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Dyson employees hack vacuums, hit the racetrack

Company engineers call each other out on the carpet for a Pinewood Derby-like challenge to see who can create the baddest race car using vacuum parts.

Riding a Dyson. Don't try this at home. Unless, of course, you really, really want to. Video screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET

Q: What do you call a vacuum cleaner that doesn't suck?

A: A race car.

That seems to be the refreshingly unexpected answer Dyson's U.K. engineers would provide.

The crew got together earlier this month to shake the dust off with the "Dyson car challenge," a Pinewood Derby of sorts wherein the engineers competed to -- as the company puts it -- "create the fastest go-kart using a few Dyson spare parts and all the torque they could eke out from one of our handheld motors."

Judging from the video the company posted on YouTube, it looks like everyone had a lot of fun. Most of the contestants created miniature racers of one sort or another, but there was a bona fide go-kart in the mix, complete with outsize rider.

And that makes us wonder if a legitimate product could result from these shenanigans. We mean, we love robots and all, but wouldn't you prefer to stash the Roomba and tear around the house on a dragster vacuum instead?

We thought so.