Kart racing or karting is a type of open-wheel motor sport. It uses small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down kart circuits. Karting is commonly seen as the stepping stone to the higher and more expensive ranks of motorsports.
Karts vary widely in speed. Some known as Superkarts can reach speeds exceeding . Go-karts for the general public used for fun may be limited to speeds of .
Art Ingels is generally accepted to be the father of karting. He was a long time hot rodder and a race car builder at Kurtis Kraft. He built the first kart in Southern California in 1956.
The chassis are made of steel tube. There is no suspension. The chassis must flex enough to work as the suspension.
Braking is achieved by a disc brake mounted on the rear axle. Front disc brakes are becoming popular. Some classes do not allow them.
Amusement park go-karts can be powered by 4-stroke engines or electric motors. Racing karts use small 2-stroke or 4-stroke engines.
Karts do not have a differential. Both rear wheels turn at the same speed. Because of this, one rear tire must slide while cornering.
Power is transmitted from the engine to the rear axle by way of a chain.
Wheels and tires are much smaller than those used on a normal car.
Like other motorsports, karts use different tires for the track conditions. Slicks are used for dry weather. Rain tires or "wets" are used for wet weather. Slicks with grooves cut into them are used for dirt tracks. Spiked tires are used for ice.
Kart racing is generally accepted as the most economic form of motorsport available. As a fun pastime, it can be performed by almost anybody. As a motorsport, it is regulated by FIA (under the name of Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK).
In the USA, many organizations regulate racing, such as the International Kart Federation (IKF), World Karting Association (WKA), Karters of America Racing Triad (KART), and Stars of Karting presented by the Indy Racing League. In the UK, the Motor Sports Association (MSA) regulate Karting. In Australia, kart racing is administered by the Australian Karting Association on the behalf of FIA and Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).
Kart racing is usually used as a low-cost and relatively safe way to introduce drivers to motor racing. Many people think it is for young drivers, but adults are also very active in karting. Karting is considered a first step in a racer's career. It can help develop quick reflexes, precision car control, and decision-making skills.
Besides traditional kart racing, many commercial enterprises offer karts for rent, often called "recreational" or "concession" karts. The tracks can be indoor or outdoor. Karts are rented by sessions (10 to 15 minutes usually), they use sturdy chassis completed with bodywork for driver safety.
Outdoor tracks can offer low speed karts strictly for amusement, or faster, more powerful karts similar to a racing kart. Typically, these outdoor tracks may also be used for traditional kart races.
Governing Bodies:
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (DM) was the official currency of West Germany (1948–1990) and Germany (1990–2002) until the adoption of the euro in 2002. One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennig. 1DM ~ 0,50 EUR.
Blue Byte Software
Blue Byte Software (short Blue Byte) is a video game developer based in Düsseldorf, Germany, founded in 1988. The company has produced popular titles like Battle Isle and The Settlers. Since 2001, the company has been owned by Ubisoft.
Bristlemouth
The Bristlemouth is a fish that lives in the deep middle layers of the sea. Their prey is hard to find in the dark, so they have light organs on their belly. It also helps them to find potential mates.
Black-headed Weaver
The black-headed weaver ("Ploceus melanocephalus"), also known as the yellow-backed weaver, is a bird with a black head and golden body. The male black-headed weaver usually does the weaving, however, and the female sits for the eggs. The male stitches strips of straws to make a basket with a roof. He uses grasses to tie knots and make sure the nest is completely secure. Finally, he shows the nest to females, in effort to attract a mate. The males usually mate with many females during the mating season to get more offspring. They all nest in colonies, and in the end the females are left to raise their young alone. The seeds that the black-headed weaver tends to feed on is very common, so they do not need to stay and defend their family's territory or food.
Rufous Hornero
The rufous hornero ("Furnarius rufus") is a kind of bird that lives around South America. It builds its nests on high places such as telephone poles, or trees. When it makes a nest, it looks like a cup that has fallen over to the side, or like an old-fashioned baker's oven. To make it, the Rufous Hornero mixes grass and animal hair and mud, and then leaves it to dry. Inside there is a grassy room where it lays its eggs.
Scarlet tanager
The scarlet tanager ("Piranga olivacea") is a bird that lives in the Americas. It likes to make its nests in oak trees that are as high as from 8 to 75 feet (2.6 to 22.5 m) tall. The nests are shaped like cups, like most tree-nesting birds. This stops eggs from rolling out.
Western Grebe
The western grebe is a species of Grebe, or bird. They are well known for their dancing on the top of the water in their early nesting season after mating. The two birds will hold long strands of grass or straw in their bills and dance a dance called "weed dancing". Then, at the climax, they rise and make a pose, which is called rushing, and run across the water's surface for a little bit before they dive. Males also used this dance when they wanted to protect their territories or fight over the female.
Messier catalogue
The Messier Catalogue is a list of astronomical objects made by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. Messier was a comet hunter, and was annoyed by fuzzy objects which were not comets. He put together a list of these objects, with his assistant Pierre Méchain.
The list uses numbers with an 'M' in front. Messier was limited by the objects he could see from France, so the list is incomplete by today's standards. It remains popular because people have used it for centuries and they are familiar with it.
The first edition covered 45 objects numbered M1 to M45. The total list published by Messier finally contained 103 objects, and the list was made up to 110 by modern astronomers working from Messier's notes..
Other catalogues exist, most notably the New General Catalogue.
Almost all the items are either star clusters or nebulae. There are only three galaxies in the first fifty, starting with Andromeda at M31. Individual stars are not listed. The first ten in the list are:
Barium sulfide
Barium sulfide is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is BaS. It contains barium and sulfide ions.
Barium sulfide is colorless when pure. It can get colored when it is not pure. It reacts slowly with water to make barium hydroxide and hydrogen sulfide. It reacts with acids to make a barium salt and hydrogen sulfide, too.
It is made by reduction of barium sulfate with carbon at a high temperature.
It is used to make barium compounds from barium ore.
Barium sulfide looks very similar to barium sulfate. Barium sulfate is not toxic, while barium sulfide is very toxic. Barium sulfide dissolves in water to make toxic hydrogen sulfide and toxic barium hydroxide. If someone is fed barium sulfide, it would kill them.
Plasmodium
Plasmodium, commonly known as the malaria parasite, is a large genus of parasitic protozoa. There are about 200 species. Infection with these protozoans is called malaria, a deadly disease widespread in the tropics. The parasite always has two hosts in its life cycle: a mosquito vector and a vertebrate host.