Sunshine Airport is one of my favorite tracks in “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.” Ripping around an airport on personal go-karts could have become reality if a Mazda concept from the 1990s had gone into production, as Industrial Equipment News explains. Built into a standard Samsonite suitcase, these little karts could transform in one minute, then let you zip around at a blazing 19 mph. While not fast by most standards, it’s still faster than you could run to make your connecting flight, which is ultimately what counts here.
The early 1990s were a great time for Mazda. It was seeing great success with the original Miata, which had just gone on sale, and had just become the first Japanese brand to win Le Mans with the rotary-powered 787B. Mazda encouraged that spirit of innovation to run wild by holding internal competitions, such as Fantasyard, which pitted departments against each other to come up with creative mobility ideas, according to Mazda UK. The manual transmission testing and research unit had the bright idea to graft a pocket bike into a suitcase to help people get around airports more easily, yet another reason why manual transmissions are awesome. The bike became a three-wheeled go-kart, with the suitcase as its fold-up body. Imagine how much more pleasant air travel would be if you had several Suitcase Cars available so that you could race your fellow passengers to the next connecting flight.
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Alas, our Mario Kart fantasies didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. The FAA says you can’t bring gasoline in your luggage. Also, the suitcase Mazda used is too large to fit under a seat or in an overhead compartment, so it would have to travel as checked luggage. When demonstrating the Suitcase Car on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” a Mazda representative explains that the idea came from an engineer who was tired of waiting for a taxi at the end of his flight, which inspired him to build a vehicle he could bring with him and drive to the hotel. It’s for first-mile/last-mile transportation, not turning the airport into your own personal race track. It’s also amusing to hear the people in this clip discuss the year 2000, a distant future when we’ll be carrying astounding technology like laptop computers and cellular phones.
The year 2000 is far behind us, and technology has advanced to the point that the Suitcase Car may be an idea whose time has come. The problems of the original gas engine are easily solved with a simple electric drivetrain, plus a small, lightweight battery with a few miles of range. There might even be room inside for some actual luggage. Or, downsize everything to fit in a carry-on bag, something you can bring on board and race to the next gate. Put this into production, and a Mario Kart race at Sunshine Airport could become a reality. All we’d need is some 3D-printed shells to go with them.
