Video: Water-powered kart sprints from 0-100km/h in 0.5sec

Brett Davis

We’ve all experienced a hose slipping out of our hands under strong water pressure, sending the hose flailing around uncontrollably. There’s quite a bit of power in it, wouldn’t you agree? That obviously sparked an idea for this mad man who rides a high-pressure water tank with go-kart wheels and a motorbike front end bolted to it.

François Gissy is his name, and he’s created one of the world’s fastest-accelerating go-kart contraptions. And it uses no petrol power at all, just a bit of water. Well, it’s probably quite a bit of water that’s jammed into the tank, creating extremely high pressure.

The weird contraption uses the front wheel and handle bars of a sports bike, while the rear is essentially a go-kart frame with go-kart wheels. Going for a trike layout provides more stability than a conventional motorbike, while weight is kept to a minimum.

Out on the main straight at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, Gissy hopped aboard the hydro-machine for a super-impressive acceleration run. It covered 0-100km/h in just 0.551 of a second, with the one-eighth mile coming up in just 3.950 seconds at 257.14km/h.

During this time, Gissy had to endure a massive 5.138 g, which is way more than any rollercoaster in Australia. Check out the video below to see how the contained water explosion went.

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