On Saturday 19 June 2010, Japanese football fans gathered at Olympic Plaza of National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo to witness the Guinness Book of World Record for the fastest football kick achieved by a machine. Castrol, an official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, has launched a project to create the world’s fastest kicking machine and has engaged a Japanese team to develop it.
Castrol Ichi-go photo
The kicking machine is known as Castrol Ichi-Go and the project is the world’s first engine-driven free kick machine with super human power. It aims to produce an engine that has a steel leg that will deliver a free kick in excess of 200 km/h per hour.
Initially, the team were thinking of simply ‘placing’ a free kick machine in front of the goal. But then Castrol’s partner, Kogoro Kurata, joined the team. Kogoro is an artist who produces prominent, iron-made machines, robots and objects and has a policy to ‘create anything’ and is ‘more interested in creating difficult things than easy ones’.
When introduced to the project Kogoro said ‘I feel like I’m being set up. Right, damn it, if everyone is saying it’s impossible, let’s just do it. Why not give a try?’ and then he increased the scope of the development into creating a machine that runs the field, stands up in front of the goal and free kicks with its steel leg.
The ball goes too fast for the human eye.
World Fastest Football kick by a Football Kicking Machine - Castrol Ichi-go Video
The kicking machine is known as Castrol Ichi-Go and the project is the world’s first engine-driven free kick machine with super human power. It aims to produce an engine that has a steel leg that will deliver a free kick in excess of 200 km/h per hour.
Initially, the team were thinking of simply ‘placing’ a free kick machine in front of the goal. But then Castrol’s partner, Kogoro Kurata, joined the team. Kogoro is an artist who produces prominent, iron-made machines, robots and objects and has a policy to ‘create anything’ and is ‘more interested in creating difficult things than easy ones’.
When introduced to the project Kogoro said ‘I feel like I’m being set up. Right, damn it, if everyone is saying it’s impossible, let’s just do it. Why not give a try?’ and then he increased the scope of the development into creating a machine that runs the field, stands up in front of the goal and free kicks with its steel leg.
The ball goes too fast for the human eye.
World Fastest Football kick by a Football Kicking Machine - Castrol Ichi-go Video
