Takoo 5: Flying with a Mario Bros style kart
The Majorcan Niviuk pilot, Jaime Bonet, has done it again. After his X3 project, in which he flew a motorbike over land, sea and air, he wanted to go one step further. Using the same size 42 Takoo 5 wing and a Vittorazi paramotor engine, he flew a kart through the island's skies.
"My inspiration came from watching the Super Mario Kart video game flying a paraglider," Jaime explains. "At one part of the track, I saw the protagonist soaring upwards to fly to the next screen. I thought, I can do that in reality.” And that is what he did. He found a technical solution that would facilitate the launch and landing of the kart, worked out how to place the engine at the back and turned a B-77 go-kart into the perfect trike using six wheels. Combining extreme sports, motor sports and flying has become his specialty.
Takoo 5: the perfect take off
"I used the Niviuk size 42 Takoo 5 paraglider again, because it has a perfect launch and for these inventions it is essential. It was all very easy. It is also a very well-behaved glider in flight, which remains perfectly stable and on which I can rely 100% to concentrate on everything else," Jaime says.
"I am very happy with the result of this project, and surprised at how little time it has taken me to achieve it. What other people can come up with in a comic book or a video game, I can create and realise in real life. I've enjoyed every minute of designing it, building it and testing it.”
Turning the video game into reality
For the construction, the first thing he considered was that the centre of gravity of the load must be compatible with the flight axis. He then fitted and welded together all the parts he needed both on the ground and in the air.
"A very interesting detail is that I have combined the accelerator pedal of the kart with the throttle of the paramotor. In this way I combined the thrust of the paramotor propeller with the traction of the 6 speed engine of the kart, obtaining a tuned vehicle with a massive acceleration when in a straight line. It was so powerful that I decided to test it against a Nissan GTR and the kart beat it in acceleration. What an adrenaline rush!" he said excitedly.
Ducks to water!
Jaime doesn't stop and always wants to go further: "The next step is to glide the kart over the sea, just like I managed to do with the motorbike. So I will also go with the kart by land, sea and air. So far I have already cut out two snowboards that are anchored under the chassis, and now I will continue to attach all the necessary parts," he concludes.
See how he managed to fly the go-kart:
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