A small go-kart with a 10-horsepower lawn mower engine is plenty of fun. Professional racing karts with 250cc engines make around 50 ponies and can top 100 mph in just a few seconds. This particular kart has a 1,340cc engine from a Suzuki Hayabusa, which is assisted by not one but two turbochargers. It makes 800 hp, which is enough to officially call this Batmoblie-looking monstrosity batshit crazy.
The build comes to us from Snail TV on YouTube, and the video starts with it shooting flames on the dyno. As far as opening scenes go, that’s tough to beat. But hearing this thing under throttle later on is pretty good, too. In between we get a rundown of the broken parts resulting from the session, presented casually as if this was a basic Toyota Corolla rebuild. We can respect that.
The main problem is with the kart’s axle. Apparently, 800 hp is “ripping” things up. Watching the clip, it becomes clear that something isn’t right as the boost comes on. The dyno runs start at the five-minute mark in the video, but the really sketchy stuff comes in around seven minutes. The rear wheel is all over the place as the revs come up, at which point things are shut down. The axle was shearing a keyway in the hub, literally tearing it apart. Yikes.
Such is the price for obscene horsepower. Aside from the pair of turbos, the Hayabusa engine is dialed in for high-octane fuel and carries enough electronic gear to launch a spaceship. It also carries air tanks for an air shifter kit, and to get the rear tires out far enough for dyno testing, wheel spacers are installed. Those won’t stay in place for the race track, but we kinda dig the widebody look.
Perusing the YouTube channel, we see this isn’t their first foray into overpowered go-karts. We can’t wait to see this one in action once it stops breaking parts.