If you’re a kid with a go-kart, you win at life. Period, no argument, you win. Every other kid for miles around will be envious and jealous as you tool around at the wheel of your ride. It doesn’t have to be fast, especially for a younger kid learning the ropes. It just has to have four wheels on the ground, one in your hands, and all the right equipment to go and stop safely. But have you priced go-karts lately? Figure at least $600 for a basic kit and by the time you get to some of the higher end kits, it might be more economical to get a beater Honda and let the kid learn to drive in that.

Or you can do what one enterprising father did for his son and hand-build a go-kart. The frame is a basic I-frame made of 2×4’s. The steering and accelerator utilize pulley systems to operate, with the drive coming from a cordless drill that is hard-mounted to the frame via quite a few zip-ties. A basic seat works fine for Junior, and the brake is a simple lever type. Small utility tires round out the build. Honestly, it’s brilliant in it’s simplicity, it won’t be fast enough to cause any serious injury, and with the battery pack you can limit range should the kid decide to be a little bastard and drive off…not that you couldn’t catch him if you ran a bit. By a rough guess, you might be pushing $100 for everything if you bought it all new, and you could cut down that price tag easily you have parts or lumber in storage.

(Thanks to Vic Wood from Aeromotive for the tip!)