Off the blocks: Herts team with their world-leading hydrogen car

The competition, backed by global companies including Honda F1, Toyota, Shell and Airbus, is to build the best overall car – not just the fastest – designed as a prototype for an imaginary manufacturing firm. The machine in question is a single-seat boy racer for grown-ups, amateurs with no more than £16,000 to spend on their weekend hobby. So it needs it to be quick, but also safe, and have very high performance in terms of acceleration, braking, and handling qualities. On top of that it must be low in cost, easy to maintain, reliable, comfortable, with good looks and easily replaceable parts… In other words, you can't just stick an engine on a set of wheels and drive like a lunatic.

If the challenge to build a high-performance racing car sounds a little out of touch with our eco-conscious times, FS's organisers are stout in its defence. John Wood, deputy president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE) and FS's chairman, put the case in an article for The Independent :

"People sometimes ask me if we should be encouraging students to build race cars in an era dogged by so many environmental problems. My answer to that is an unequivocal yes. When resources are scarce we cannot afford to build anything that uses more energy and materials than it needs – that is fundamental to race car engineering."

The argument, it's fair to say, is a little shaky on its feet; FS's practical response to the environmental agenda is, however, more convincing. 2008 included a new Class 1A in the competition: 'A', here, stands for "Alternative", with teams competing to design a vehicle that uses low-carbon technology. The challenge for the pilot competition was taken up by three teams, all from UK universities – Oxford Brookes, Hertfordshire and Coventry – who each found different ways of reducing CO₂ emissions. Oxford Brookes opted for a hybrid petrol-electric engine, Coventry went for biofuels, while Hertfordshire entered what’s claimed as the world’s first hydrogen-powered race car.

Alistair Wardrope, a PhD student and leader of the winning Herts team, commented: "You could run this car indoors. Unlike a conventional petrol car, there would be no need for extractors." Their machine, a converted FS race car, runs completely on renewable fuel, produces no carbon dioxide emissions and has power close to an equivalent petrol car. The team used a modified motorbike engine fuelled by 600g of compressed hydrogen, created in a sustainable process that begins with rotting farm waste – sufficient to complete the 26km endurance test for the Class 1A competition.

Judging by the column inches in the motoring press, FS's entry into the alternative energy field is likely to have real impact on the industry – these students are, after all, the people who will design tomorrow’s low-carbon vehicles. An Imperial College team are, reportedly, planning to enter the first hydrogen fuel-cell car in next year's FS competition.

The three pioneering teams, whose designs all met the stringent CO₂ standards for the competition, have set an impressive benchmark for future years. Pat Symonds, technical director of Renault F1, and a FS ambassador, commented: "The challenge is C0₂ reduction. Scientists are good at pointing out problems but not solving them, so they turn to engineers for solutions. Oxford Brookes, Hertfordshire and Coventry are all producing cars that meet these challenges."