The Event

The annual Power Racing competition at MakerFaire Bay Area is a contest where grown men and women race against each other using hot-rodded Power Wheels toy cars. It is glorious and hilarious, and this year I'm building a car to race in the competition and I could use your support. 

The event takes place on the weekend of May 20th-21st at the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA. It is open to the public and it is an incredible amount of fun. 

Who I Am

Why I Could Use Your Money

This is my first truly ambitious DIY project. To make a competition worthy vehicle capable of sustaining speeds of up to 20 mph without falling apart, I'll need the help of my team and the financial help of my extended team of supporters -- you guys!

The racing rules require certain aspects of the car to fall within a $500 budget. Items such as batteries, safety equipment, brakes, helmets, and all necessary tools fall outside of this budget, however. I have already invested over $1,000 on this endeavor and it would mean a lot to me and our team if your support could offset the cost of this ambitious and adorable electric car.

To show our appreciation, we've worked with local illustrator Josh Ellingson (whom we'd also like to give some money for his effort) to create a sticker and pin design that fans of my mine or fans of Power Racing will be excited to get their hands on.

Also, don't you just kinda want to tell people that you're sponsoring a mini race car called "Kitty Grabs Back"? Don't you want to be a part of making that exist in the world? Of course you do!

The Car

Some people choose their cars, Sometimes, the car chooses you. When you're searching through Craigslist for used, cheap Power Wheels, you have to jump on the first good offer you find. In my case, a dad in El Cerrito was offloading a non-functional Hello Kitty branded ride-on car he'd bought at Target for his daughter. $25 later, the car was mine. 

Maybe it was the Audi-style chrome bow on the grille, or maybe it was just the thought of a grown man driving in a Hello Kitty car -- but it was love at first sight.

The stock specs on this thing are about as bad as it gets. It's much smaller than most name brand Power Wheels (this one's made by Dynacraft) and aside from the shell it's a total gut job. 

We're rebuilding every functional part of this car from steel -- the frame, the axles, steering, gearing, wheel hubs -- all custom. The end result is going to be a dual-motor, 24v speed demon based on the excellent design work of Volpin Props' Marriott Chariot.

For power, we're going a little extreme. The 24v supplied to the motors will be provided from a stack of rechargeable Lithium Ion battery packs salvaged from a Nissan Leaf. These are known as Leaf cells, they're not cheap (and hard to come by the real thing), and take some knowhow to wire up without creating some impromptu fireworks. Fortunately, I'm not doing this alone.

The Team

I've got a great team helping me make this car a reality. Jordan Bunker is a former Technical Editor with Make: magazine (where we worked together), currently working as an evangelist for Hackaday. He has an amazing knowledge of fabrication techniques. He's already built and raced a car for Power Racing Series, and he's also worked to setup and referee several races over the years. Jordan is my secret weapon.

What We Need

• We're asking for $2,000 to cover the cost of making the car, buying additional tools, paying our illustrator, paying Indiegogo, and paying for making the stickers and enamel pins.
• A complete breakdown of car component expenses can be viewed here.

What You Get

We're offering four tiers of rewards with this campaign. Both the sticker and the enamel label pin will be based on Josh Ellingson's final illustration based on this initial sketch.

$5 - Tip Jar donation. Every dollar helps!

$25 - Kitty Grabs Back Sticker

$40 - Kitty Grabs Back Enamel Pin & Sticker

$50 - Autographed Team Photo, Enamel Pin & Sticker

The Impact

First let me just say that this project has already been extraordinary fun and educational for me as a Maker. But ultimately, you're helping to manifest some silliness (and a bit of political cheekiness) into the world, proudly on display at one of the world's biggest Show & Tell events -- Maker Faire.

Risks & Challenges

At the time of writing this, we are already halfway through the build of the car. All the parts have been purchased. Most of the welding has been completed. Things are on track for the team to complete the build with weeks to spare for giving the car some good practice runs.

The biggest challenge in front of us is figuring out how to reliably charge and work with the Leaf cell batteries. These batteries can't be charged from a standard R/C battery system, but instead need a repurposed high-watt server rack power supply to provide enough juice. It's new territory for everyone on the team, but we have a handful of experienced advisors in the Power Racing community eager to help us through it.

Other Ways You Can Help

Even a small donation is a big help with this tiny race car. But if you just can't swing it, please consider using the share buttons here to help us get the word out.

Also, this is my first time using crowdfunding to help tackle a fun, ambitious build, but I plan on doing more projects like this in the future. To keep an eye on what I've got cooking next, subscribe to my YouTube channel.