I figured that some of you might be interested in some of the other stuff we do at the VRI. I had been hijacking another thread with pictures of Viking 32 and I figured I should start a new one. We are the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University. In addition to FSAE cars we compete in Mini-Baja and Tour de Sol. We also do research work for the government and industry. A big emphasis for the work here has always been fuel efficiency and low emissions without sacrificing performance.

Viking 32’s body came back from paint the other day and got put on the chassis for the first time. I figured some of you might like to see some pictures. We built it with a grant from the DoT to research energy absorbing structures for crash safety.





Here with Viking 23
More info about Viking 23 is available at www.viking23.org


The main VRI website is http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/index.htm
There is info on the other cars there.

Our cars get a Viking number based on the order they were built in. Currently we are working on

Viking 35 - Formula SAE

Viking 36 and Viking 37 – Mini Baja

Viking 23 – Electric/Bio-diesel hybrid for the Tour de Sol
Full carbon fiber body and carbon fiber chassis
Electric motor front drive
Bio-diesel rear drive

Viking 32 – Electric/CNG hybrid - a showcase for Dept of Transportation research and for Tour de Sol
New crush structures to absorb energy in an impact
Electric motor front drive
Compressed natural gas Honda civic engine for the rear drive
Full carbon fiber body
Carbon fiber/Steel space frame chassis

We pulled Viking XX, our solar car, out of storage yesterday to clean it up for Dr. Seal’s retirement party. It’s the first time most of us have seen it outside of its storage container. It’s a remarkable car.

When the sun moves to the other side of the sky later in the day the car is turned around so that the sloping solar panel can take maximum advantage of the sun's changing position. The two occupants sit back to back. Both seating positions have full controls – steering, throttle, brakes, etc. The passenger and driver switch roles without changing seats when the car is turned around.

It was 2nd in the 1990 GM Sunrayce USA (Orlando to Detroit), 5th in the 1990 World Solar Challenge in Australia, and 1st in the California Clean Air Race (Sacramento to Los Angles). In all the races it was the first 2-person vehicle to finish.

More about V20 on the VRI website.

james
you certainly have an inpressive line up of prototype vehicles at uni, must make it enjoyable to have them all complete, cant beat the red FD rx7 parked in the background though!

Mark Hester
chief engineer
rmit 2004

the rx7 is dr. seals ride, the professor who is retiring. who says old guys dont drive fast...

...dont forget the ev1 back there too!

The white Honda Civic in between the RX7 and the EV1 is a hybrid and belongs to Dr. Seal’s wife. A strange trio for sure.

Viking 23 and Viking 32 just came back from Tour de Sol, an event for “green vehicles” – environmentally friendly.

Viking 32 is our latest full size car. At the competition it did the 350 foot acceleration event in 6.4 seconds at 74mph. One of the guys figured out 0-60mph in about 5.18 seconds. New Tour de Sol record - not exactly as quick as a FSAE car but this one can haul 4 people and gets 45-50 miles per gallon (gas equivalent).

This is a video of V32 burnouts. (47.5MB)

Same video just lower resolution. (2.7MB)

Nice music to the videos guys..

Dr. Seal has spent the last few years working on a sort of restoration with Viking 7. Today was the first day it has driven in quite a while.

Previously it had rear mounted Subaru turbo engine. Now it has a V6 from a Ford Taurus SHO. The body is all composite – glass and Kevlar. The chassis is riveted aluminum sheets. From what I understand it is a pretty stiff chassis. With the new heavier drivetrain the car should weigh in around 1500 pounds and have about 220 horsepower.
The car was originally built in the early 1980’s. Now it has new paint and the interior will be restored soon. We are all lining up to take rides in it right now.

James...you need to give 7's muffler a good swift kick towards the drivers side