Avion: The Lightweight Sports Car

On Saturday, October 11, Craig Henderson smashed his old World Book record (103.7MPG) and set a new world record in fuel economy (113.1MPG) when he drove his lightweight and aerodynamic automobile - the Avion - from the Canadian border to the Oregon border.

Henderson, a native of Bellingham, WA, completed the first Avion prototype in 1984 and drove into the Guinness Book of World Records in 1986, after a border-to-border trip that averaged 103.7 miles per gallon. In that record-setting trip, he drove along the West Coast from Mexico to Canada.

This time, he started at the Canadian border (Bellingham, Wa.) at 7:25 am on October 11 and ended at the Oregon border at Fort Vancouver at 1:00pm. Henderson traveled 263.1 miles and used 2.326 gallons of diesel averaging 113.1 miles per gallon, even 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 that 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," says Henderson with understated pride. "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 twenty five years ago."

"I am thrilled to be able to break our old record. This was a personal goal achieved for me and now we set our sites on the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. We are in the process of building another car to compete and hopefully win the X PRIZE and we are seeking corporate or personal sponsorship to help us meet or goals," Henderson said.

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