The Smell of Sustainable Speed: The Sewage-Powered Race Car

Sustainability is rarely described in terms of speed or spectacle, more often it is discussed in terms of rules, limits and gradual improvements overtime.

Sustainability Meets Motorsport

Motorsport is built on the drive to test and push boundaries. The Waste2Race project brings these ideas together by developing a Le Mans Prototype class 3 (LMP3) car that aims to set new hydrogen-powered speed records, including the fastest standing and moving starts over a kilometre and a mile. (Mallows, 2025).

The project is led by Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) and includes students from the University of Warwick. A Ginetta LMP3 car has been built which seeks to demonstrate race cars can be manufactured sustainably without impacting performance. 

Sustainable Materials by Design

The project focused, in part, on the materials chosen and developed. Material choices include recycled carbon fibre; a steering wheel made entirely from cellulose; wing mirrors produced from beetroot waste; and a display screen repurposed from a mobile phone. Every component was chosen based on life cycle assessment methodology. (Warwick.ac.uk, 2025)

Powered by Wastewater Hydrogen

However, what really sets the car apart is how it is fuelled as the car utilises a supercharged V6 engine modified to operate on hydrogen. The Waste2Race car runs on hydrogen which in this case, is a by-product of wastewater treatment processes using technology developed by Wastewater Fuels and trialled with Severn Trent Water. The hydrogen waste product is captured and reused as a sustainable low carbon energy fuel with water vapour as the ultimate byproduct or emission from the car.

Energy Recovery and Engineering Innovation

In order to further improve the efficiency of the car, hub motors have been placed on the front wheels to allow energy production from the use of the brakes. 

The project demonstrates modern engineering can incorporate sustainable design as a methodology within the world of competitive racing, and in this case, gives University students the opportunity for real-world experience as engineers of the future where sustainable design will be at the forefront of technology and manufacturing processes.

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References

Mallows, T. (2025). Engineers hope a sewage-powered car could help motorsport’s quest to be more sustainable. BBC Sport. [online] 28 Jan. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cpvml3l9m01o.

Warwick.ac.uk. (2025). Waste2Race: The sewage-powered car. [online] Available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/news-and-events/news/wmgnews/waste2race_sewage_powered_car/.

Wilkes, S. (2024). ‘Waste2Race’ project: The hydrogen-powered car fuelled by sewage. [online] Driving Hydrogen. Available at: https://drivinghydrogen.com/2024/10/16/waste2race-project-the-hydrogen-powered-car-fuelled-by-sewage/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2026].

Image accreditation: Motorsport (October 2024) from wikimediacommons. Last accessed on 11th February 2026. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2024-10-19_Motorsport,_DTM,_Finale_Hockenheimring_2024_STP_7565.jpg