Coffee-powered car completes trip

12 March 2010

A coffee-powered car named the "car-puccino" has completed a 250-mile trip from London to Manchester.

Engineer Jem Stansfield, presenter of the BBC1 show Bang Goes The Theory, who built the car at his home in Brighton with the help of his friends, started the trip from BBC TV Centre in London and passed through Birmingham, Coventry and Crewe.

The car, which resembles the Back To The Future DeLorean, utilised used coffee grounds - the equivalent of more than 11,000 espressos - and stopped every 60 miles to refuel.

The boot of the 1988 VW Scirocco, bought on eBay for £400, was fitted with a furnace that roasted coffee grounds to generate flammable vapours that fuelled the engine.

Dermot Caulfield, series editor on Bang Goes The Theory, said the trip took approximately 17 hours as the traffic jams put pressure on the engine.

He explained: "It didn't necessarily break down, we just had to make sure it wasn't overheating and cool it down."

The trip's finale was "very emotional" for people cheered as the car approached the finish at the Big Bang science fair in Manchester's city centre, he added.

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