History of karting.....engines

wrecit

Member
In a discussion on a thread a person made comment that they were newish to the sport and did not understand a point I was trying to make. Me being who I am wrote a "brief" history of engines in karting.

This got me thinking. As brother Shaw pointed out the old saying "those who do not know/learn from the past are destined to repeat it" maybe it would be a good idea to actually publish a history of karting post that might be stickyed or even a history of karting section where those that have been around the sport for a decade or 5 could post information for present and future racers can learn where we came from and mistakes that were made in the past (over all not like oops ran air pressure to high)

To that end here is what I wrote about engines. Please those that know more than me (many of you) feel free to fill in the blanks.

got into karting in the mid 2000's so info from before that was learned second hand. Karting started with 2 stroke power plants and at points in time there were quite a number of those smokey monsters competing for dominance. When small 4 strokes became the direction small engine equipment was going racers slowly gravitated to them and for a bit you could find several different offerings at tracks.

Briggs and Stratton caught wind of the use of their engines and saw a marketing angle and formed Briggs motorsports and karting had factory support for the sport. Deals were made and karting had an era of fairly stable racing. The 2 smokers still shared the track but with the exception of the big HP/open guys if you ran 4 stroke you ran flatty. It was not all roses but about the biggest contravercy in the Briggs era was a few head design changes that made some engines illegal out of spec but it was actually an easy fix all things considered

Enter the EPA and clean air. The flatty got pushed out in favor of ohv engines that were "better for the environment". Briggs phased out the flatty but to show support for karting they introduced the animal.

Unfortunately karters knew for a fact that flatheads would always reign supreme and balked at Briggs trying to force them to abandon their beloved flattys. Now Briggs motorsports had already pulled back a bit on their support because of lack of budget so the racers anger was not totally unfounded.

This was about the same time I entered kart racing. Ohv was going to be the future and Briggs had animal and world formula. There was also a new division called f200 that pitted 4 different makes against each other which was promising. About this time alot of flatty racers that were tired of paying up to $2500 for a flatty with $600 to 1000 refreshes saw that ohv was the future but wanted to cut the Briggs umbilical cord.

Enter the china will save karting era. China was producing Honda based knock offs (usually 1-3 versions earlier than the current Honda) at a fraction of the cost of a new Honda engine. The karting world latched onto these. Some years 3 or 4 different makes of these would show up at the track within a season but their quality control was average to poor and it was sort of a flavor of the month kind of thing.

It seems to have stabilized to an extent but I thank my stars we got out of racing when we did.

Now I am sure that there will be plenty of hate on the ghost but here's something to consider. HF lost alot of money in the early days of China will save karting because racers would go and buy their 6hp engine, pull the governor, race it, blow a hole in the side, throw the governor parts through the hole in the case and take it back to HF and get another one for free under warranty (with coupon you were paying a whole $70 for the dam engine lol)

HF stiffened their return policy and people cried lol. The fact that HF wants to market a kart specific package after karters ripped them off should gain some respect. Further, if HF is willing to throw even 1/4 of the support to the sport Briggs did in their hay day using the ghost as their conduit then we could be entering a new stable version of the sport that has not been seen since about 2005.
 
Eric, your not even close to the history of gokart engines. We started playing with gokarts way back in the 1953-54 timeframe. You had to design and weld together your gokart back then. That was before anyone had factory produced kart chassis (Azuza, Bug and Mickey Rupps Dart Kart came out shortly after that timeframe) and no one had an engine specifically built for a kart. Most of the racing was done at the local supermarket parking lot. The first engine we played around with was an old Clinton 3.5HP off of a lawnmower. Remember, there were no tires, axles, fuel tanks, steering wheels or anything really mass produced for a kart back then. You had to make or adapt everything and it was surprising how inventive people were. The engines that evolved were McCulloch, West Bend, Power Products, Koenig, Girelli, Ansanni, Yamaha 250 Twins, Honda 250's, Evenrude and Mercury Outboards and about 3 Italian engines I can't remember the names of. I have witnessed or driven every one of these engines and some were Damn fast. Obviously the cost was minimal because you always used an engine that was worn out and had to be re-built (most of them were given to us). After a few years, people started making after market parts and the prices started going up. Without a doubt, the fastest of all those engines was Duffy Livingston's Yamaha 250 Twin. I saw him play around at the rear for the majority of a race at Utica, IL and then pass 17 karts in one lap then pull into the pits on the Yellow Flag (1 lap to go back then). That's when everyone had FUN racing.....................

Eric, don't take it personally but, you are a youngster in karting. LOL's
 
I did preface you old farts gave me any info I give put in there prior to in hind sight we now see as the beginning of the end of the flatty dominance.

