When science fiction becomes reality. After the flying taxis from JO 2024, it’s the go-karts’ turn to take off. David Dricourt, an entrepreneur from Val de Marne, set out to create flying kart cars. “I had the idea one day when I was playing with a drone, I thought it would be interesting to put a pilot inside,” he says. Neither one nor two, he creates his company Lovenieduring 2021, and manufactures prototypes capable of flying a person weighing less than 85 kg.
“The objective is to make it a new means of entertainment, fun and accessible,” he says. Individuals will still have to pay nearly 35,000 euros to own their own machine. But, the creator is considering a rental service, which would allow the general public to test a karting flight, for a sum between 100 and 150 euros.
Fifteen minutes of autonomy
To fly his kart 2 meters above the ground, the creator uses an aluminum chassis, which weighs only 14 kg, compared to 20 to 25 kg for a track kart chassis. Propellers are used to control the speed, and batteries are added, as well as eight electric motors to make the kart fly. “It works like a drone except the pilot is inside and maneuvers it with joysticks,” he says.
But the device cannot hover in the air for more than fifteen minutes. “To last longer, it would be necessary to add motors but the device would be too heavy to park 2 meters above the ground”, explains the creator. Hybrid models, or even models with only internal combustion engines, are envisaged to extend the vehicle’s autonomy.
“A great idea”
“We find ourselves at an interesting time with aircraft, a bit like at the beginning of aviation, he believes. We have the possibility of developing completely new things. I wanted to look into this virgin territory of entertainment to see what I could bring. An initiative that is already of interest to several structures, outdoor karting tracks, automobile circuits but also racetracks.
David Rebeyrolle, operator of the Circuit du Périgord, has been monitoring the progress of his project for several months. Ready to invest several tens of thousands of euros, he believes that “it’s a great idea”. He plans to buy a flying kart, and offer it for rent. For this, he will have to adapt one of his tracks because French law does not allow such a machine to fly anywhere other than in closed and closed places. The operator should be able to see the vehicle in flight from the first tests, which will begin in January 2023.