Kart racing

Lore & Background

Modern karting originated in Southern California in the 1950s. American race-car builder Art Ingels, who worked for Kurtis Kraft, is widely credited as one of the creators of the first kart. The kart used a simple tubular frame and a small two-stroke West Bend engine. Early karting developed as a grassroots activity in California, with Ingels' prototype and other early home-built karts driven in car parks, including at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, before organised kart racing began to emerge. The sport spread rapidly in the United States and then to Europe during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Early karts often used engines adapted from lawnmowers, chainsaws or motorcycles before specialist kart engines became more widely available. By the 1960s, dedicated kart chassis and engine manufacturers had emerged, including manufacturers in the United States and Europe. Italian engine and chassis manufacturers later became especially prominent in international karting. Indoor karting emerged as a commercial and recreational form of the sport in the late twentieth century, developing in London from the mid-1980s and becoming popular during the 1990s.

Reader's Guide

Kart racing holds significance as a foundational discipline for many of the world's top racing drivers, including Formula One champions such as Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, all of whom began their careers in karting. The sport is practised both recreationally and competitively, with competitive karting including sprint, endurance, speedway, street and international championship formats. Classes are commonly defined by driver age, engine type, chassis specification and weight. International karting is governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile through FIA Karting, which oversees the Karting World Championship and other international events. National and regional karting is administered by motorsport authorities and karting organisations in individual countries, such as Motorsport UK in the United Kingdom, Karting Australia in Australia, and a mixture of sanctioning bodies in the United States. The sport has expanded globally, with major one-make series like the Rotax Max Challenge and ROK Cup Superfinal bringing together drivers from around the world. Karting continues to serve as both a training ground for future professionals and a competitive motorsport in its own right, with categories ranging from recreational rental karts to high-performance racing karts.

Did You Know?

• Early karts often used engines adapted from lawnmowers, chainsaws or motorcycles before specialist kart engines became available.
• Indoor karting developed in London from the mid-1980s and became popular during the 1990s.
• The Rotax Max Challenge is a global one-make karting series with drivers competing in more than 60 countries.