Kartbuilding Blog

Popular Science – Archives of Go-Kart articles

Stephen Burke — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:28:47 +0000

Popular science recently put all of their published magazines on the Internet. As soon as I heard, I couldn’t wait to search for any “kart” related articles. I remember seeing old magazines amongst my fathers collection and was amazed at the details and information which was available for making all sorts of projects going back even to the start of the 19th century. A quick search here led me to some of the articles shown in the image below.

Direct links to two of the articles are:
http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=wyoDAAAAMBAJ&pg=78&query=kart
http://www.popsci.com/archive-viewer?id=TiEDAAAAMBAJ

I came across lots of advertisements and classifieds for go-kart kits but a lot of these were pretty old. Other search keywords which returned lots of results were “buggy” and “engine” and “motorcycle”. Have fun searching through. If anyone comes across any more good articles, feel free to email them on or add a comment. In case anyone was wondering it is an old “Modern Mechanix” magazine article showing kart plans from 1962 on the main kartbuilding.net website.

Want some pedal power for your wooden go-kart?

Stephen Burke — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:39:26 +0000

I recently recieved a comment from Jason with a link to his website where he has put details of making a very cool wooden go-kart. Whats very nice about this kart is that it uses a pedal crank and chain to drive the kart. I get a lot of emails asking how to implement a pedal drive for the wooden-go-karts listed here. Typically these people want to make the wooden push go-kart first. Then upgrade to a pedal powered wooden-go-kart and finally maybe attach a small engine.

The exact link to the page with the pedal crank drive is: http://thegokart.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/chapter-nine-dont-be-so-cranky/ I hope someone finds this useful and helps them.

Plans for a Lawnmower Powered Go-Kart – Finished

Stephen Burke — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:17:24 +0000

The plans for the wooden go-kart powered by a lawnmower engine are finally finished. Below is a collage showing thumbnail images of the 21 drawings in the set of comprehensive plans for this go-kart. Full parts lists (shopping lists) and Tools required for this kart have all been documented. There still is no costing / overall price for each part done yet, but when it is it will be included. Head on over to the main kartbuilding website to see the completed set of plans.

Full Set of Plans for a Lawnmower Powered Go-Kart ->

Want to add comments? Now you can!

Stephen Burke — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:50:01 +0000

Up until this I didn’t allow comments to blog posts, simply because it can be a honey-pot for spam. Anyways with the new captcha system, and my easy wordpress upgrade facility (svn) you can add comments easily. I hope to reply to comments whenever I can. Feel free to drop me an email either. You can also follow the kartbuilding Mailing List.

Plans for a Wooden Go-Kart powered by a Lawnmower Engine

Stephen Burke — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:40:16 +0000

I’ve been meaning to update the Basic Wooden Kart plans to include provision for using a Lawnmower Engine to drive the Go-Kart. Quite a lot of people have being asking for the various details for this Wooden Go-Kart, and instead of doing bits and pieces, I decided to model the entire Go-Kart. Key aspects of this kart include:

Lawnmower Engine used to power the go-kart.
A Clutch system to allow the engine to idle.
Using brakes of a bicycle.

I’ve just finished all the 3D Modelling of the kart, and will be doing the Plans and 2D Drawings very soon. Meanwhile below is a taster of what the Lawnmower Engine powered Go-Kart looks like. I did have old plans for this wooden kart, however they were very old, and done in 2D CAD.

3D Model to Zoom / Rotate

If you want to view the Kart in all it’s 3D glory (including details on the throttle and clutch system), click to download the 3DVia Viewer Package of the Wooden Kart (3 MB).

Stay tuned to www.kartbuilding.net where I will be publishing the complete set of plans for this engine powered kart. I will also be making some videos showing the assembly of the kart, the key components and the operation of the kart. Following the tips and feedback of many people who contacted me at , I will be making a complete Bill of Materials / Shopping List of part and components, so that anyone will be able to build this kart. If you have any requests on what is included in the 2D printable plans, drop me an email.

Website Review – DIY Kart Step by Step

Stephen Burke — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 23:21:00 +0000

I had hoped to do an extensive review of the many websites on designing and making go-karts, but I came across the following one which stitches together many different sites on kart plans into one single page in a step by step manner. It has YouTube Videos, Picture slideshows, photos and lots of other information.

