MOTORSPORT-MAD Oxford Brookes University students are hoping to be first past the post in their very own fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly hybrid racing car.

The team of students have created the vehicle to take part in the Formula Student competition, the second time a Brookes team has brought a working hybrid car to the contest.

Koen Sannen, who is 22, is studying for a Masters degree in motorsports, and said: “It’s the future because we’re running out of fossil fuels.

“Motorsports has always been the top of automotive engineering so it’s really important that it takes the step to alternative fuels and energies.”

The team took their prototype vehicle to the Houses of Parliament to showcase it to MPs, who dropped by Old Palace Yard to see it for themselves.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn was among those who checked out the hybrid.

He said: “I’ve been really impressed with the keenness of the students and the efforts they’re making. These young people are helping to build the future, let’s hope this car is part of it.”

The car the students are working on, which they will race against other students’ low-carbon vehicles at Silverstone in July and possibly in Italy in September, has a much smaller engine than a conventional race car, backed up by an electric motor.

Last year, Brookes was the only university which brought a working hybrid race car to the starting grid, competing in the low-carbon category against a hydrogen-powered machine from the University of Hertfordshire and a biofuel car from Coventry.