Formula 3 car that runs on, er, chocolate

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) might sound like a fairly dull organisation. But the group, which pumps around £800 million a year into research and development in the physical sciences, certainly boasts a few people with a sense of adventure.

Take one of its flagship projects for this year - a racing car made of vegetables which runs on chocolate. Created by boffins and students at the University of Warwick, the car is designed to highlight how even the most carbon guzzling things can be greenified.

The Formula 3 racing car is capable of reaching top speeds of around 125MPH despite being composed of a medley of vegetables. The steering wheel is created from a polymer derived from carrots and the bodywork is a mixture of starch and flax fibre. Even the steering wheel lubricants are plant based.

Best of all is the fact that it runs using a biodiesel engine which runs on fuel extracted from chocolate and vegetable oil.

There's more information on the project and the organisation here.

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