History of karting

In 1930s in the USA racings with engineless carts were very popular. It is believed that the US army pilots were the first one who decided to equip these carts with an engine and modify them shortly after the World Was II. They constructed small cars, equipped them with a motorcycle engine and organized racings on airport runways.

These racings had been popular within a relatively small circle of people until year 1956 when Art Ingels, an ex-pilot and mechanic in “Kurtis Kraft”, Glendale (a company producing race cars) decided to built a relatively simple model and named it cart.

At the beginning of year 1957 Bill Rowles, Duffy Livingstone and Roy Desbrow established the Go-Kart Company, producing karts. Their business had a very successful start and later on they purchased a 5-acre terrain and built up the first karting circuit for kart races. At the same time Ingels set up his own kart building company - Ingels-Borelli.

In year 1958 the British businessman Mickey Flynn placed an order with Go-Kart for five karts. In year 1960 there were more than 100 companies in Great Britain building and assembling karts. Since February 1960 a specialized magazine “Karting” has been published in Great Britain.

In May 1960 FIA officially recognized kartingas a motorsport. In year 1962 an International Karting Committee was established with FIA. In year 1964 the first Karting Championship took place in Rome with engines of 100 cm³ (after Formula 1, karting became the second motorsport with a world championship).

Due to its simple design and relatively low price (USD 100-200) karting gained a great popularity. However, in year 1962 the boom of kart building came to an end. The number of kart-building companies was drastically reduced. The karts became more powerful, more accomplished and therefore more expensive.

The chassis of regular water tubes was replaced by a chassis of special reinforced tubes produced from high-strength alloys. The increased power and the higher speed made it necessary to think of the pilots’ improved safety. And as in other motorsports these requirements brought to the reduction of builders and only the professionals have remained in the branch.