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A 13-year-old kid from Ohio is responsible for building one of the coolest go-karts we’ever seen hit the track: a miniature replica of the Tyrrell P34 Formula 1 race car, which wowed fans with its unorthodox during the 1977 F1 season.
Gene Lin is his name, but he actually goes by “The Hamster.” Lin is the youngest student at Genius Garage, a 501 C3 non-profit from Bowling Green, Ohio that aims to provide students with a shot to careers in the automotive and aerospace industries. According to the video below, Lin found out he had a talent for drawing cars sort of by accident—after Genius Garage founder Casey Putsch motivated him to try out the school’s drafting boards during a visit to the garage. After honing his skills on paper and practicing on clay models, Lin was eventually given the green light and his six-wheeled go-kart project began.
As the video shows, Lin, Putsch, and crew recently headed out to the track to fire up the mini Tyrrell and see what it’s capable of. After a brief video introduction, in which Lin says that he goes by the Hamster because he is “small and stupid,” the kart is brought to life and Lin begins to lap the tarmac.
We’re not gonna lie, that big ‘ol thing isn’t very fast, but outright speed isn’t what’s being highlighted here—it’s ingenuity and engineering. The fact that this 13-year-old has accomplished a cooler feat than many of us old folks is pretty darn awesome. Throughout the seven-minute-long video, Lin and Putsch can be seen tooling around with the kart and going for a few sessions out on the track, and each time, Lin returns to the pits with a smile on his face.
Keep it up, Hamster!
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