Gavin at the eco-car marathon

Fast cars burn a lot of fuel but this is a very different race - one where the aim is for kids to design a car that is less harmful to the environment.

Gavin went to hang out with a team from Wyvern School to follow their fortunes in the eco-car marathon.

"Motor racing is one of my favourite sports! It's so exciting watching the cars zip round the track at high speed. And the fun is to see who crosses the finish line first.

So the eco-marathon kind of changed the rules a bit. The idea behind it was to find the car which made the best use of its fuel over seven laps.

It didn't really matter how fast they went, the car that used the least petrol was the winner. So not your usual type of race. Top Formula One drivers like Lewis Hamilton might find it difficult!

Global competition

Testing the car

Lots of teams had entered, from places all over the world like Italy, and even as far away as Japan. And I can tell you, the paddock was rammed when my crew and I got there, with people making their final adjustments to their cars.

Quite a few kids had teams, with cars they'd built from scratch. And they'd put plenty of hard work in. Some of the designs looked really cool. I was following the Wyvern Community team near Weston-Super-Mare in the south west of England. They entered last year too, and were hoping to do better this time around.

Teams took it in turns to set off round the track - they didn't race head to head. A driver was chosen to control the car round the circuit. I really wanted to have a go too - but the cars were so small, I would have struggled to get in it!

Problems

The team finish the car

The team I was tracking were very unfortunate - they had a few car problems. They tried their car out, but it just kept breaking down!

The guys kept trying to fix it, but nothing seemed to work. I felt really sorry for the driver, Mitchell.

Back at base in the paddock everyone seemed dejected, and understandably so. They'd put so much work into their car, only to see it falter every time they attempted a lap. Gutting.

But they assured me they would all enter the competition again next year. And one thing's for sure, they definitely deserve much better luck when they do!"

Gavin