Finally, here’s a development in the realm of human-beings-doing-things-on-Earth news that isn’t a total miserable shitshow: to build an 8.43 times scale version of a Lego go-kart, complete with working rack-and-pinion steering and (eventually) electric power. It’s pretty wonderful.

That someone is Matt Denton, a wonderful British (I assume based on the accent and the electrical outlets I saw) maker of things, and this

Matt’s go-kart is based on the 1985 Lego Technic go-kart set number 1972:

Matt had previously built a smaller scaled-up version for his kid, but it was still too small to comfortably ride. This time, Matt has modified the design a bit to better handle a real person, all soft and pliant and with things like knees that most Lego vehicles don’t need to accomodate.

Matt’s revised design looks like this in his CAD program:

I especially like the huge exposed rack-and-pinion setup there.

Some of the parts are too big to be printed whole in the printer, so Matt has methods to join them, and the results are really pretty seamless:

He’s also using bolts and glue and steel axles to make sure the thing is actually usable, but the lego parts do snap together just as you’d expect Legos to do, just like they do naturally in the wild.

Just watch the video; it’s terribly satisfying:

Next up will be powering the kart with electric motors and adding brakes, both of which he’s prepared for by adding brake line and wire holes in his bricks.

This is just fun. I can’t wait to see when it’s self-propelled and a real danger to any passing giants’ feet.

(via and !)