It would be easy to think of go-karts and hyperbikes as two entirely separate vehicle categories. But challenge is the essence of life, as proven by this go-kart powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa engine.
With the karts used in the FIA Kart World Championship utilising 125cc two-stroke engines, less than one-eighth of the size of the Hayabusa’s 1,300cc engine, and the larger Superkarts making around 100bhp from their 250cc two-stroke motors, this Hayabusa-powered kart doesn’t really fit into any existing karting categories.
The engine is boosted by two turbos. One sits at the front and makes the whole thing look like a Batmobile, while another is attached to the engine, behind the seat. The two work together to make this a compound turbo engine, which means that the front turbo is sending charged air back to the rear one which results in a multiplication of the boost and therefore power.
In this case, built by the YouTuber Snail TV, the result is over 800bhp, which is quite a lot in general, especially for a go-kart. In comparison, a standard Suzuki Hayabusa produces 187bhp, and the V12 engine in the Ferrari FXX-K track-only hypercar makes 848 horsepower. So, just the four-and-a-bit-fold increase over the standard motor for this trick GSX-R1300 engine.
This Australian go-kart is not the first time a Suzuki Hayabusa engine has been dropped into something four-wheeled. In fact, a popular hillclimb engine is a V8 made from two such motors.
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Image credit: Snail TV/YouTube.
