As bizarre it may sound a university team in the UK has developed an eco-friendly race car designed to run on chocolate and vegetable oil. The new race car is the ecoF3 from WorldFirst, a small team from Warwick University in the UK, which envisages the car – or at least some of its technologies – one day being used in a FIA-sanctioned motorsport competition.

The ecoF3 has a steering wheel made from carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans. Vegetable fibres derived from the produce are mixed with resins to form many of the components, while oils sourced from chocolate and other plant-based materials are refined to produce fuel and lubricants.

The WorldFirst team has used a F3 chassis design for its race car, though the car and its engine fails to meet current FIA regulations.

Speaking with the Telegraph, a spokesman from the team said the backers of the project hope “Formula One teams will see that an environmentally friendly car is not necessarily a slow car.” According to WorldFirst’s own results, the ecoF3 is capable of speeds of up to 145mph but no other numbers of independent figures have been released.