John
04-23-2009, 06:53 PM
The world's first environmentally-friendly racing car, made of vegetables and powered by chocolate, will be launched next month.
The 145mph ecoF3 has a steering wheel made of carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans.
It is the first Formula 3 racing car designed and made from sustainable and renewable materials, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Designers hope the technology used in their car will be adopted by Formula 1 teams such as McLaren and Ferrari.
It uses plant-oil based lubricants and a biodiesel engine capable of running on chocolate and vegetable oil.
Vegetable fibres are mixed with resins to produce the car parts and the oils in the chocolate are refined to produce fuel.
The WorldFirst team, from Warwick University, hope racing chiefs will change the rules so they can compete in races next season.
The engine fails to meet current regulations because of its unusual fuel.
A team spokesman said: "We hope the Formula 1 teams will see that an environmentally friendly car is not necessarily a slow car.
"We expect our new materials to be used by the Formula 1 cars of the future."
The 145mph ecoF3 has a steering wheel made of carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans.
It is the first Formula 3 racing car designed and made from sustainable and renewable materials, reports the Daily Telegraph.
Designers hope the technology used in their car will be adopted by Formula 1 teams such as McLaren and Ferrari.
It uses plant-oil based lubricants and a biodiesel engine capable of running on chocolate and vegetable oil.
Vegetable fibres are mixed with resins to produce the car parts and the oils in the chocolate are refined to produce fuel.
The WorldFirst team, from Warwick University, hope racing chiefs will change the rules so they can compete in races next season.
The engine fails to meet current regulations because of its unusual fuel.
A team spokesman said: "We hope the Formula 1 teams will see that an environmentally friendly car is not necessarily a slow car.
"We expect our new materials to be used by the Formula 1 cars of the future."