Go Karts

[Monk]

Spending sometime in the man cave with all the bad weather lately........spinning some vinyl and reading old car mags.

In the car mags I noticed there were articles and advertisement geared to go karts in just about every issue.

Articles on what folks were doing to make them go fast..... and everything from kits to complete karts for sale.
Mini bikes were big as well.

A go kart track opened up in the summer of '61 in our small town.
I spent every single cent I could get my hands at the track. I could never get enough.
Eventually led to some very crude homemade karts later on.

Any one else get the kart bug during their childhood?

[JOES66FURY]

Dad would never let me have anything with a motor. My friends and I tried a number of times to take apart lawnmowers and build wooden frames so we could have one....it never worked...thank goodness. We would been killed.

There was a slick track here for a short time, that thing was a freaking blast. The cars were really fast and the track so smooth drifting around corners came with just a light blip of the throttle and a turn of the wheel...it got shut down due to rising insurance costs...

I still yern for a mini bike and am shopping for one for my youngest but the prices are nuts even for used bikes...so I am holding out for a deal...that will probably never come lol.

[Monk]

The track back then was pretty crude but worked.
Old tires in the banks.....not sure if the kart had seat belts....it was a blast.

Wooden frame kart?..........yeah we tried that a couple of times as well.

[redneckjoe69]

i'd love to build a kart like this. i think its one of the baddest videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apd1KBjLV8k

[BBR]

I had a Manco growing up. Drove the wheels off that thing.

I built one for my kiddos a few years ago and I still have the mini bike I had as a kid.

[DanStokes]

I never had one but my buddy Tom and his sister had one that their Dad built - he was one of those "build anything" guys and an engineer at the GMPG. It had THREE WHEELS (one in the back) and a Crosley 3 speed trans with reverse. I think the engine was a Wisconsin 10 HP, which was a brute. They had a long lot so we could run it up and down that strip. They were pretty good about letting all of us in the neighborhood have turns.

I ran into his sister a couple of years ago and she still has the frame and some of the bits (maybe the trans and other things). She wants to get it put together and was working toward making that happen.

Dan

[Monk]

i'd love to build a kart like this. i think its one of the baddest videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apd1KBjLV8k

That thing is insane

[BKBridges]

Any one else get the kart bug during their childhood?

Oh Yeah... Scavenged garage sales for the parts we needed to put together an old bug "wasp" kart that had been rammed hard into a wall or something. Begged my neighbor to weld a new front end on it and then installed the MC101 we found "cheap". 100s of mowed lawns later we had an oil bath slipper clutch, manual disk brake on the rear axle, and a gas tank made from 1/2 of a refrigerator compressor tank bolted to the seat back and a used expansion chamber exhaust. We didnt have a real kart track nearby so we terrorized the street and the junior high on weekends. It was one of the best times of my life. Thanks for reminding me!
BKB

[Monk]

Oh Yeah... Scavenged garage sales for the parts we needed to put together an old bug "wasp" kart that had been rammed hard into a wall or something. Begged my neighbor to weld a new front end on it and then installed the MC101 we found "cheap". 100s of mowed lawns later we had an oil bath slipper clutch, manual disk brake on the rear axle, and a gas tank made from 1/2 of a refrigerator compressor tank bolted to the seat back and a used expansion chamber exhaust. We didnt have a real kart track nearby so we terrorized the street and the junior high on weekends. It was one of the best times of my life. Thanks for reminding me!
BKB

Yeah and our tools were normally a screwdriver, pair of pliers and some vise grips

[JOES66FURY]

Yeah and our tools were normally a screwdriver, pair of pliers and some vise grips

you had vice grips? Lucky!

[BOOOGHAR]

i was offered a early 60s kart that was one chainsaw engine on it now, but its set up for two and has magnesium wheels. im gunna try to get some pics of it this weekend

[Monster]

My Mom forbade mini-bikes and go carts, so I led a deprived childhood with only my Schwinn Stingray for vehicular enjoyment ...

[SuperBuickGuy]

mini bikes, go karts, dirt bikes, shifter karts then adulthood .... some of the best memories growing up came out of those sports...

[PatricksDad]

I'm guessing these were the "gateway drugs" for a majority on here, esp. if you were born before 1975 or so.

Edit to add a Honda Mini-Trail 70 or 90 into the mix.

[milner351]

I had a Manco growing up. Drove the wheels off that thing.

I built one for my kiddos a few years ago and I still have the mini bike I had as a kid.

My folks would have none of it, nothing with an engine. I plan on taking a route very similar to BBR's home built jewel above. Lee is only 4 but I already have a list of plans, a couple engines, and a few other bits laying around.