Atlanta’s Mini Maker Faire had plenty of booths to keep visitors busy, but the largest spectacle by far was the racetrack smack-dab in the middle, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more eye-catching contender than [Harrison Krix’s] vehicle: the Marriott Chariot.
If [Krix’s] name looks familiar, that’s because he’s the master artisan behind Volpin Props, and is responsible for such favorites as the Futurama Holophonor replica and the Daft Punk helmet. (Actually, he made the other one, too).
The Chariot is yet another competitor in the Power Racing Series, an event that keeps popping up here on Hackaday. [Krix] drew inspiration from this Jeep build we featured earlier in the summer, and went to work sourcing an old plastic body to get started. The frame is 16 gauge square tubing, with a custom motor mount machined from 3/16 steel. After welding the chassis together, [Krix] chopped up a small bicycle to snag its head tube and headset bearings. A pair of sealed lead acid batteries fit horizontally in the frame, providing a slightly lower center of gravity.
[Krix] has a keen eye for precision and his build journal shows each step of his meticulous process. But, you ask, why “Marriott Chariot?” and why does the car look like someone threw up a kaleidoscope? Read on beyond the break, dear reader, to learn the Chariot’s origin and to see a video of it winding around the track.
Unless you’re a Dragon*Con attendee or an Atlanta native, you’re probably scratching your head at the color choices for the car and for [Krix’s] ludicrous jacket. They’re the hilarious continuation of [Krix’s] costumes from a previous Dragon*Con, which pays tribute to the Atlanta Marriott Marquis’s iconic carpet.
Team [Krix]—which includes [Harrison] and his wife, [Emily], piloted the 
Chariot throughout the weekend. Although tires were blown and transponders were lost, the [Krixes] claimed a number of medals at the Atlanta Mini Maker Faire’s exhibition, winning second place in the first race and first place in both the second race and in the endurance competition. Now, enjoy this brief video of the Chariot’s trial run in its full hotel-camo glory:
Gawd that’s an annoying GIF.
+1
Haven’t we all had this discussion before?
+1
Interesting and nicely built, but the chassis design is from what I see inherently weak. It’s no accident that commercial vehicles have chassis frame rails that extend as one stamping from front bumper to rear bumper. Any requirement for width such as the cab or body mounting is taken care of by outriggers onto the frame in the form of crossmembers. These can then be selected according to load bearing requirements and thus may not need to be anywhere as heavy as the longitudinal frames. This chassis is relying on butt-jointed welds of the front steering section, a center section polygon and the drive section again butt-jointed to that. However, once again a nice project.
You realize this is a “race” series with $500 budgets, turning (often discarded) kids toys into electric cars for adults? Few of us take it that seriously. Looks and Moxie are as important as performance.
You take silly go-karts way too seriously, like me.