Saturday, February 19, 2022

A Ride in a Jet-Powered Go Kart



Rocketman Bob Maddox built a go-kart with a triple valveless pulsejet engine. He calls this vehicle the Beast. Then he took it for a ride out in the desert, at speeds up to 90 miles per hour. Okay, what about this video is the scariest? Would it be the red-hot jet engines or the propane tank between Maddox and the engines? How about the fact that he's driving with one hand, so he can record himself with the other? Or could it be the absence of goggles, where one insect could blind him? Well, maybe there aren't too many bugs in the desert in February. Despite all this, it's great to see the sheer joy of a wild man in his 70s getting his speed fix on. If you like this go-kart (and have the bucks), he will build one for you. (via Jalopnik)

3 comments:

newton said...

The scariest thing is that he's by himself in the middle of nowhere. What if he has an accident?

Reminds me of Colin Furze's jet bike:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKHz7wOjb9w

Bicycle Bill said...

Also noticed that he has no seat belt or other restraints.  The dude has a death wish.

-"BB"-

Marco McClean said...

I'd like to see video of those engines powering a boat-shaped block of ice across a frozen lake with a famous person, chosen at random, piloting it, against his or her will. Hypnotized, with their eyes open, or something like that, rather than physically bound in the seat. And then a bell rings and wakes them up, and they're out in the middle of an Arctic lake at sundown with seemingly nobody for miles (we're there, of course, via video), and they look around like, /Huh? Wha?/ Then a helicopter would come and pick them up in a rescue sling and take them to a plane back home with a great story to tell their grandkids some day.

A sportsball player or a political figure or a sitcom wacky neighbor. Or a singer.