DP4 Super Go-Kart Now On Sale

Since 2002 Dennis Palatov has been designing and building some of the most radical, rule-breaking cars ever envisioned and blogging all about it. It started with the awe-inspiring dp1, and now this, the smaller, less expensive dp4. He's taking orders.

Back when I was filling notebooks full of mind-numbing calculations in an effort to collect a now-dusty engineering degree, every once in a while I'd take a couple minutes to check out this website, dpcars.com, and see what the madman behind it was up to. While everyone I knew was sitting in class doodling the perfect inboard suspension layout, this guy Dennis Palatov was building it. The dp1 was very publicly developed and after several years it was a complete, running, brutally fast one-off carbon fiber-bodied Lotus killer. After more development work Palatov has started over to develop a production version of the dp1, but there's also this, the dp4.

The dp4 was developed to slot somewhere between a shifter kart and the dp1. It can run on go-kart tracks and full size location runs like the Palatov Motorsports track days at Oregon Raceway park. The dp4 is based on much of the design work involved in the dp1 so it's designed with a motorcycle engine and transmission driving a center differential and a chain drive system operating front and rear differentials. A two-wheel drive option is also available, but way less awesome. Engine choices range from 600cc's and 60HP all the way up to a turbocharged 1400cc Hayabusa mill putting down 200 HP. At 800 lbs fully fitted out, the dp4 should be a monster. The full spec and pricing is included in the gallery, but the build-it-yourself kit starts at $25,910 with a GSXR-1000 engine all the way up to $50,610 for a fully-assembled Hayabusa-powered hill-climb spec racer. Two please.