It divides up the Step by Step How to Guide into four major sections:

Front A-arms assembly
Main frame assembly
Steering system assembly
Drive axle assembly

It has lots of useful information on engines, videos of engines in use on karts and much more. A picture of it can be seen below. The website address is: http://hubpages.com/hub/Build-Your-Own-Go-Kart—A-Step-by-Step-Guide Hopefully this link and website will remain active. Here is an image of the website:

When I started the first Kartbuilding website in 2001 (archive link), there was very little information available on karts and kart plans on the Internet. In the last few years however the information, videos, plans etc. has increased enormously. This is great news for anyone wanting to build a kart. If you have any good websites on building karts, feel free to drop us an email ( kartbuilding at gmail.com )

What it feels like driving a Kart

Stephen Burke — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:55:31 +0000

Incredibly Fast Go-Cart

I’m sure you’ll agree its some experience. What more incentive would a person need to get involved in karting. I do hope that was a closed road they were driving on! If the above video stops working, just drop us an email ( ).

Coolest Backyard invention of 2008

Stephen Burke — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:21:09 +0000

I’ve always liked Popular Mechanics, from reading old copies which my Dad used to get (many years ago), to browsing their website. I’ve even blogged about articles from their website before, however this month’s article is especially cool!

The Top Coolest Backyard Invention of 2008:
DIY Rally (Jet-Powered Go-Kart)

Original Image obtained from the Popular Mechanics Website.

Bryan, a 37 year old assistant manager at a Mitsubishi dealership devised this backyard invention complete from old parts and scrap metal! He got the power turbine on eBay and modded the rest himself. His total bill came to $1000 which might sound like a lot, however we do not know how much the turbine cost. The final kart weighing in at nearly 500lb reaches an astonishing 60mph in 8 seconds! There is a youtube video also available, showing the kart in action. It sure sounds loud! I bet the neighbours were giving out, it been late at night and all when they took the video :-)

It seems that you can buy just about anything on eBaythese days. For kartbuilding, this is great news as odd parts and components can easily be sourced, however it can cost quite a bit if you have to pay for shipping. Most of the time, with some patience and looking in skips and yards etc. all the parts can be obtained for virtually nothing.

While the articleitself lacks a lot of inside information into the build, it provides great inspiration to many people looking to build karts from old pieces of scrap and second-hand parts. The popular mechanics website also provides great inspiration and a wealth of information on engines, motorbikes, chassis’s, brakes and just about everything that’s involved with kartbuilding. Hopefully the summer and go-kart building is going well for all of you.

Red Bull Soap Box Race in Belfast (25 May, 2008)

Stephen Burke — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:53:21 +0000

Looks like its too late to enter this years Red Bull Soapbox race in Belfast on May 25th, 2008. What a pity. Still the event itself should be a good laugh with plenty of ideas and soapbox carts/karts to see with 47 teams been given “Soap Box Racing licences”. The event seems planned very well, with plenty of information on the RedBull website, including details on brakes and steering!

Attending the race is free to the public, and as the teams are from all over Ireland/N.Ireland it’ll be well worth a visit.

So, what is a Soap Box? They are simple vehicles which reply completely upon gravity. Typically they are raced together as part of a “Soap Box Derby” which is exactly what is happening with the Red Bull Soapbox race.

Keep the ideas and kartbuilding going!

EDIT:
Due to the interest and questions recieved about Red Bull Soapbox racing via email, some vidoes of previous races can be found on youtube. The following are two relevant ones. The first video shows part 1 of the construction of a soapbox racer. The second video shows one of the soapbox carts in action.

Preview: Off Road Kart Plans in the making.

Stephen Burke — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:15:33 +0000

Apologies for not blogging here in quite a while. Behind the scenes more plans and material is been made. Below is a preview of plans for an off-road kart currently being drawn up. Full cutting lists and bills of materials will be created covering all aspects of building the off-road kart, using commonly available materials and parts. For example, for the seat below, which is a modified plastic chair with side reinforcements and padding, will be fully descibed with details on how to adapt it to suit. The wheels shown below are from a wheelbarrow! The idea of these kart plans is to provide details and information on making a low-cost, low-budget kart.

The plans being drawn will contain all the details and information of the the above kart (photo). It will be a few months however before the all the plans, details and information is fully completed for the above kart, so check back soon. If you have any ideas on what should be included in the Plans for this Off-Road Kart, please get in touch and let us know.

Stay tuned!