Press releases
A student from Aberdeen has been crowned Britain’s ‘greenest’ driver after a 1,701-mile driving competition across England, Wales and Scotland.
Simon Esselmont, part of the University of Aberdeen’s Formula Student Team, beat students from across Britain in the non-stop Formula Student Diesel Eco Challenge, which was run jointly with Bosch Diesel Systems UK.
The three-day competition in June started in Westminster and went via 43 universities. Teams drove around the clock to reach the finish line in Scotland, with each University responsible for a different leg of the journey.
The winners were announced on Friday (July 5) at Formula Student 2013, which was held at Silverstone. All teams who took part in the challenge also competed at Formula Student, which is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and challenges universities from across the world to design, build and race a single seat racing car from scratch in one year.
The Aberdeen University team came a very respectable 40th place in the competition, which was won by an electric vehicle from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.
Simon won the overall FS Diesel Eco Challenge prize after averaging 85.66mpg during his drive. The City Driving category was won by Lewis Morgan, from the University of Southampton, who averaged 77.74mpg; Lawrence Allmark from Liverpool John Moores claimed the Rural trophy with a score of 81.07mpg; and Adam Stevens from Oxford Brookes University won the Highway prize with a score of 90.42mpg, although his average score was lower.
All four winners had the chance to join three-time British Touring Car Champion Matt Neal for a lap of the iconic Silverstone race track.
Students in the challenge drove a Ford Fiesta, powered by a 1.5-litre TDCi diesel engine, which uses Bosch common rail diesel injectors and a high-pressure Bosch fuel pump.
Their eco-driving ability was measured by on-board computers, before they passed the vehicle onto the next university.
Simon, who’s in his first year of studying engineering at Aberdeen University, said: “I’m delighted to have won - I really wasn’t expecting it.
“You had to drive very slowly at some points - I remember being undertaken by a cyclist while in Aberdeen! It’s so tempting to use the accelerator and put your foot down - takes a lot of restraint not to. “It’s incredibly important to drive as economically as you can, especially with fuel being so expensive at the moment.”
Colin Brown, Director of Engineering at the Institution, said: “It was a brilliant event. The students who took part approached the competition with a genuine excitement and enthusiasm. Engine efficiency is such an important issue in our fuel hungry world and this has been such a great way to get the message across.
“Many congratulations to Simon on his excellent driving." 
David Fulker, head of marketing for Bosch Automotive UK, said: “The Formula Student Diesel Eco Challenge perfectly showcased the clean, economical and powerful features of diesel technology.
Mr Fulker added that the inaugural event had “fully leveraged” the Bosch Gold Sponsorship of Formula Student, and said the competition would return bigger and better next year.