Been a while since the last post, "Practical Is", and we have been busy doing the things that average American families do. Football, Cub Scouts, Family Reunions, and School have occupied the time of the BITW Technologies Team.
The Progressive Automotive X-Prize Web Site had some fan voter contests this summer and one was "Most Practical". We are proud to say that the Vincitore' 1000 got 4th place in the rankings and was top of class in the "Most Practical" Fan Vote. In the "Most Wanted" category it received 5th place, and 2nd in class to the Illuminati 7. It is a great daily driver and commuter and is capable of hauling passengers short and long distances. This week it was used to travel to Washington D.C. to attend the Awards Ceremony for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X-Prize. The route covered the hills of Kentucky to the Mountains of West Virginia and Virginia. A route that has some serious hill climbing. The Vincitore' 1000 (VK) was once again up to the task. Hills are no problem. George and his family are very familiar with D.C., having lived there for a number of years, so the traffic is not an issue. Parking may be, however, as parking in D.C. has never been easy.
We are waiting to see who the winners of each class are going to be. George is the only team member attending the event. Logistically speaking, it was very hard to fit it in to every ones schedule. One thing that may not be known about our team is that we don't all live in the same town. The team members with the closest distance would be Bob Boyd and Bob Voll, at about 8 miles. George is about 8 miles from them. Dan is North 100 miles away and Dave is South 130 miles away. Mark approx 110 miles South East and Robert 120 Miles North of the Garage. Brian lives about 15 miles away but works out of town frequently and could not work on the project on a regular basis. We were all able to work on specific projects to apply to the VK at our respective locations. Had we been closer, the outcome would have been much better. We accomplished something that many teams couldn't at a very low cost.
The event represents the end of a chapter in the BITW Technologies story but not the end of an idea. As we have stated before, we are continuing to refine the vehicle powertrain and are looking at some new platforms to apply the technology to. We have been collecting more data on the road time also. We still have some options open that we have been examining. We might write a Do It Yourself manual since we have talked to a lot of people that have been interested. It could be the fastest way to get this technology on the streets and highways of America. Stay tuned, you will see it here first!
