Mario Kart d'NaNo for kids!

[lornecherry]

We've finished some simple mods to make the dnano much more fun for kids and non-racers. The Mario Kart below is a blast to drive.

Some notes on what was done:




1) The bumper system works great; the cars bounce off the rails and slide around the track very easily without getting hung up or needing reverse. The bumper is very flexible PVC sheet that is cut to shape and flexes on impact. Figure 8 tracks and "bumper cars" would also be possible with this type of bumper wrapping the entire car.

2) the two red objects outboard the sides are 1/2 OZ. weights that compensate (somewhat) for Mario's big head being so high up. The extra weight really settles the car and slows it a down (both great for kids).

3) In the end, we have Kyosho's initial great quality, extreme durability from the bumper system and still enough performance to make it a blast. I'm impressed on how well this all works.

4) The Mario Kart body comes from 1/43 Carerra slot car. It's simply dremeled out and velcroed to the top. I hope to add slightly larger wheels to make it look more like a mario kart. Donor chassis is the shortest wheelbase Porsche.

[fraz]

That is so bada$$. Not just for kids, I want one How well do they handle roll over recovery?

[lornecherry]

fraz, I'm working on that problem right now and have it mostly solved on Mario, (Wario is even higher centre of gravity, so he will be harder). You will notice that there are two small weights on the side -- that works very well, and I've been able to drop the weight down to a 1/4 OZ on each side from 1/2 OZ. Wario is still 1/2 OZ each side though. I have also gone with a black bumper now, so it is less obtrusive ...and I managed to adapt the wide wheels from the donor slot car "Mario Kart".

The bumper system is being refined for our in-school programs and is working well also. I'll have pictures soon ... and Carrera also has Peach and Luigi models coming out in September. I'm also working on a Mario-themed track .

I have to admit, I love the concept also, the Porsche body won't be going back on.

[arch2b]

i like the idea of mario kart racing my kids would certainly get a kick out of that.

[Marcro]

Pretty cool idea. I love it when people use custom stuff on their chassis. It needs some sort of obstacle coarse and maybe somebody flying a little RC helicopter dropping "bombs" on them. LOL!

[arch2b]

definately need to find pvc bombs and other mario kart obstacles to place on the track

[lornecherry]

I have a few toys on order from Japan to complete the theme of the track, including banannas and bomb obstacles as well as some of the other characters from Mario's world.

I had wondered why Mario Kart was so popular, and did some research into just how old the Mario franchise is ....28 years; with Mario Kart being introduced in 1992 (other sources say 1991).

Here's an interesting link to the chronology of all things Mario http://www.mariomayhem.com/history_of_mario.php

[lornecherry]

... from the same series of slot car bodies. Wario is a little heavier and slower; needing 1/2 oz weights outboard ... he does some very funny traction roll wipeouts if driven full throttle into the first corner off the straight ... rolling on his head and usually coming right-side up so you can drive off.

RM chassis is the only one that fits. 6T sprocket and bigger tires. The bumper helps to cover the mismatch of front tires, as stock size is needed to keep the car from being too high and top heavy.

You will also note some changes to Mario, I was able to use the kart tires from the slot car on the rear, after cutting them down a bit. The car handles quite well and gives 85-90% peformance of the smaller Kyosho bodies.



...BTW, the track system is nearly complete and I have finalized most of the materials. It is now much more robust than the orignal and I've raised it off the ground, with some dips and bumps for added realism. (small tracks need to be interesting or you will get bored very quickly.)

A lighting sytem for night driving is also in the works, and Mario theme props and characters will swap out to replace the FI style stuff, so that I can switch the theme of the track quickly.

[Marcro]

I think you need to find a toy Gorilla of same scale and have it stand in the middle of the track for the car's to swerve around. I'd love to see some video's of this!
Have you thought of doing any Speed Racer conversions? There are ton's of Speed Racer toy's of appropriate sizes as well.
But I do like this Mario set up!

[lornecherry]

The gorilla idea is a good one. I may indeed use that. And yes, I will do some video once everything is finalized. I'm building another track also for a party company that wants to use it for birthday parties. Now...if I could only convince Nintendo to lower the licensing prices...

[Marcro]

For the gorilla, what you really need is to find a toy that drops barrel's. Imagine trying to race your Mario "kart's" as the gorilla drops barrel's and have them roll down the track!
This would be a lot more fun I think than playing Mario on Xbox! You said you adapted the Mario wheels onto the Dnano's? Can you post pic's of how you did that? Also, what toy's did you find for the Mario Karts? I assume their plastic?

[Marcro]

I'm curious, how's your project going and got any videos of these things in action?

[lornecherry]

sorry, Marco ... I've been inactive for a couple of months due to work committments ... but the project was/is 90% done ...I'll finish it off in December when I have more time.

I purchased a few more Mario characters for the track, grandstands, and car bodies and all seems to be working good both from a performance and aesthetic aspect.

It is especially humourous to see the 'stands" filled with all the characters from Mario World. Now if I can just justify that $80,000 Nintendo would want to license the whole idea ....

I do plan to buy a new HD video camera for uTube instructional videos next week, and this will be one of first projects that I'll make a video for.

The track and setup are certainly testing well over time, with great performance and realistic lapping ...I'll have more on that later also.

[T-Prime]

I love it. Just posted to another thread and I thought I saw Nintendo creatures. My nieces will go crazy. They got those ZipZap style racers for x-mas. What's the status of the build.

Have you tried neo magnets vs. velcro to hold the bodies on?

[MINI-D]

that is one sweet Mario Kart

I WANT ONE

D