Could a car be more Canadian?

When the team from Saskatchewan Polytechnic's Saskatoon campus set out to design the most energy-efficient car possible, they ended up using hockey sticks to build the frame and the engine from an ice auger to power it.

Why?

"Just to see if we can," said the team's Brad Rettger.

We kind of want to get first now that we've had a taste of it. - Brad Rettger

The crew's design earned second at the Shell Eco-marathon Drivers' World Championship this past weekend in London, UK.

Checkered flag flub

The second place finish came with a bit of an extra sting.

"We were told that we had finished first," said Rettger. "The other team still had one more lap to go."

For close to an hour, the Saskatoon crew thought they had won and that a team from Indonesia had placed second. But it was a mix-up, because there were actually two cars from Indonesia.

"They re-checked the footage," said Rettger, in an interview with CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning. "Unfortunately we did cross the finish line second."

Despite the mix-up, Rettger said the team is very proud of the work they've done and remain confident that, if they had just been a little more aware of exactly what was happening out on the track, they could have claimed the top prize.

"We kind of want to get first now that we've had a taste of it."