Record-breaking coffee-powered car promotes Fairtrade in Barnard Castle (From The Northern Echo)

Record-breaking coffee-powered car promotes Fairtrade in Barnard Castle

12:18pm Sunday 10th March 2013 in News By Ian Noble, Reporter (Shildon and Spennymoor)

A RECORD-breaking car has returned to its North-East home at the end of a UK tour to help promote the Fairtrade campaign.

Engineer Martin Bacon has taken his coffee powered car to Barnard Castle to help to celebrate Fairtrade fortnight.

The car is powered by coffee chaff pellets, the waste created in coffee production, which is heated in a charcoal fire to break them into carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

The modified 1989 Ford P100 pick up recently set the world speed record for a coffee powered car when it reached 65.5mph.

The car was at the Co-operative Food Store, Barnard Castle, today (Sunday, March 10) where shoppers could view it and see it run.

The visit formed the final part of a UK tour which has seen the vehicle used to highlight the Fairtrade project.

Mr Bacon said: “It has been great to take the record-breaking Bean Machine around the country as part of the Fairtrade campaign.

“It’s great to be back in Barnard Castle at the end of a long UK tour with the Bean Machine car.”

Chris Landin, manager of the Barnard Castle store, said: “I’m sure the eye-catching tour of our coffee car will certainly spark conversations.

“It’s vital that we educate people about the Fairtrade movement and the power it has to change lives.”