snowmobilesrussia01

Gizmodo found a fine selection of awesomely-dangerous homemade Russian snowmobiles.  Because regular snowmobiles just aren’t dangerous enough.  One of my friends is missing part of an arm that was mangled by a faulty belt, and a guy who shared a hospital room with my brother had a snowmobile-related injury the medical experts refer to as “tree branch in the anus” and “our first rectal foreign body patient who really did ‘fall’ on the object.”  But, yeah, you don’t really get that exhilarating rush of danger till you add some propellers without guards and put some fast-moving belts near your crotch then jump snowbanks with these bad boys.  Glorious.

The first four photos below show a snowmobile made from an old Yamaha motorcycle engine, a fiberglass seat from a carousel, and an awesome giant wheel in the back like a riverboat.  The motor is mounted right next the the driver to keep him warm.  Photos five and six are of a propeller-powered sled that will only slightly decapitate you if you hit a bump and fall over the back of the seat.  The snowmobile in pics seven through ten was built from a rusted-out potato harvester and parts from an OKA economy car.  Due to its weight, it only works in shallow snow, or, as the Russians call it, July weather.  The last two pictures are included because that’s the happiest guy in the world.

Despite the obvious danger, I would still drive every single one of these if given the chance.  A tree branch can’t be that bad, right?

More pictures (including different designs) at EnglishRussia.