Wednesday, February 9, 2011
   Lowest Car: Japanese high school team sets world record
 ASAKUCHI, Okayama, Japan -- Students at Okayama Sanyo High School's Automobile Department in the Okayama Prefecture city of Asakuchi developed a new single-seater electric car named "Mirai" (future) which runs at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour and measures around 45 centimeters in height - setting the new world record for the Lowest Car .
 Photo: Students from the Automobile Department of Okayama Sanyo High School pose for a photograph with the World's Lowest Carin Okayama. Photo: Mainichi ( enlarge photo )

  "We faced some hardships, but I'm happy that we never gave up," one student said, gaining smiling agreement from his classmates.

  The previous Guinness world record for the Lowest roadworthy carmeasures 48.26 cm (19 in) from the ground to roof an is called "The Flatmobile". It was created by Perry Watkins (UK) in Aylesbury, England.

Guinness World Records also recognized the Lowest fuel consumption driving around a city (hybrid car) record: 3.46 l/100 km (1.22 UK gal/100 miles; 1.47 US gal/100 miles), achieved by Veit Hofrichter, Uwe Tobian and Michael Tück (all Germany), who drove in relay a Toyota Auris Hybrid for Toyota Deutschland GmbH (Germany) for 24 hours around Cologne on a 35.3 km (22.06 miles) long predefined round course.

In March last year, students at Okayama Sanyo High School's Automobile Department in the Okayama Prefecture city of Asakuchi learned about a car holding the Guinness World Record for the lowest height.

  The students then decided to develop a car that measures around 45 centimeters in height -- about 2.5 centimeters lower than the record -- by using their ingenuity, such as cutting off the upper part of the steering wheel.

  You can see some of the process of creating this automotive record attempt on their school blog (parts 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , and 8 ). Sorry, it?s in Japanese, but there are a lot of photos so you can pretty much figure out what they are doing in each one.

   The Lowest Car in The World whiz down the road for approximately 50 miles on a single charge.

   The meager distance it can cover between charges seems more than acceptable, though, when you learn that the car measures a mere 18 inches tall.

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