World's first 'Chocolate Powered Racecar'

off of yahoo.co.uk

No need to check if it's April Fools Day; you really are looking at a real race car that runs on chocolate and is partially made of vegetables. Not only does it exist, it's had its first track test this week in the UK.

The WorldFirst Formula 3 car is the brainchild of James Meredith, Dr Steve Maggs and Dr Kerry Kirwan, three researchers working at the University of Warwick, while the project has come about thanks to Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (WIMRC) based at the university.

Motorsport is traditionally quite a wasteful industry, where the environment and sustainability are mostly ignored in the goal for greater speed, but the aim of the WorldFirst project was to produce a competitive racing car using environmentally sustainable components.

WIMRC managed to convince a host of established motorsport specialist firms to assist with the creation of the car, including Lola, BASF, Lear, Fuchs and Avon Tyres.

Although the car - designed to compete in the Formula 3 class - appears normal, its bodywork is made from a variety of plant-based and recycled materials, including natural fibre woven composites and recycled carbon fibre.

The most unusual features include a steering wheel made out of polymer derived from carrots, wing mirrors constructed in potato starch core and brake pads utilising cashew nut shells.

Powering the racer is a 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine that should be much more efficient than the current petrol units used in Formula 3. It has been optimised to run on bio-diesel too, which can be derived from waste products left over from making chocolate.

Project Manager, James Meredith, said "It's been very exciting working on the project and important for our team to develop a working example of a truly 'Green' motor racing car. The WorldFirst project expels the myth that performance needs to be compromised when developing the sustainable motor vehicles of the future."

Although there are no plans in place to change the whole remit of the Formula 3 series, it's not outside the bounds of reality, as we've seen Formula 1 having to adjust to economic realities in recent years.

Max Mosely, President of the FIA, has reinforced this point by stating "In order to survive we need to concentrate on a more ecological motor sport."

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/01052009/36/world-s-first-chocolate-powered-racer-0.html

"damn it...Per ate the ball joints again...someone go to the market and pick us up some more produce"

watch the United States build a McDonalds powered Nascar Cup Car...

Someone needs to give this chocolate treat to Mojo or Lesley.

Rusty_Rabbit84 wrote: watch the United States build a McDonalds powered Nascar Cup Car...

It would just be slow and bloated.

I'm a "greenie" so to speak, but this is all just a bunch of BS. Seriously...a "green" racecar? come on!

Just because you can include a molecule derived from processing carrots (at what energy expense?) in your plastic polymer...sheesh!

Clem

I dunno man, this Bicycle...while technologically light years behind a Formula car is made almost entirely from vegetation...rims, frame, handlebars...shoot even the epoxy that binds it all together is vegetation based. This type of bike was invented by a researcher in the field of Africa. Not invented in a lab and then recreated in a village...he actually was doing research in Africa and created this, and another design with a 4 foot long loading pad off back behind the seat over the rear wheel (sorry no pic of that one...my phone had no more memory left) to haul over 500lbs of gear 10 miles back and forth each day. it held up for 18 months, and was still in great shape when he left. The next term of his grant, he went and taught the locals to build these...and now theres entire villages in Africa that utilize these everyday for hauling large loads of material. They are ridiculously strong and almost the same weight as any modern commuter bike. I think its not too far fetched that a MOSTLY green body (body at least) can be created this way and still maintain its lightness without generating hundreds of pounds of CO2 as its footprint.

The smell of victory, just like french fries.

The chocolate waste blurb is a marketing stunt. The title makes people think they are pouring chocolate into a fuel tank. Actually they are either using cocoa butter (a cocoa bean oil) for bio diesel or using milk chocolate candy waste as a sugar for yeast to make into grain alcohol, or both.

Sugar waste from candy companies has been used for years to make ethanol. For a while, while gas prices were high, I sold my sugar waste at the bakery, about 100 lbs a week, to a guy who distilled it into ethanol for his delivery truck. He got a 50% yield - made 5 gallons a week from it. Even with my costs and electicity to heat the mash and distill the alcohol he was still making it for about .50/gallon. He had a BATF license and a local permit to do it. When the price of gas went back down he stopped doing it.

Back in the day ethanol plants would be located near a candy company so they could get their sugar waste pumped directly into their mash tanks. Even cleaning water runnoff from spraying down equipment into the floor drains was pumped in as it contained a lot of sugar.