Share your making/saving money ideas: Lightning McQueen Powerwheels by FFTEC Motorsports

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Lightning McQueen Powerwheels by FFTEC Motorsports

When us 30-somethings were kids, Powerwheels cars were all the rage. We could drive our own miniature car at a snail’s pace for roughly 10 minutes before the battery drained and left us stranded wherever we were. Those 10 minutes were typically the highlight of our week, despite the fact that molasses could flow down the road faster than our Powerwheels car could drive.

Well, FFTEC Motorsports, who is best known for building monster Mitsubishis, Porsches, Subarus, etc., decided that, after one of its employee’s son wore the rubber wheels off of his Lightning McQueen Powerwheels, it was time for some minor modifications.

FFTEC completely stripped the guts from the Powerwheels car, leaving pretty much just the plastic body. From there, FFTEC installed an aluminum sub-chassis in the rear end and installed new bearing-style hubs with disc brakes. On these hubs are a set of rubber all-terrain tires, so the Powerwheels car could literally put rubber to the road instead of plastic.

FFTEC didn’t stop there, as technicians decided that the car just wasn’t quite fast enough, so they installed a 500-watt, 0.66-horsepower electric motor to drive the rear wheels via a chain system. They also installed 24-volt gel batteries to help prolong the car’s running life. Also part of the build is a variable-speed throttle, in placer of the Powerwheels all-or-nothing throttle, and a Sparco battery cutoff switch.

After it was all said and done, FFTEC produced a video and slapped it on YouTube for us to see. Have a look for yourself and think about how you could have easily beaten everyone in the Driveway Le Mans Series of Powerwheels.

Nice job FFTEC!

Lightning McQueen Powerwheels by FFTEC Motorsports originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 11 August 2012 04:00 EST.