I was actually hoping you would chime in to fill in my major holes
 
Am a bit curious. When the move started to 4 stroke engines was it kind of a wild west approach kind of like the ohv/china saves era has been or did Briggs get in early to kind of settle things down/monopolize
 
Yo Mr.Bob your the man. I can remember 1961 like it was yesterday. I was 6 with a Mac that my dad built. It had 3carbs on alky . Back in those days everything was direct drive and forget about brakes. God bless dad although he must of had a death wish for me. 4 cycles were not even seen let alone on the drawing board. I can still remember my dad going head over teakettles when that monster fired off from the push start.lol later Chuck.
 
Am a bit curious. When the move started to 4 stroke engines was it kind of a wild west approach kind of like the ohv/china saves era has been or did Briggs get in early to kind of settle things down/monopolize
Actually it was because karting was too successful. It was not uncommon to show up at a race and have 80-90 people in your class. At that time there was only about 4 classes (single engine and multi engine, stock appearing and modified). About then the people that owned the parking lots were approached by the insurance sellers and over night that type racing ended. It then progressed into a dirt type racing. A farmer would cut a track in a field and the race was on and that's where the Briggs started to show up. They were initially fairly inexpensive and were much easier to drive on dirt than the peaky 2 smokers and were a fairly stable engine and eventually that became the most dominate engine. From that point the tracks got much better and more people jumped into the aftermarket manufacturing and it then progressed to what we have today (with all 27 classes). The China engines were brought into the picture by a gentleman named Jimmy Sims. He started a series down here in Florida trying to offset the rapidly rising cost of the Briggs engines and it was more than just a little successful. The China engines took the same route as the Briggs engines. The people started to complain that the big engine builders were dominating (same as they are doing today) and should be controlled by a tech book (that you have to buy ????) about the size of a small phone book and you now are up to date. Oh yeah, the classes have gone from 80 entrants to an average of 6-8. Well, gotta go, I just fell off my soapbox.
 
We first jumped into karting about 2008 with a flathead powered kart. At the time the little kids were running stock and/or Robin engines, opens were 2 stroke stuff or Animals, and most places had a KT100 class. Opens sometimes had a number of KT100 too. I knew Briggs had pulled the plug on the flatty but there were still a number of them running. A fellow I really enjoyed on Bobs worked for Briggs and contributed a lot of info on them here on Bobs. The Source? The Facts? I cant remember his Bobs name. Anyhow, he told us that Briggs had produced 40,000 5 hp flathead engines A WEEK for 40 years. Unbelievable. Anyhow, what I would like to know is when the Flatty became the main go kart motor?
 
my dads first kart was made from electrical conduit. The engine was a McCulloch two stroke
One of our first karts was a piece of 2" water pipe that went down the center of the kart and we then welded the remaining piece on the front and rear as axles. The steering was a piece of 3/4" tubing, with a wheel off of an old Ford and some angle going to some home made spindles. It worked great until some of the welds cracked.
 
For my portion, was introduced to karting in 1987 by a college classmate.

Ikf was the sanctioning body. Briggs flathead the engine.
The rules had moved from "compared to a known stock part" to allowing ground camshafts.
Before this builders bought pallets of engines, disassembled them, checked each camshaft, crank, head, block, carbs, etc, and cherry picked parts for national engines.
If you were lucky, you got some of the better stuff for your weekly engine.

The stock rod, piston, and that weenie stamped dipper were what you had.
Rpms were limited by the durability of that dipper.
6000 all day long. 6200 guaranteed failure. Briggs went thru a bunch of dippers that failed well below that level.

These were still just water pump engines, with no real active Briggs motorsports participation, although they sponsored classes at the nationals.
Pallet load lots of engines could be purchased for about $90 each.

Bought my only builder engine in 1989 for $850
Was an awesome piece for just some young kid from Nebraska. Thanks Jerry Bailey!
Uncle Frank was a guy who built movie camera cases with cnc equipment in Council Bluffs.
He began building things like bearing cassettes for axle bearings. Had the first playback tach I ever saw, using a portable cassette tape recorder. He started the Blue Wazoom class about 1993.

Saw my first offset chassis in 1988, an Olson.
Ran 4 IKF 4 cycle speedway nationals. Tech on the first night was an adventure every time.
Raced in the last dual stock sanctioned national race in Albuquerque in 1992. What a fun class!
For prices on items.
Ground cam for stock class. $100.
Prepared stock carb $100
Stock rod and piston were at same price as charged at mower shop.
Tech on quite a few items were judgement calls, based on that known stock part rule. Of course there was also the ever present spirit and intent rule.
Got in a big car and was away from karting till 2005 when I went karting with my daughter.
Wow, had things changed.
 
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For my portion, was introduced to karting in 1987 by a college classmate.

