Car built by Wiltshire pupils clocks 2,000 mpg

The aerodynamic car was built by students and driven by a 12-year-old pupil

A car built by Wiltshire school pupils has clocked more than 2,000 miles per gallon in the annual UK Eco-Marathon.

Kingdown School in Warminster took first place in the schools race to find the most energy-efficient vehicle at Mallory Park track, near Leicester.

The car, driven by a 12-year-old student, travelled the equivalent of 2,051 miles on a single gallon of fuel.

Teacher David Leater said he was pleased as the second placed school "was at least 1,000 mpg behind us".

The aim of the Eco-Marathon is to complete the course using the least fuel possible while maintaining a minimum speed of 15mph.

Last year, Kingdown School took the top prize for schools when its aerodynamic car reached a 1,980 mile per gallon efficiency.

But this year Oliver Dooley, a Year 7 student, managed to achieve a best run of more than 2,000 miles per gallon.

This year's result also placed the school third in the overall event behind Bath University and Cambridge University.

Mr Leater said: "The school prize is lovely but we're really pleased at being third in the UK.

"We were only 300 miles per gallon behind Cambridge, which equates to one millilitre of fuel, which is amazing for a school."

Ahead of next year's challenge, the team are planning to upgrade the engine in their energy-efficient vehicle.