E55 AMG Track Kart Blurs the Lines Between Car and Playtoy
E55 AMG based race car was built by a single person in his garage for fun. What are you doing with your free time?
Ever had a project that simply got out of hand? Months later you find yourself in a rabbit hole of expenses wondering how you just spent that much money on a vehicle? Well, we have a build you can relate to in this video. Featured here is not exactly our idea of what a E55 AMG sedan is or looks like. We aren’t sure what this thing is actually. It is somewhere between a go-kart or an open wheel race car. But supposedly it isn’t either of those, but rather a E55 with a few pieces chopped off.
Believe what you will, this E55 is unique. Is there another vehicle like this on the road? Probably not. Is it even legal to drive this thing on the road? Probably not. But hey, that never stopped anybody did it? This kart might somehow still a Mercedes under all the carbon fiber. We will admit, we are curious to see it drive. Thanks to the Hoonigan YouTube channel, we get to do just this and find out more about this wacky and cool build.
The owner of this 2004 E55 is Shehryar Khan, a Canada local and racing enthusiast. We don’t know what exactly they are putting into the water in Canada, but it definitely isn’t the same thing we get. Although the E55 came from the factory supercharged and makes a healthy 468-HP while being 100 percent stock, this wasn’t the right fit for Khan. If you didn’t notice, he isn’t exactly the type to follow the conventional route. Thus, he stripped the blower and instead added a twin-turbo system for the V8.
For those wondering what this car is called, Khan dubbed this time-attack car of his the E55 ASL (Actually Sporty Lightweight). Sounds a name that somebody who was watched way too much racing would give and has a sense of humor. We love that. Considering the turbos are only running at a low 9 pounds of boost, the 700+ HP this E55 engine makes is impressive. We assume the lower boost is for reliability. Not that you need 700 HP in a vehicle weighing 2000 pounds. For safety he has replaced some engine internals to keep this thing from running into issues with higher power levels.
The transmission powering this E55 is a CD009 out of a Nissan 350Z. Khan built a pneumatic system to allow for sequential shifting via paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Khan has retained the big E55 brakes and differential, but other than that, essentially everything else is custom. The suspension design, the engine mounting, the steering setup, all of it is one off. Did we mention that Khan has done all the work for this kart in his garage? This man is literally insane and we love it.
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