Mario Kart Is a Lie: Banana Peels Don’t Make You Spin Out
Hoonigan helps test your favorite defense strategy from Rainbow Road and the likes.
The beginning of many car enthusiasts' love for all things automotive often begins with a generation of Mario Kart. Based on that knowledge, Nintendo teaches us that a banana peel will spin out the car behind you, but does it really have that effect in the real world?
Hoonigan put that folklore to the test in its most recent episode of the new series ScumBag Labs. The last edition of the show featured a rally car launching on dish soap, for science, and has since gone on to become Hoonigan's fourth-most viewed video at 4.6 million hits and counting.
To help with the current test, Hoonigan brings in World Rallycross Championship Audi driver Andreas Bakkerud. You may recall that Bakkerud was once part of the Hoonigan Racing Division's team when it campaigned alongside Ken Block. When Ford, Block and Hoonigan Racing Division pulled out of World Rallycross, Bakkerud was picked up by Mattias Ekstrom's Audi EKS team.
For the test, Bakkerud drove a brand new 2018 Audi RS 5. The Hoonigans set up a course for him to drive around where he set three consistent lap times, and after that, the crew decided to "banana it up" and throw peels all over one of the turns. The bananas did have an effect, but not as drastic as Mario Kart would have you to believe.
To get all the details and, erm, official data, check out the full clip below.
And to check out The Drive's own Mario Kart experience, watch as our Senior Video Editor Andrew Siceloff and friends recreate the Indianapolis 500 on the latest edition of the iconic game. IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud did approve of the challenge, after all.
