TOKYO -- A Japanese research team plans to raise environmental awareness by entering a race car in the Dakar rally that runs on cooking oil used to fry tempura.

The turbo-engine Land Cruiser 100, sponsored by Toyota Motor Corp., will be the first car completely powered by biodiesel to enter the event, said Hidefumi Onaka, a lecturer at Osaka Sangyo University, which helped to test the fuel and provided technical support.

"We want to show what tempura oil can achieve, as a way to raise environmental awareness," Mr. Onaka said. "We're not doing it just for fun, so we decided to enter an internationally acclaimed event and appeal to the world."

Driving the car will be former Formula One racer Ukyo Katayama.

Mr. Onaka said the team will need about 10,000 liters of tempura oil, which will be donated by students, the university cafeteria and neighborhood restaurants. He said it will be reprocessed by biofuel maker Revo International Co. in Kyoto.