4wd hoverboard derived gokart?

[-Ari-]

I bought my son a hoverboard last christmas and also the kart seat with lever controls for it.

I cant get him off it... Great fun already but for me it is just screaming out for 4wd to help with traction as well as power.
I will have to increase the length of the chassis but the seating position and centre of mass will be more central. It wont have any form of suspension as it is intended for smoother surfaces.

I'm thinking of adding a second hoverboard for the front axle but its control input will be signal split from the rear gyro to give us some skid steer cornering control.
Front

With a smooth varnished indoor kart circuit Imagine how popular a drift sport this could become?

Just some random thoughts really... but Its too obvious an idea so someone has got to have at least tried it?

 

[Tpdingo]

1: Welcome to the forum!

2: Those hoverboards could probably make a skidsteer control but it might be a bit finicky speed difference between front and back. Would be interesting if you made it.

3: Those things spinning tires? Hahaha!! You think those puny motors have any tire spinning power I call you out for completely overestimating those motors capability, though your idea sounds like a total load of fun given a more powerful kart. Also note you would need a real rear brake to make sure that the tires lock and subsequently spin. Furthermore, who is going to rent you out a very smooth polished surface for you to destroy in 30 seconds.

If you really want a 4WD kart made from a hoverboard, what I'd do is take them apart, put the two front ones on steering spindles and take the rear two and mount them. Figure out how to wire an arduino to fake the gyroscopes inside of them and they should have some decent takeoff, but most electric go karts with 1500W should beat the hoverboards, most gas 3HP+ karts will go faster, and most 6HP+ karts will kick the crap out of a hoverboard kart.

 

[-Ari-]

1- Thanks

2. I think it would most likely need to be combined with normal steering.

3- No, not traction loss because of excessive power. My son takes the trike to the park which has lots of different surfaces to skid about on ranging from grass and synthetic surfaces to wet damp slippy surfaces . It does well on most of them but can get stuck on the softer ones. A traction improvement would just make it more versatile.


Not to try to compete with proper karts in performance metrics but just to explore the agility and fun handling that could be found in a small 4wd vehicle with individual wheel speed control.
Ultimately Im thinking low friction surface drifting like ice racing.


Thanks for your input.