Go Kart

Our homemade Go-Kart. A very early project. So far, I haven’t found the time to write much about it.

Some notes:

• Built together with my cousin at the age of 17/18, just for fun
• At the time we had absolutely no experience or knowledge about engineering or welding
• Built over a period of one year

Because of a combination of some well-done planning (didn’t know what system engineering was at the time), investigation of actual go-karts and Google we were able to come up with a surprisingly good result.

It is a wonder the welds can keep everything together and with the help of standard parts coming from commercial go-karts it is working just fine. However, the mechanics for breaking and accelerating could be better. Same with the center of mass. That thing is a little off due to the motor on the side.

Some data

• Top speed of ~50km/h (not measured, just a feeling)
• Weight: Heavy
• 4 stroke engine:
  • 6.5PS (Not that much. But it is very reliable and still fun)
  • Petrol
• Automatic transmission (wet clutch)
• Custom chassis
• Electric starter

It’s a shame I haven’t used it for a long time but the thing is you can not just go and take it out on the road. Maybe in the future, we will take it apart again and design a better frame for it. I always wanted to build something like a dune-buggy for some offroad fun. That would certainly make it easier to find some spot to drive around.