Issue (WIWE) status: Submitted, Unpublished

Weak Signal's progress: Advanced

This Weak Signal came from: 
European Commission Framework Programme for RTD

The theme/scheme related to this Weak Signal: 
Theme 2 - Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology

The sub-theme that best relates to this Weak Signal: 
Enabling research

When did the Weak Signal manifest ? 
2005-now

Weak Signal's description: 

The WorldFirst Formula 3 racing car drives down the straight of a test track at Bruntingthorpe near Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. The steering wheel is made from a polymer derived from carrots and other root vegetables while the seat is flax fibre shell, soy bean oil foam and recycled polyester fabric.

Cars powered by chocolate, steered by carrots with drivers sitting on soybean oil foam seats - it's motor racing's cheap, cheerful and environmentally-friendly series of the future.

The biodiesel WorldFirst F3 car, designed as a riposte to Formula One's "carbon excesses," is the brainchild of researchers at the Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre, who developed the prototype for just 220,000 dollars.

The WorldFirst team insist there there is no need to compromise on performance while at the same time "effectively managing the planet's resources."