This past summer I was in Boulder, Colorado working at Strategic Productions LLC with a friend of mine named Louis when we had the idea to put gas and electric vehicles head-to-head once and for all to decide which was better... when it came to modifying children's toys for grown-up fun.

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Crucially, we didn't want to build two go-karts and just drop Barbie Power Wheels shells on top. We wanted to modify and improve the existing design of the toys with better parts! So, we took the two toys we had, did some initial research, decided how much fun we wanted these to be, and purchased a 212 CC Predator Engine, a 3000 W Motor, and 2 Amazon Fulfillment Center Robot Batteries. Based on the opinion of some fellow DIY vehicle enthusiasts, we determined that these two setups would be roughly equivalent. We reinforced each chassis by welding in place thicker steel tubing and used it to create rigid mounting points for the engine and motor. We then swapped out the thin live axle and plastic wheels with a proper narrow track width go-kart live axle and pneumatic tires. We made adaptors to fit the new tires to the stock steering assembly, and we thought we were done! This is also the version that is depicted in the video above and on the homepage!

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We took them out on the town, rode them through the neighborhood and our local park, and had loads of fun with them! We got the electric going over 20 mph on straightaways while we troubleshot the skipping chain on the gas one. We eventually realized we would have benefited from a jackshaft, but there wasn't a great way to integrate it into the simple toy design. After a full day of riding, our desire to keep things as stock as possible finally came back to bite us. The increased force we were putting on the front end with the increase in weight and speed eventually caused the stock steering assembly to fully fall off of the plastic frame.

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So we went back to the garage, installed rack and pinion steering assemblies, connected them to the steel frame, and installed a new timing belt system for the gas build. After that, they were ready for their final test! We packed them up and drove them out to an offroad OHV trail, where (drum roll, please...) electric took home an undisputed win! It handled rough terrain with ease with its only real limitation being its ground clearance; it even tackled hill climbs that even normal OHV vehicles wouldn't scoff at. We were genuinely surprised how well it handled and had a fantastic time throwing dirt in our sleeper build of a kids toy. Gas still had skipping issues with the new belt system, especially on the more difficult terrain. We determined it was more of a daily driver, perfect for commutes with no crazy inclines.

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Jokes aside, this was a really fun project that got me a lot of experience welding, working with more complex battery management systems, and designing with power transfer and forces in mind. Shown below is an image of the final builds before their head-to-head on the OHV trails.