首款巧克力動力環保賽車即將問世
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 of the future."
一款以蔬菜爲材料，以巧克力爲動力供給的新型賽車將於下月問世，這款賽車的時速將達145英里。
設計人員希望這款賽車所應用的環保技術能被邁凱輪、世界冠軍法拉利等F1車隊所採用。
這款賽車名爲“ecoF3”，其方向盤、車身和座椅分別由胡蘿蔔、土豆和大豆製成。
它使用植物油製成的潤滑油，其生化柴油發動機可以巧克力和植物油爲燃料。
這款賽車的零部件由植物纖維與樹脂混制而成，其使用的燃料則由從巧克力中提煉出的油製成。
這是首款使用可持續利用和可再生材料設計和製造的F3賽車。
來自英國西米德蘭茲郡考文垂市華威大學的WorldFirst賽車科研小組希望賽車運動管理部門能更改比賽規則，這樣他們就能參加下季的錦標賽。
由於使用了特殊燃料，這款賽車的發動機不符合目前的參賽規則。
科研小組的一位發言人說：“我們希望F1車隊看到環保賽車的速度不一定慢。
“我們希望將來我們研製的新材料可用於製造F1賽車。”
