Autoblog

The MINI Clubman is everything the MINI Cooper is and more -- nine inches more. It has a passenger-side suicide door and that wide-mouth split rear gate, but everything else from its retro looks to the 172-hp turbocharged four-cylinder underhood is the same. But is it the same? Does nine inches of wheel base ruin the go kart-like handling we love so much in the MINI Cooper S? The folks over at Web Rides TV were itching to answer exactly that question, so they pitted the Mini Clubman S against a real, 9-horsepower go-kart. To give the kart a chance, the race was performed on an actual go-kart track, squeaky floors and all. The winner? You'll have to hit the jump to find out, but the race is more exciting than the finish.

[Source: Web Rides TV]

Anybody who's ever strapped themselves into a shifter-kart can attest to the fact that they are one of the most exhilarating rides available, and their capabilities are much higher than first expected. That being the case, when swapping the 125cc engine from the go kart with a 1300cc engine from a Suzuki Hayabusa, the resulting machine is nothing if not overpowered. A small blip of the throttle induces massive tire spin and power-slides are available at a moment's notice, possibly less. To handle the power-infusion, the frame was suitably strengthened and elongated with plenty of square-section tubing. We're not so sure that we'd have built this machine in the first place, but now that it's done, we really wish we could get a chance in the drivers seat. Follow along after the break for a video of the machine in action.

[Source: Kart Hayabusa via Jalopnik]

A wannabe race driver lead police on a 3-mile pursuit through the streets of a German town last Friday while behind the wheel of a go-kart. The 18-year-old driver had all of seven squad cars on the chase, but they couldn't keep up with the kart's high speeds through the corners. The teenager even got the slip for a brief period by tucking into an open garage. When police finally caught up, the young speed demon was charged with driving without a license and driving a go-kart on a public street, which is illegal in Germany. If driving a go-kart on a public street is legal anywhere, then we want to know, as some of us might just move there. In his defense, the rebel driver told police that he knew his actions were illegal, but he had just bought the go-kart and didn't have any other way of getting it home.

[Source: Reuters, photo by Axel Schmidt/AFP/Getty]

Top-level athletes are being identified at younger ages all the time, with most tennis or gymnastics prodigies being noticed by age 10. Over in the UK, motorsports are huge, and four year-old Ben Kasperczack has just been signed to a four-year contract with Motorsport World. That's right, 'lil Ben isn't even old enough for kindergarten and he's been granted unlimited track time, his own mechanic, and all the equipment he'll ever need.

It's easy to dismiss such a contract as little more than a publicity stunt, yet Ben has shown an amazing knack for recognizing understeer and oversteer (most adults aren't as fortunate), and he knows just when his tires need changing. Since at age four he's completely fearless, Ben also maintains the most aggressive driving line possible, which makes him faster around the track than most adults.

We don't know if Michael Schumacher should worry about any of his records just yet, but the karting world will have to wait four more years before Ben Kasperczack competes in his first race with other drivers. Let the hype machine begin.

[Source: Winding Road]

How many times have you heard someone use the phrase, "That thing handles like a go-kart." Well, in the case of the Lancia Delta S4 of Group B fame, it's true. The video embedded after the jump was taken at an indoor track. Killer stuff, and it had to have sounded incredible in there while this was going on. Wherever this is, there's some pretty sweet hardware parked inside the tire barriers, too. Based on some Googling we've done, we're guessing the pilot is Bruno Ianello, who appears to have been driving this particular Delta S4 in recent years at historic rallies. We found some nice shots of the car here and here, if you'd like to have a better look at it.

Follow the jump for the video of the indoor action.

[Source: Dieselstation]

Scuderia Toro Rosso's Scott Speed will return to his racing roots in November, sliding into a shifter kart to race in the 10th running of U.S. karting's SuperNationals in Las Vegas.

Speed got his start in karting, and he's the only shifter kart pilot to win the SuperNats twice, in 2000 and 2001. (The picture shows Scott at the 2001 SuperNats. That's 2006 Champ Car title contender A.J. Allmendinger two karts back.) He'll be racing alongside brother Alex (U.S. national champion in 2003, 2004 and 2005) in karts prepped by his father, Mike.

The SuperNats have long been the one U.S. race that every karter wants to win, and the one-off appearance by America's one and only F1 driver is bound to attract competitors from across the country. (The $10,000 purse for the headline class won't hurt, either.)

If you want to see a Formula 1 driver practicing his racecraft up close and personal, be in Las Vegas November 10-12! Event details are here.

[Source: SPEED Channel]