Go Karting FAQ

After you have got ready with your safety gear, and have been shown around your Go Kart you are ready to start the race.

One of the first things we recommend is that you get comfortable, and check that you can reach the pedals easily as once you start racing, and if you want to WIN (or at least come in the top 3). You won't want to stop and adjust your seating position, as that would mean pulling in to the pit stops, losing you a load of time and put you to the back of the race.

Go Karting races can last from 15 minutes up to 1 hour, and will be non-stop racing for that whole time. 15 minutes may not sound like long, but when you're pushing every corner and trying to overtake to win the race, then you will know about it at the end, so the most important tip we can give you is to make sure that you are comfortable before starting the race.

The best Go Karting venues will have loads of corners, so the faster you can get around the corners the quicker you will be, and the more likely you are to win the race, as the cornering is where the race is won or lost, if you can get this bit right then it will be you crossing the finishing line in 1st place and leaving your mates for dust!

How to take the corners faster. This starts before the corner as you may guess, and finishes as you leave the corner. As you come racing up to the corner (lets work on the corner going around to the left), you want to get your go kart as far over to the right-hand side of the track as you can to give you as much room, and not lose too much speed. The reason for this is that if you were to come up to the left-hand corner on the left-hand side, then you would have to lose too much speed to get around, and everyone will overtake you putting you to the back of the race.

Once you are on the right-hand side of the track, for a left-hand turn you need to keep your wheel straight as you race up to the corner to apply your brakes just enough to get round (to avoid hitting the barrier). The reason for applying your brake with the wheels straight is that you will have more control of your go-kart and will not lose as much speed. Now that you have reduced your speed you want to start turning in to the corner so that you turn in wide and come out of the corner as close to the inside racing line as you can, as you leave the corner, straighten your wheels and get your foot down to accelerate. If you can get this bit right then you will fly past everyone else as you race around the circuit and win.

Racing your Go-kart like a pro. When you get shown around your go-kart the venue will show you which side is the brake and accelerator. When you sit in the go-kart you will have one leg either side of the steering wheel, and each leg will control either the brake or the accelerator. As you race you can only use one pedal at a time otherwise you will either lose speed or spin the go-kart as you go round the corners. This will give you valuable seconds over the other go karts and help you win.

When you get to the venue you will be given a safety briefing which will include the layout of the track along with some helpful tips on how to get around the track faster. The safety briefing is normally done by watching a video, or a drawing of the circuit on the wall. At the safety briefing you will also be given your race suit, gloves and helmet to put on over your clothes, you will then be taken to your go kart.

The most important part now is to just relax and have fun as you are all there to make some great memories. So just relax and enjoy yourself, this will help stop you from tensing up when racing around the circuit and have more fun, as well as helping to reduce any aching after just a few laps, as if you start aching too soon then this will slow you down and make for a long race.

We all know the name Lewis Hamilton as the F1 Racing Driver who has won the F1 World Championship 6 times. But did you know that Lewis started off Go Karting at the age of just 8 in 1993 at Rye House Kart Raceway in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, and that you can still race there today, and take on the same circuit that Lewis Hamilton started his racing career.

The first go kart was designed in 1956 by Art Ingels, Art was a fabricator from Los Angeles who worked for Kurtis-Kraft which made the nation’s top midget race-cars. Art Ingels started working on the first Go Kart in his garage, which started by welding steel tubing into a mini chassis and then putting a 2.5-horsepower two-stroke West End lawnmower engine on to the chassis, and so was built the first ever petrol go kart.

After Art Ingels finished building the go kart he took it along to the Pomona Road Races where Duffy Livingstone was racing a T-bucket roadster, Duffy loved the idea so much that he went and built his very own go kart, and when finished said to Art Ingels about meeting at Rose Bowl to have some fun, and race the Go Karts, this was also where the first ever official go kart race was with several dozen home-built go karts in 1957.

The world Record speed for a go kart was achieved on the 5th September 2017 in York by Tom Bagnall from Cheadle, Staffordshire. Tom managed his world record in a jet-propelled Go Kart which recorded an amazing top speed of 112.29 mph and made it into the Guinness World Records in 2019, the go kart was deigned and built by Andy Morris.

