A new racing car made of vegetables and powered by chocolate will hit speeds of 145 miles per hour when it is launched next month.
Designers hope the environmentally-friendly technology used in their car will be adopted by Formula 1 teams such as McLaren and world champions Ferrari.
The car, named ecoF3, has a steering wheel made of carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans.
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.
It is the first Formula 3 racing car designed and made from sustainable and renewable materials.
The WorldFirst team, from Warwick University, in Coventry, West Mids, hope racing chiefs will change the rules so they can compete in championship 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 in the future.”
一款以蔬菜為材料,以巧克力為動(dòng)力供給的新型賽車(chē)將于下月問(wèn)世,這款賽車(chē)的時(shí)速將達(dá)145英里。
設(shè)計(jì)人員希望這款賽車(chē)所應(yīng)用的環(huán)保技術(shù)能被邁凱輪、世界冠軍法拉利等F1車(chē)隊(duì)所采用。
這款賽車(chē)名為“ecoF3”,其方向盤(pán)、車(chē)身和座椅分別由胡蘿卜、土豆和大豆制成。
它使用植物油制成的潤(rùn)滑油,其生化柴油發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)可以巧克力和植物油為燃料。
這款賽車(chē)的零部件由植物纖維與樹(shù)脂混制而成,其使用的燃料則由從巧克力中提煉出的油制成。
這是首款使用可持續(xù)利用和可再生材料設(shè)計(jì)和制造的F3賽車(chē)。
來(lái)自英國(guó)西米德蘭茲郡考文垂市華威大學(xué)的WorldFirst賽車(chē)科研小組希望賽車(chē)運(yùn)動(dòng)管理部門(mén)能更改比賽規(guī)則,這樣他們就能參加下季的錦標(biāo)賽。
由于使用了特殊燃料,這款賽車(chē)的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)不符合目前的參賽規(guī)則。
科研小組的一位發(fā)言人說(shuō):“我們希望F1車(chē)隊(duì)看到環(huán)保賽車(chē)的速度不一定慢?!?/p>
“我們希望將來(lái)我們研制的新材料可用于制造F1賽車(chē)。”