The Activity People Blog

The sport of Go karting or karting as it is more popularly referred too, has undergone some major changes since it’s inception in the USA as little more than feisty ride-on lawn mowers ridden by the odd amateur enthusiast.

Modern karts driven by the professionals of the sport can now reach speeds of around 160mph and are used as training for aspiring F1 world champions. Karting as a leisure activity made it way across the Atlantic into Europe during the swinging 60s and has steadily grown in popularity on this side of the pond ever since.

Karting’s origins in the USA

Art Ingels is generally accepted to be the father of karting. A veteran hot rodder and a race car builder at Kurtis Kraft, he built the first kart out of scrap metal and a surplus two-stroke cycle engine in his garage in Southern California in 1956, and his new invention immediately caught the imagination of an audience of a few hundred people when he tested it in the car park of Pasadena’s famous Rose Bowl.

In 1958, American outfit Go Kart Manufacturing Co became the first kart manufacturer, whilst another American company, McCulloch, was the first to produce engines for karts. Its first engine, the McCulloch MC-10, was an adapted chainsaw 2-stroke engine.

Karting quickly caught on, with karting facilities springing up in many towns and cities across the USA.

This initial widespread enthusiasm, however, lasted only until a lack of finances towards the end of the 1960s saw many of these facilities begin to disappear and karting become a much more select sport with only those who could afford it able to take part. Karting as a sport also suffered at this time from lacking a governing body, meaning it had no basis on which to develop a bona fide professional sport, so for decades was predominantly enjoyed on a recreational basis.

The shift to Europe

Unlike other motorsports with origins in the USA such as Demolition Derbies, Drag Racing or Stock Car Racing, karting and kart racing has succeeded in making the transition from the States to Europe, becoming a highly popular leisure activity as well as a key learning ground for professional drivers.

In the late 1960s, European engine manufacturers became more popular than their American counterparts. This trend continued into the 1970s as McCulloch, the leading American Go Kart engine manufacturer, was bought by Black and Decker, who had no interest in producing kart engines. It was during the 1970s that today’s modern Go Kart designs came into force. The engines were at the side, rather than at the back of the kart.

Karting becomes a sport for real

The creation of several regulatory bodies in the 1980s strengthened the idea of Go Karting being more than just a hobby. Karting had, for several decades, predominantly enjoyed on a recreational basis, but the introduction of regulatory bodies helped it to open up to people who wanted to get a good grounding in motor sports.

Though it is a relatively short one, the history of karting as an organised sport is extremely illustrious, to say the least. Karting has acted as a high-octane kindergarten for some of the greatest drivers in the history of modern motorsport. Senna. Prost. Schumacher. Alonso. Räikkönen. Button. Hamilton. All of them used competitive karting as their first stepping stone towards the eternal glories that F1 world championships bring with them.

Karting as a leisure activity

Kart racing is generally accepted as the most economic form of motorsport available. As a free-time activity, it can be performed by almost anybody, and as a motorsport in itself, it is one of the sports regulated by FIA (under the name of CIK), permitting licensed racing for anyone from the age of 8 onward.

Besides traditional kart racing, many commercial enterprises offer karts for rent, often called “recreational” or “concession” karts. The tracks can be indoor or outdoor. Karts are rented by sessions and use sturdy chassis complete with dedicated bodywork to provide driver safety. These karts also often contain limiters, which allow those running the circuit to slow down or even completely stop karts remotely if they feel that there might be any danger to drivers out on the track. Most of these enterprises use an ‘Arrive and Drive’ format which provide customers with all the safety gear (helmets, gloves and driver outfits) and allow them to show up any time to race at a reasonable price, without the hassle of owning one’s own equipment and gear.

Karting, then, has enjoyed a varied history, but has now firmly established itself as one of the most popular motorsports in the world.

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