Wwu's Solar Car Takes Second Place

Defeating many of America's academic giants, Western Washington University's solar car Viking XX finished second overall yesterday at the completion of the 1,625-mile GM Sunrayce USA.

Viking's total time for the 11-day race from Florida to Michigan was 74 hours, 10 minutes. That was only 80 minutes behind first-place University of Michigan, and some six hours ahead of third-place University of Maryland. The uniquely designed WWU vehicle topped off its showing by finishing the final leg of the race yesterday in the first spot.

At one point yesterday, the car reached speeds of 52 mph, although its average for the race was about 21 mph.

Competing were 32 North American universities, including MIT, Stanford, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Texas. MIT had been a leader, but suffered a serious mechanical breakdown Tuesday.

``We're all very excited about having done so well against such formidable competition,'' said WWU spokeswoman Carole Wiedmeyer.

The route followed secondary roads in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, ending today at GM Technical Center in Warren.

All 32 cars did a couple of laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Monday, with Viking XX claiming a track record for solar-powered vehicles by reaching 46 mph.

A team of 20 students in WWU's Vehicle Research Institute built

Viking, guided by institute director Michael Seal and other faculty and community advisers. The Vehicle Research Institute is part of WWU's technology department, and, though it has been creating the Viking series of prize-winning experimental internal-combustion cars since 1974, this is WWU's first solar project.