Pupils achieve world record for fastest toilet

Engineering enthusiasts clinched a Guinness World Record title for building the fastest toilet.

A team of Harington School pupils travelled to Elvington Airfield to put their home-made go-kart to the ultimate test.

Thomas Ellis, Robbie English, Will Beaty and Joe Summers smashed the record which was previously held by Stamford inventor and YouTube sensation Colin Furze.

Mr Furze had designed a toilet which travelled at 53.25mph but the Oakham teenagers smashed it with their speed of 70.55mph.

They said: “Harington School encouraged the initial idea of breaking a record and alerted us to potential local funding opportunities. When we came up with a plan they took a gamble and trusted us to see it through. They let us out on Fridays!

“Building the toilet was a real engineering experience that enhanced our applications for university places.”

The go-kart features a 250cc engine and was built using materials from a local steel supplier. The friends worked on their design at school and honed it over the summer holidays.

They added an RPM counter to aid gear selection, tested and tuned the engine, adjusted the fuel mix to give more power at high revs, fixed the gear stick which was made from a toilet brush, fixed the clutch, changed the final drive gear ratio, balanced the wheels and fitted the correct safety equipment to reach their top speed.

Their next project together will be to create the world’s most powerful bidet.