World's first hydrogen-powered green racing car

The world's first hydrogen-powered racing car, sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry, will race against the Silverstone race circuit clock tomorrow (Saturday 14 July). 

Designed and built by the University of Hertfordshire in England, the new car, which can touch 130 mph and accelerate from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, will be demonstrated at the circuit as part of the Formula Student race weekend organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 

The university reports that the car will produce zero carbon dioxide emissions, will be fuelled by hydrogen from farm waste and will be equally as fast as a petrol-fuelled vehicle.

It was made in the university's new Sustainable Energy Technologies Centre at Hatfield, a campus which has for decades produced talent entering the UK and international automotive industries.

The university now has at least one graduate working on every Formula 1 racing team.

John Goddard, working on his UH PhD and one of the two people to be with the car tomorrow at Silverstone, said this week:

"Usually if a car is run on hydrogen we would expect it to lose performance but in this case we have found a way to get optimum performance from the engine."