A kart circuit is a

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

designed for

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

or other forms of short-length motor racing, such as small-scale

motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

, pocketbike racing, or radio-controlled model racing. There are several types of kart circuit, depending on the type of use desired. Unlike regular race tracks intended for

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

or other forms of

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

s, kart circuits are usually much shorter in length, narrower, and contains numerous turns or corners.

Circuit types

Short circuit

A short circuit is defined as being an outdoor circuit of less than 1,500 meters in length . The average length for a serious racing track for karts is around 1,100 - 1,200 meters, 7 to 9 meters in width. Normally custom-built for karting, they resemble road courses, with left and right turns. They generally allow sprint racing for both

gearbox A transmission (also called a gearbox) is a mechanical device invented by Louis Renault (who founded Renault) which uses a gear set—two or more gears working together—to change the speed, direction of rotation, or torque multiplication/r ...

and non-gearbox karts. Temporary circuits can be set in city streets or large parking lots for special events. This is the case for the Junior Monaco Kart Cup, a prestigious event for young drivers taking place each year in the city of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

, and the SKUSA SuperNationals, taking place in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.

Long circuit

A long circuit is defined as being an outdoor circuit of more than 1,500 m in length. Typically they are shared for other

and only have gearbox kart races. This type of event can see karts (

Superkart Superkart is a form of motorsport road racing that uses karts on long circuits. The bigger difference between a superkart and most other forms of kart is that they have full aerodynamic bodykits, as well as having a longer wheel base than sprint ...

) reach speeds in excess of 160 mph (250 km/h).

Indoor

Normally for casual racers, the indoor circuits can be in any closed space (often old

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

), sometimes with a short outdoor section to add interest. Normally they have their own fleet of

Go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performanc ...

s or

micro kart A micro kart is a small, one-passenger mini go-kart. These karts typically have two-stroke engines, ranging in size from 22.5 cc to 85 cc, and putting out anywhere from 1.2 hp to over 20 hp, or an electric motor with rechargeabl ...

s, chosen more for economy than out-and-out speed. In Europe, indoor karting is where most people will sample their first time in a kart. Indoor karting exploded across the UK in the 1990s and had a similar impact in European countries such as France and Belgium. It has made a lesser impact in the United States. Indoor karting still offers a competitive experience for all levels of racers. The world longest indoor circuit, the Highway Kart Racing GmbH, 1,600 meters, is located in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

.Die längste Indoor Kartbahn der Welt
- Highway Kart Racing

Others

In this category fall the dirt-tracks,

oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

tracks and

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

Locations

Karting is international and most countries have kart specific racing circuits. Notable examples are included below. ;Latvia * Swedbank kartodroms ;UK * Bayford Meadows * Buckmore Park Kart Circuit * Daytona Motorsport * Mansell Raceway Kart Circuit * Clay Pigeon Raceway ;USA * K1 Speed * Pole Position Raceway * Phoenix Kart racing association * Whiteland Raceway Park Italy * South Garda Karting * Circuito Internazionale Napoli * Franciacorta Karting Track * Adria International Raceway * Kartodromo La Conca Indonesia * Sentul International Karting Circuit

References

External links

CIK-FIA 2011 circuit regulation

List of karting tracks in the UK

List of karting tracks in the UK (grouped by location)

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Orlando Kart Center world class kart track in Florida
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List of karting tracks in the Netherlands
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List of karting tracks in France

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Venues A venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a conce ...

Kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of small sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance ...