Improve my gas mileage! How many times has that thought made it’s way through your brain. People world wide have been saying it for nearly 100 years now ever since the beginning of the industrial age

Although gas mileage devices have nearly doubled the actual mileage most cars get in the last 75 years, progress on this front has never been slower. Looking back over the last 20 years or so you will see very little improvement.

Enter the Auto X Prize competition sponsored by the Progressive auto insurance company. The contest is now underway to build the first 100 mpg car. The contest officially launched in March but you have plenty of time to still get in the race.

Up for grabs is a Whopping $10 million dollar prize and the first individual or group of individuals who can demonstrate 100mgp in a cross-country race, wins the cash.

The races are scheduled to begin in 2009 so if you are game to invent the first car that can provide a solution to the “improve my gas mileage” demands of decades, get building!

The questions are, do you think you have what it takes? What exactly are the rules to win the cash and what is the goals that need to be accomplished?

First off, the goals are pretty obvious. We need cars that are going to be efficient as well as easy on our environment and we also need in a bad way to get off our oil addiction but most important? Improve my gas mileage, of course!

The car that will win needs to be an easy concept that is simple in design and straight forward to understand not to mention something that you and I can work on. That’s a switch!

It needs to be a car that will benefit the entire world and as such this will be global competition. Anyone anywhere can enter. No matter where you come from, your brains are welcome.

The winning car must also be a car that everyone can purchase. Concept cars or idea cars are not allowed. It’s got to be ready for production.

Some of the other rules are those such as only fair and non partisan contestants are allowed. If you are asking yourself what that is…you are pretty safe to enter. Also, fuel efficiency, performance, emission, safety and other issues need to be addressed.

Not to worry with those much though. If you can come up with it and it can be manufactured, then all you shade tree mechanics get on your grease gloves and get to work!

The implications of such a contest are huge! Not only for the winners of the contest but for the entire world in general.

Think of how life could change for you and how the far reaching effects of such an advancement would benefit other industries changing our world before our eyes.

There’s lots more information about this on the net if you know where to start searching so get those fingers and eyeballs working. You never know. Maybe you will be the one to give us all the gas mileage improvement we all really need.