00:00At full power, it burns four or five litres of fuel a minute. The afterburner will get
00:09through ten litres in no time. We've set a Guinness World Record. We've smashed the
00:15hundred mile an hour in a homemade jet-powered go-kart.
00:26Cantingham in England is home to a go-kart with a difference.
00:31Hi, I'm Andy Morris. I build jet engines in my shed. It's an interesting hobby. I was
00:51brought up by engineers. My grandfather was an engineer, my dad was an engineer. I've
00:55rebuilt petrol engines myself, but I've just always had an interest in jet engines. I've
01:00built all the jet engines and put them in go-karts. I think the first one we were lucky
01:05it moved.
01:06But Andy's homemade karts have come a long way since then.
01:10I've set a Guinness World Record with the help of a friend of mine, Tom Bagnell. Tom
01:15was the pilot, I built the jet engine.
01:17On the 5th September 2015, this dynamic duo set out to push themselves to the next level
01:26and take the kart over 100 miles per hour.
01:31When we did the run at Alvington, the record before on the quarter mile was 70. We've set
01:44112 mile an hour. That was the goal, always has been the goal. When we got the world record,
01:50for me, it was wonderful. 10 years of work, proving that we could do it.
01:58Andy now has a new build and his sights are set on his own record.
02:05It's lighter than the old go-kart. The engine is more powerful. This is a faster one, meaner
02:12one, bigger engine, completely unique. It's all been bespoke built. It's probably a third
02:17bigger.
02:18We're hoping to go faster. Well, I'm hoping to go faster. I'm hoping 440 mile an hour,
02:24if not more. Homemade jet-powered go-kart.
02:27We've got the battery. Underneath the battery is the electrical box. There's a series of
02:33relays in there. We've got a dashboard, fuel tank, full power. It burns four or five litres
02:41of fuel a minute. The afterburner will get through 10 litres in no time. Two main fuel
02:47pumps again, one for the engine, one for the afterburner. Main inline fuel filter, fuel
02:53lining to the engine. And then we've got this big beast at the back, which is the reheat
02:57or the afterburner. Add more fuel, ignite it, increases the volume, you get greater
03:04velocity gases coming out the back of the engine.
03:07There's still a way to go before Andy's next record attempt. And what better place to test
03:12a jet engine than in your back garden?
03:15Well, I'm just putting some bricks in the back of the test trolley to add a bit of weight.
03:20And then I'll stick two 25 kilo bags of cement in front of it, just hopefully so the thing
03:27doesn't decide it's going to go through the fence. Plug the main battery in, direct bottle
03:33with a compressed air to start the engine. Air defenders, turn the main power on. Just
03:42a quick visual check everything's where it's meant to be.
04:03Everything worked, modification worked, everything's pretty much good. Wait for some better weather
04:12next year and get it to the track.
04:15It was loud, I had to wear my air defenders, I could even smell the kerosene in the house
04:21and the window warped in the kitchen again.
04:25So Andy, any advice for aspiring backyard speed demons?
04:30Build the thing yourself, put your thought in it, design it from the ground up, think
04:33out the control system, work out the fuel system. Just the journey, to me, that's it.
04:42Don't buy it, build it.
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