Eco-Friendly F3 Car To Hit The Track
Chocolate-fuelled 'Flying Carrot' racer to compete at Brands Hatch
Flying Carrot in alll its veg-based glory
The F3 car, known officially as the WorldFirst but affectionately as the Flying Carrot, has been permitted to enter an F3 race at the Formula Ford Festival, despite not exactly confirming to the sport's technical regulations.
The engine is a heavily modified BMW turbodiesel tweaked to run on biofuel, while the body uses vegetable fibres (cellulose nanofibres in science-speak) and carbon fibre recycled from the aerospace industry.
The cockpit, wheels and tyres conform to normal F3 specifications, although the steering wheel is made from carrots (no, we can't believe we've just written that either). Of course, in accordance with the time-honoured rules of vegetable comedy, the steering wheel is not orange. "We don't know why it turned out purple," says Kerry Kirwan, a senior researcher on the project. "Perhaps there was some beetroot in it."
Flying Carrot cost £500,000 to develop and has been built by the Warwick Manufacturing Group at Warwick university with the financial and technical support of more than 50 companies, including Lola and Scott Racing.
The idea behind the project is to show that motorsport and ecological thinking can mix. "We want to show that green can be sexy," says Mr Kirwan. "You can still do exciting things, using recycled and sustainable materials."
The driving seat will be filled by 21-year-old Aaron Steele, a well-regarded young racing prospect, and Kirwan is bullish about the Flying Carrot's chances. "We haven't entered to come last," he says.
The Flying Carrot can reach 60mph in 2.0sec (quicker than a regular F3 car) and manages 35mpg at race speeds. Nobody on the WorldFirst project will comment on the chances of seeing the Flying Carrot in a night race though...
You also may or may not know (care?)that they are originally from Afghanistan
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html ("Discover the power of carrots" - extraordinary)
You also may or may not know (care?)that they are originally from Afghanistan
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/history.html ("Discover the power of carrots" - extraordinary)
i have had accidents in the past as ALL racing drivers have, it is how you learn... i wonder how many times you have crashed driving on the road? hmm..
Secondly, you may have noticed that in the article it says:
"The driving seat will be filled by 21-year-old Aaron Steele, a well-regarded young racing prospect"
considering that you don't know me or anything factual to do with me, i wonder how you can agree with the above comment?
I am IN FACT, a B.R.D.C Rising star, something that is granted to young up coming drivers, something you have to show talent to achieve!
Do you think it was by luck then or talent that this year i was A1 GP Team GBR's rookie driver for the final round at Brands Hatch?
i have had accidents in the past as ALL racing drivers have, it is how you learn... i wonder how many times you have crashed driving on the road? hmm..
Secondly, you may have noticed that in the article it says:
"The driving seat will be filled by 21-year-old Aaron Steele, a well-regarded young racing prospect"
considering that you don't know me or anything factual to do with me, i wonder how you can agree with the above comment?
I am IN FACT, a B.R.D.C Rising star, something that is granted to young up coming drivers, something you have to show talent to achieve!
Do you think it was by luck then or talent that this year i was A1 GP Team GBR's rookie driver for the final round at Brands Hatch?
I wouldn't worry about it Aaron, 90% of "pistonheads" haven't got a clue about racing anyway, or driving full stop for that matter. No doubt i'm going to be shot down for saying this now, with a million "my friend said" and "but i've driven at the ring" comments, but at the end of the day they're just billies - who gives a s
t. Good luck with testing
however i am very much looking forward to the weekend and the amount of media attention is quite astonishing!
I think a fair few people may turn up to just see the car, i have already tested it, so anybody with any genuine question, feel free to ask!
so we need to change the setup on the test day of the weekend to get it working the tyres in the correct way.
The aero is the standard to the original specified lola, so it will have a good amount of downforce similar in levels to cars of the same age, which is what it will be racing against.
With regards to power, i would say the car is a little down on power on a standard f3 car, but we will be tuning the map of the engine on the test day to sort this. Getting certain information about the engine from BMW isnt the easiest thing in the world as you can imagine!!
power delivery is similar again to a normal f3, which is designed to have a lot of low down torque, and with this being a diesel.... it will be no different, exact levels i am not sure of, but the diesel may possibly have more!
One other thing that a couple of people have said about the top speed. Because this is a diesel and is lower revving it requires lower gear ratio's. The ratio's in the car are the lowest that can be bought, off the shelf, however the top one is not quite there and a little low, so a custom final ratio is being manufactured as we speak, which should give the car around a 150mph top speed, which for brands hatch indy circuit, is plenty!
I am very confident in the car and myself enough to say you will see it on the podium that weekend!
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