Great question as who would not want to say that they have raced at the longest go karting circuit in the UK. Below we have included the longest indoor and outdoor go karting circuits.

The Longest Indoor Go Karting Track has to go to Capital Karts in London at 1,050 metres of indoor racing circuit. This is around 3 times the length of most UK indoor go karting tracks, plus at Capital Karts the track includes 25 corners, and an 80-meter straight which is great for picking up speed before the next corner.

The Longest Outdoor Go Karting Track has to go to PF International Karting in Grantham, Lincolnshire with an impressive outside go karting circuit off 1,382 meters. Which includes 13 corners and a few long straights to get your speed up for overtaking.

These are both great go karting venues in the UK, if you have raced at both of these circuits let us know on our Facebook page.

Go Karting is a motor-sport activity that you can do at different indoor and outdoor venues all over the UK. A go kart is a small kart with 4 wheels that you sit on top off, and either has a petrol or electric engine which sits behind the driver. The petrol engine can be either 2 stoke or 4 stoke and can travel up to speeds of 40mph for adult go karts, and up to 25mph for junior go karts.

The idea of go karting is for a group to have a go kart each, and then to race around either an indoor or outdoor circuit for a set number of laps, or a set amount of time to see who is the fastest at getting around the track and passing the finishing line first, the winner is then normally given a winners trophy to keep and take away with them.

If you would like to find different Go Karting venues near you, head to our websiteand enter your location or postcode. Our website will then display a list of everything you can do near you, if you would like to see results for go karting just click on Motor Activities, this will then bring up the result for all motor activities near you, you can then enter Go Karting in the Search These Results tab below the filters, which will then only display Go Karting venues for you anywhere within the UK.

Go Karting has never been safer with all venues now supplying race suits, gloves and helmets. Junior and adult go karts have different size engines so that children can not go as fast around the circuit and reduce risk. Venues will do the junior racing, and adult racing separate unless you request something different as you want to race your children around the track.

All drivers are given a full safety briefing before the race starts to make sure that everyone knows the rules. You will also be shown the different colour flags that may be used throughout the race for safety reasons, we have included the main flags for you below.

Green flag - Start of your race

Chequered flag - Race finishing

Red flag - Stop racing and remain where you are, also keep your foot on the brake to make sure that you do not move, this will be used if there is something in the track that needs to be removed by the Safety Marshall before the race can continue

Yellow flag - Slow your go kart down to a walking place and strictly no overtaking, this will be used if there is something blocking the circuit and the Safety Marshall need to remove it before the race can continue again at full speed

Blue flag - This is used to indicate that a faster driver is going to lap you and for safety reasons you should move out of the racing line to let them pass

Black flag - This is to either warn you, or to disqualify you from the race for inappropriate conduct, this is the one flag that you do not want to see

As well as all of the safety measures above you will have a number of Safety Marshall's spread around the circuit to monitor the race to make so that everyone is racing fairly and within the rules, as well as the Safety Marshalls you will also have safety barriers at different points around the track. If you happen to hit one of the barriers or come off the track when racing, you will need to remain in your go-kart until one of the Safety Marshalls comes over to slow the race down, and to help you get back in the race so that you can continue.

As you can see above there are many safety measures put in place for your safety and others, those safety measure are the same if you are a child or an adult.

Wear comfortable clothing for your go karting experience which you are happy to sit in and race, and also that you are not too bothered about if you get dirty – jeans and trainers are ideal, you will also be wearing a helmet so don’t have your hair tied up in a way that you will find uncomfortable, and leave your jewellery at home, unless you can easily remove it.

The minimum age for go-karting can vary from venue to venue, so this is always worth checking with the venue before you book. As a guide across the UK the minimum age is normally 7 to 8 with a minimum height of 125 cm this is to ensure they can safely reach the pedals to control the go-karts.

There is not generally a maximum age for go-karting as we are all big kids at heart and love to race each other whenever we get the chance. The main guide for this is as long as you can safely get in and out of the go-kart, and also drive it safely and under control then you should be OK to race. At some venues, there is a maximum height or weight, which will normally be around a maximum height of 6'4”, and or a maximum weight of 18 stone.