PHILADELPHIA -- Students from West Philadelphia High School have won a big award for building an Earth-friendly car, and they did it on a small budget.

Video: H.S. Students Win Eco-Car Award
The students and three of their teachers created a custom-built 300 horsepower hot rod from scratch.

"It goes from 0 to 60 in under 4 seconds," said one student.

The car has has reached speeds of 110 mph. The body came from Slovania in a kit that had 1,000 parts and no directions.

"We just worked at it, got what we needed to get done, if we caught a snag we fixed it, we worked together, everybody had their collective ideas and it all came together," said Jacque Jean-Baptiste, a senior at West Philadelphia High School.

The car just won the prestigious Tour de Sol auto show award in New York for being the fastest and most eco-friendly car.

"Up front is an electric motor that powers the two front axles, with a turbo diesel in the back that powers the two back axles," said another student.

"There were a lot of ups and downs. Every time we do something right, something else would break, we'd fix that and something else would break -- it's an ongoing process," said Deveraux Knight, a senior at West Philadelphia High School.

The whole project took place over two years.

The car is a bio-fueled hybrid that gets incredible mileage on a special fuel.

"Soybean oil -- that's what it runs off of, and you get 50 miles to the gallon," Knight said.

The car was funded through $15,000 in state grants and a lot of donated man-hours from teachers and students.

Teacher Clayton Kinsler said the project was well worth it.

The pollution level for the soybean fuel is about 1 percent. There is a small downside, however. When you first start the car up, it smells a little like French fries, but for 50 mpg, you can get used to it.