We could tell you who we could blame for the recent run of tube-frame, engine-seats-rollbar cars that have started popping up like weeds around the country, but the story of the Vette-Kart is on YouTube for you to enjoy. We can even claim a tie-in to the Vette-Kart’s early days, with Chad helping to relieve a flood-victim C4 of pretty much every ounce of it’s body panels during the teardown phase. People might get pissed off, but the truth is that if you are serious about eek-ing out every last iota of performance from a four-wheeled device that the only solid answer that could be offered is the super-sized go-kart. Unlike the Vette-Kart, however, Nocturnal Motorworks didn’t just rip a car apart and use the useful bits…instead, they built up a frame using shortened Nissan S13 subframes, which allows all of the goodies that drifters slap onto Nissan 240SXs. And that also means that any engine system can be slapped into one…and yes, that does mean LS swap with ease. This Coyote is powered by a Nissan SR20DET that was yanked from a Nissan Silvia Type X, running 280 horsepower with few mods (the intercooler, blow-off valve, wastegate actuator and the tubular intake manifold are about it). In a 1,001 pound vehicle, 280 horsepower is plenty, as Kyle from 1320Video got to find out for himself. How he managed to hang on to the camera is beyond us, but the Coyote slides so effortlessly that it isn’t even funny. Maybe we could teach Finnegan how to drift the Vette-Kart and set up a tandem run?
The return of the body-snatchers…