The ecoF3
A university team in the UK has developed an eco-friendly racing car designed to run on chocolate and vegetable oil. The new racing car is the ecoF3 from WorldFirst, a small team from Warwick University in the UK, which envisages the car – or at least some of its technologies – one day being used in a FIA-sanctioned motorsport competition.
The ecoF3 has a steering wheel made from carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans. Vegetable fibres derived from the produce are mixed with resins to form many of the components, while oils sourced from chocolate and other plant-based materials are refined to produce fuel and lubricants.
The WorldFirst team has used a F3 chassis design for its racing car, though the car and its engine fails to meet current FIA regulations. Speaking with the Telegraph, a spokesman from the team said the backers of the project hope “Formula One teams will see that an environmentally friendly car is not necessarily a slow car.”
According to WorldFirst´s own results, the ecoF3 is capable of reaching speeds of up to 233km/h but no other numbers of independent figures have been released.
(Drive Times, 30 April 2009)
