Insane Motorcycle-Powered Kart Reaches For The Sky At The Dragstrip

If there’s a cool-o-meter, consider it pegged.

While browsing the Yellow Bullet forum this week, we stumbled upon some images that were shared by Gene at Pro Photo Productions taken some time back at the Mooresville Dragway in North Carolina of an insane, motorcycle engine-powered racing kart tearing up the eighth-mile strip — and attempting to do the same to its pilot.

We don’t have any details or information on the kart other than what we can see in the images and the video of a run that made its way onto YouTube. The kart chassis itself looks very much like your standard speedway oval kart, modified to hold what appears to be a four-cylinder Suzuki or Kawasaki engine bolted up to its side. This is a departure from some other karts of this nature that have been complete one-off chassis designed for the purpose in mind of doing something legendary or taking the driver out in a blaze of glory. Depending on the model, such an engine could perhaps produce upwards of 100 horsepower or more, which delivers a pretty gnarly power-to-weight ratio on a kart with a wheelbase of a little over 40 inches.

As you can see, before the rear wheels have even gone through the beams, the kart is already wheels-up, with its driver slung back in the seat and along for what’s about to become a bumpy ride. Given the weight of the engine and the rider over the rear axle, it’s not hard to imagine this thing hooking off the starting line that well, but it’s surprising at the same time, given the rollout and nature of the tires.

httpv://youtu.be/EhVhY_BAHJ0

During the pass shown in the Gene’s photos, we witness the driver going for a ride akin to a bucking bull at a rodeo. In the video, however, things go a little smoother, if you can call darting all over the lane and umpteen whacks of the throttle to make it to the finish line “smoother.” We have it on good authority from one of our staffers, who was actually building such a kart at one time and later sold it to stave off an early trip to the grave, that such karts have run in the nine’s in the quarter-mile, which is pretty darn impressive. And brave.