Highly efficient diesel-powered car could be $10 mil contender
McCornack’s Kinetic Vehicles entrant built at I.V. Airport
From our weekly issue dated June 25, 2008
Jack McCornack (seated in MAX) and the crew of Kinetic Vehicles. (Photo provided)
Drivers feeling pinched at the pump can understand the need to squeeze more mileage out of each drop of fuel.
Rising fuel costs and the theory that carbon-based emissions are at the heart of climate change have propelled the market for hybrid and alternatively fueled vehicles (for example, bio-diesel or propane).
Seeking a prompt solution to the crisis, the X-Prize Foundation, a private organization which offers substantial cash prizes to innovators who successfully reach challenging goals, announced in March an automotive challenge: 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.
So far, more than 70 teams from 12 countries and 22 U.S. states have signed a letter of intent to compete for a share of a $10 million prize purse. Among fuel-efficient strategies put forward by contestants are electric, hybrid and diesel vehicles, solar-powered cars, and compressed-air propelled vehicles. The competition efficiently spurs innovation and opens the field to maverick ideas.
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Illinois Valley resident Jack McCornack is no stranger to maverick innovation. Since the 1970s McCornack has developed ultralight aircraft, and he’s the creator of the Switchblade personal glider featured in a recent James Bond film.
McCornack’s interest in build-it-yourself “Locost” sports cars is the underpinning of his team’s entry. His company, Kinetic Vehicles, fabricates parts and kits to create replica Lotus sports cars for sale via the Internet.
McCornack’s entry is dubbed “MAX” for Mother’s Automotive X-Prize, a tribute to the magazine Mother Earth News, which is featuring the story. “My goal,” said the dedicated scrounger, “is to make a high-fuel-mileage vehicle without spending a lot of money.” MAX is a scratch-built bookframe with scavenged Toyota Corolla drive train and an efficient Kubota diesel power plant. His “minimally legal” car, painted Cougar red and white, received a VIN and was registered.
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“As far as I know I am the first entrant with a budget under $1 million to get something on the road,” McCornack said. He recently took “MAX” on a distance road test. He drove 288 miles with promising results. The roadster with a 10-gallon fuel tank was achieving 60-plus miles per gallon, and McCornack reckons that with a bit of streamlining 75 mpg is within reach. Unfortunately, “MAX” was rear-ended in Eureka, and effectively totaled. McCornack and crew will have to rebuild by the end of July to hope to remain competitive.
The X-Prize competition will culminate in two transcontinental races in 2009.
Kinetic Vehicles will be marketing $10,000 kits to create similar vehicles, using a tractor engine and salvaged Geo Metro parts.
Pending support from the Josephine County Airports Dept., which holds the lease on Kinetic Vehicle’s shop space at Illinois Valley Airport, McCornack said, “We’re prepared to manufacture this in the county.”
