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.

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.