a really good
learning experience.”
As far as Hayward is concerned, Western’s
run in this four-year, $10-million competition
is over. Of the 136 vehicles that began the
contest, only 27 would move past the shakedown
stage. WWU would not be among
them, Hayward thought after grading Viking
45. But while he got a good look at the car,
Hayward didn’t know the students who built
it. They had no intention of going home.
Continued on page 16.
14 WINDOW • Fall 2010 • Western Washington University
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