Faced with a bucket full of potatoes, cashew shells, hemp, rapeseed oil, wheat, and sugar beet, most of us would try and find some pigs to feed. If your name were Ben Wood, however, you'd snag that bucket, shells and all, add 20,000 British pounds sterling and make a car called the Eco One Speedster.

Designed by a researcher at Warwick University's Manufacturing Group, the department that works with industry, the car took Wood two months to build. The tires are partly made with potato starch, which creates less friction on the road. The brake pads are made from cashew shells blended into a resin, which means brake dust that doesn't hurt the environment. The body is fashioned from hemp and rapeseed oil. It's powered by a Triumph Daytona engine, which was not made from fruits or legumes, but steel. Yet that engine runs on fermented wheat and sugar beet, and still gets to 60 in under 4 and is good all the way up to 150 mph.

The car is 95% biodegradable or recyclable, that last 5% comprising things like its steering wheel, seat and electrics. It is nearly the ultimate expression of what can be done with food -- and we say "nearly" because it still has some plastic components that Ben says could be made from organic items. Ultimately, the aim is to race the car and convert many of its applications to motorsport. In the mean time, for those of you England-way, the car will be on show at the National Science Museum in London from August 28-30.