Celebrities at the wheel of cars never seen before on England’s roads, called in at a Sussex college as part of a challenge to drive 63 miles using the least energy possible.

Olympic swimmer Ross Davenport sped into Central Sussex College’s Crawley campus in a Toyota Prius Plug in, Top Gear’s former Stig Ben Collins was driving a Nissan Leaf, and former Radio 1 DJ Mark Goodier was in a Mitsubishi i-Miev for the annual Brighton to London RAC Future Car Challenge.

The 35 drivers were greeted with bacon butties served by hospitality and catering students when they stopped by at the college for the third year running. The college’s motorsport team was also on-hand to demonstrate some of the technology used by the department.

Tom Purves, chair of The Royal Automobile Club, said: “This has been an excellent event and I want to thank all the drivers, entrants and sponsors who put so much effort into making it a success.”