Video: University of Warwick demonstrates chocolate-powered racing car

Researchers from the University of Warwick have been demonstrating a 'green' racing car made from recycled materials and which runs on bio-diesel made from chocolate waste products.

The Formula 3 car, named Worldf3rst, was built by scientists from the university's WMG spin-off (formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group). It's based on a car made by manufacturer Lola.

To see Ben Wood from the University of Warwick explain how the car was put together, see our video below. You can also see Dr Guy Barker speaking about the university's 'bio-reactor' which converts waste products into usable ones.

The car on show at the Gadget Show Live event in Birmingham is a reproduction of the original, which is on display at the Warwick campus.

It has a steering wheel made from a polymer derived from carrots, a flax-fibre and soy bean seat, potato-starch fibre end-plates and glass fibre side pods made from recycled bottles. You can see a full explanation of the materials from which the car was built on the World First Racing website.

The university is also demonstrating the bio-reactor it uses as part of its Wealth out of Waste project. Unlike other bio-reactors, this one uses bacteria and fungi which make it more suitable for producing pharmaceuticals, polymers and lubricants. Some of the materials made from the process went into the production of the Formula 3 car.

The bio-reactor, car and other products such as a 3D printer and scanner are on display at the University of Warwick's stand at the Gadget Show Live 2011 in Birmingham.

To see all of our reporting from the show, click here to read our Gadget Show Live news blog.