Monday 30th July 2007

Racing Greens

Eco-One demonstrates how veg can be made exciting

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Dr. Kerry Kirwan and student Ben Wood from the Warwick Manufacturing Group (Warwick University’s department which provides solutions to industry) should be hailed as motoring gods. They have designed a fun, fast and (moderately) good looking one seater racing car

that is 95% recyclable.

This means that we no longer have to think about filling our fuel tanks with chip fat, or even hydrogen to be green – the Eco-One is fuelled by a cocktail of fermented wheat and sugar beet.

The bodywork is made from hemp and rapeseed oil, its tyres are made using potato starch and its brake pads are made from cashew nut shells.

Dr. Kirwan designed the Eco-One, while Ben Wood put it together. Construction took around two months and cost £20,000.

Ben Wood comments: “All the plastic components can be made from plants and although the chassis has to be made from steel for strength, steel is a very recyclable material. If we can build a high-performance car that can virtually be grown from seed, just imagine what’s possible for the average family car.”

The car is propelled by a Triumph Daytona motorbike engine and will do 0-62mph in less than four seconds, before going on to its 150mph top speed. Tasty.

[speedychrissie]

i saw this in a paper recently and it does look interesting but one quote from the paper was that:

"the tyres which are part made from potatoes provide less resistance with the road therefore absorb less energy" (or words very similar to those).

surely that is saying that these tyres are better because they give less grip!!! how can that be true?

[fuoriserie]

very interesting concept.....but its tyres made using potato starch ?,

I like the idea of a lightweight sportscar , they now need to make the design, as interesting as the materials used to build it...

Edited by fuoriserie on Monday 30th July 14:36

[Strawman]

speedychrissie said:

"the tyres which are part made from potatoes provide less resistance with the road therefore absorb less energy" (or words very similar to those).

surely that is saying that these tyres are better because they give less grip!!! how can that be true?

Not a good idea in a performance car I agree, but valid for an economy vehicle, less rolling road resistance = better fuel economy, some mainstream tyre manufacturers offer economy tyres and some cars have them fitted as standard, like the Lupo 3l (3litres/100km) but they can be tricky in the wet so aren't a popular choice. For this car I guess they were just showcasing different ideas hence the choice of tyre.

[FossilFuelled]

Isn't that radiator slighty too exposed to stones thrown by the front wheel? ... just a thought, could be wrong.

[sprinter885]

I bet Ken Livingstone would introduce a new Indigestion Charge for it in London...........

[MidnightDriver]

I love the idea, but generally speakin arn't most of the recycle-able materials this car is made from fragile,and flamable for that matter as well?

Edited by MidnightDriver on Monday 30th July 15:41

[flattotheboards]

make it road legal and it would be a great alternative to all the eco friendly cars.

[sprinter885]

Strawman said:

speedychrissie said:

"the tyres which are part made from potatoes provide less resistance with the road therefore absorb less energy" (or words very similar to those).

surely that is saying that these tyres are better because they give less grip!!! how can that be true?

Not a good idea in a performance car I agree, but valid for an economy vehicle, less rolling road resistance = better fuel economy, some mainstream tyre manufacturers offer economy tyres and some cars have them fitted as standard, like the Lupo 3l (3litres/100km) but they can be tricky in the wet so aren't a popular choice. For this car I guess they were just showcasing different ideas hence the choice of tyre.

Wonder which variety are best..Kind Edwards, Marris Piper or even Jersey Royals..?? Anyway I don't see a big problem-I've had some crispy skins that were bloody tough.

[Road_Terrorist]

speedychrissie said:

surely that is saying that these tyres are better because they give less grip!!! how can that be true?

less grip = more fun

[Dave Dax builder]

sprinter885 said:

I bet Ken Livingstone would introduce a new Indigestion Charge for it in London...........

Well I thought this was funny if no one else did.

[tomTVR]

When im looking to buy a performance car the last thing i want are cashew nut brakes.

I bet the 100-0 time is measured in minutes.

[Konrod]

Not sure how durable it would be in extreme conditions - too hot and it would be all bubble and squeak..........

[Calorus]

REEEEEEPOST!

ETA:

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Try this for your carbon footprint

Edited by Calorus on Monday 30th July 18:10

[Frik]

Presumably this is a car built to the Formula Student rulebook?

No mention of it in the article.

[Mafioso]

He wants to get his tracking for his front wheels sorted surely!?

[blunder13]

Dave Dax builder said:

sprinter885 said:

I bet Ken Livingstone would introduce a new Indigestion Charge for it in London...........

Well I thought this was funny if no one else did.

I thought it was funny too!

[bencollins]

aren't tyres curently made from vulcanised rubber? i.e. sap from a plant.

[FestivAli]

That's all good now crash it...

Actually, despite my cynicism, thumbs up. I do wonder how expensive it would be to fill up though, sounds like a pretty unique fuel source. The potato tyres sounds a little suss, as do the cashew nut brakes, but the resin bodywork doesn't worry me; there are cars out there with plastic bodywork over a steel chassis and given that resin is like a plastic, and that plastic is made from oil anyway, its not a massively radical departure.

Mass production issues? there are cheaper nuts out there than cashews; I'm guessing a ton of cashews would be a lot more expensive than a ton of steel, the fuel would probably need changing to something like ethanol, and I wouldn't bet on a 5 star NCAP rating...

[varsas]

so it's powered by beer? A car after my own heart.

[PeteFf]

"its brake pads are made from cashew nut shells". I've had some of those Oriental brake pads but I think mine were compressed cardboard. Tyres made from turnips would be harder compound and should last longer.