[Video Link] We’ve covered the wind kart creations of Rick Cavallaro and his colleague John Borton many times in the pages of MAKE and Make: Online. Why? Because we are fascinated by their successful efforts to build a wind-powered kart that can move directly downwind faster than the wind.
After proving that “DDWFTTW” (Directly Downwind Faster Than The Wind) travel is possible, Rick and John decided to build a kart that moves upwind faster than the wind. Again, they succeeded! Yesterday, Rick announced: “The record is official. NALSA (North American Land Sailing Association) has ratified the upwind record at 2.1X wind speed. CNN aired this segment on our wind powered cart. Nice segment, but it seems they forgot to mention that the vehicle was designed to go directly upwind (at about 2X wind speed) and directly downwind (at about 3X wind speed).”
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