Go Kart Engines – What You Need to Know!
Go Kart Engines – What are the Differences?
If driving down to the nearest fun center for a 10 or 15 mph go kart ride is an entertaining and thrilling pastime, you don’t need to know very much regarding go karts. However, if you would like to race go carts and ratchet up the excitement in your life, even if you are a beginner, you must understand several issues that relate to go karts. High quality go kart tires are certainly important, but understanding the basics with regard to 2-stroke, 4-stroke, and electric go kart engines is also productive, and can ratchet up your level of success and enjoyment in the sport.
Open wheel go karts is about as thrilling as it gets. Watching expert Indy Car racers speed around a 2 1/2 mile track at maximum speeds greater than 230 mile per hour is a heart-pumping thrill. Open wheel racing has been around for decades and go kart racing is a variant of this motor sport. The difference is that go karts are smaller and race on shorter race tracks, but the excitement of operating a go kart can be just as high, especially with the improved and more powerful go kart engines of today. Moreover, a large number of drivers use go karts as a stepping stone to more costly, competitive, and even faster racing. Many of the top professional drivers got their initial start here.
All Go Kart Engines are Not the Same….
Some Go Kart Engines Will Produce Speeds Above 160 MPH
As with just about everything else there is a huge difference in the kind of go karts that can be ridden. Top speed is ordinarily determined by the size of the go kart engines, but it is additionally influenced by the quality of the go kart tires and go kart frame, specifically when maneuvering through hard corners. Super Karts are the swiftest variety and can hit maximum speeds of 160 mile per hour or more. They possess some of the most powerful go kart engines. However, if that’s just a bit too swift for your taste you can opt to drive other types of go karts that will slow the speed down for you. Recreational go carts, having smaller go kart engines and usually found at neighborhood fun centers, will offer maximum speeds that may reach just 10 or 15 mph so there’s a considerable range for you to pick from.
What Type of Motors do Family Fun Centers Use?
2-stroke or 4-stroke go kart engines are normally used in racing. Some 4-stroke go kart engines have been very popular in the family fun centers, but electric engines are growing in status. Electric powered engines have a number of benefits that make them great for short fun center race tracks. They are quite cheap to operate and maintain and only require a charge up when their power gets low. There is no need to fill them with costly gasoline since they get their power from long-lasting batteries. And lacking a gas powered engine to break down they are inexpensive to maintain. Furthermore, they can be raced indoors because they don’t give off any unsafe emissions. The only negative to electric go karts is that they require recharging after roughly 20 minutes of driving, but as high-performance battery technology improves the times are escalating.
Even Smaller Engines Have Power….
Reliable makers of 4-stroke go kart engines are Honda, Briggs and Stratton, and Tecumseh among others. These manufacturers produce low-powered go kart engines that will produce from 5 to 20 hp. These low-powered engines are generally used by beginning drivers or in amusement fun centers. But don’t let the small horse power fool you; some of these low-powered engines can propel a go cart at maximum speeds up to 50 mile per hour. This may not seem speedy to you, but once you begin racing through turns in a tiny go cart at these high speeds you’ll soon appreciate just how swift this really is.
Is 160 MPH Really Possible?
Some 4-stroke engines have extra muscle and will generate up to 50 horse power. These go kart engines can run at up to 11,000 rpm and are often used in many National Championship class races, but if you need greater speeds you’ll have to purchase a 2-stroke engine. Many 2-stroke engines will produce as little as 10 horse power or less, but a few can also provide 90 hp or more at 16,000 rpm. High speeds around 160 mile per hour can be achieved with these powerful 2-stroke engines.
In the olden days go kart engines were cooled by air, but with today’s greater speeds the majority of go kart engines are cooled by water. Many of the less high-powered 4-stroke engines are still air-cooled, but the highest hp engines are most commonly cooled by water. With the numerous differences in power and energy, there are go kart engines available that will be just right for your situation, no matter what kind of racing you would like to do.
The following educational video demonstrates how to remove governors in go kart engines.