Ikf was the sanctioning body. Briggs flathead the engine.
The rules had moved from "compared to a known stock part" to allowing ground camshafts.
Before this builders bought pallets of engines, disassembled them, checked each camshaft, crank, head, block, carbs, etc, and cherry picked parts for national engines.
If you were lucky, you got some of the better stuff for your weekly engine.

The stock rod, piston, and that weenie stamped dipper were what you had.
Rpms were limited by the durability of that dipper.
6000 all day long. 6200 guaranteed failure. Briggs went thru a bunch of dippers that failed well below that level.

These were still just water pump engines, with no real active Briggs motorsports participation, although they sponsored classes at the nationals.
Pallet load lots of engines could be purchased for about $90 each.

Bought my only builder engine in 1989 for $850
Was an awesome piece for just some young kid from Nebraska. Thanks Jerry Bailey!
Uncle Frank was a guy who built movie camera cases with cnc equipment in Council Bluffs.
He began building things like bearing cassettes for axle bearings. Had the first playback tach I ever saw, using a cassette tape recorder. He started the Blue Wazoom class about 1993.

Saw my first offset chassis in 1988, an Olson.
Ran 4 IKF 4 cycle speedway nationals. Tech on the first night was an adventure every time.
Raced in the last dual stock sanctioned national race in Albuquerque in 1992. What a fun class!
For prices on items.
Ground cam for stock class. $100.
Prepared stock carb $100
Stock rod and piston were at same price as charged at mower shop.
Tech on quite a few items were judgement calls, based on that known stock part rule. Of course there was also the ever present spirit and intent rule.
Got in a big car and was away from karting till 2005 when I went karting with my daughter.
Wow, had things changed.
 
Jimmy didnt bring "into the picture" the clone, he actually went and visited another track, Kentucky i believe, who had been utilizing the clone platform, and then had the vision to make the clone to what it is today.
Jimmy told me on numerous occasions that he thought this would be the motor to replace the flathead. He started Box Stock Project and the rest is history.
Sadly Jimmy and Judy, his wife, has passed on and Jimmys nephew Jared has taken over and continued with BSP.
 
For my portion, was introduced to karting in 1987 by a college classmate.

Ikf was the sanctioning body. Briggs flathead the engine.
The rules had moved from "compared to a known stock part" to allowing ground camshafts.
Before this builders bought pallets of engines, disassembled them, checked each camshaft, crank, head, block, carbs, etc, and cherry picked parts for national engines.
If you were lucky, you got some of the better stuff for your weekly engine.

The stock rod, piston, and that weenie stamped dipper were what you had.
Rpms were limited by the durability of that dipper.
6000 all day long. 6200 guaranteed failure. Briggs went thru a bunch of dippers that failed well below that level.

These were still just water pump engines, with no real active Briggs motorsports participation, although they sponsored classes at the nationals.
Pallet load lots of engines could be purchased for about $90 each.

Bought my only builder engine in 1989 for $850
Was an awesome piece for just some young kid from Nebraska. Thanks Jerry Bailey!
Uncle Frank was a guy who built movie camera cases with cnc equipment in Council Bluffs.
He began building things like bearing cassettes for axle bearings. Had the first playback tach I ever saw, using a portable cassette tape recorder. He started the Blue Wazoom class about 1993.

Saw my first offset chassis in 1988, an Olson.
Ran 4 IKF 4 cycle speedway nationals. Tech on the first night was an adventure every time.
Raced in the last dual stock sanctioned national race in Albuquerque in 1992. What a fun class!
For prices on items.
Ground cam for stock class. $100.
Prepared stock carb $100
Stock rod and piston were at same price as charged at mower shop.
Tech on quite a few items were judgement calls, based on that known stock part rule. Of course there was also the ever present spirit and intent rule.
Got in a big car and was away from karting till 2005 when I went karting with my daughter.
Wow, had things changed.
I should finish this.
In those years, the water pump motor had went from all stock briggs parts to an engine with first an aftermarket dipper, then an aftermarket rod, several motorsports only version of the piston, camshafts lofting the valves, aftermarket valve springs, cut valve spring pockets.
Briggs began glass beading the inside of engine blocks and heads, blurring the known stock part, and leaving room for builder mods, hidden by a touch-up of the blasted finish.
Rpms went to 7000 plus, because the limiting parts were replaced in the name of reliability.

The stock flywheel and ignition were still there. Porting was now allowed, or rather required to be competitive. Engine prices were $12-1500.

So, the road of the clone, or predator could/can be predicted.
 
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Several errors, but just to clear a few...The flathead didn't have a cylinder head change that created problems, it was a block/deck height variance from the factory that the two major sanctioning bodies at the time (IKF and WKA) couldn't agree on. IKF decided to allow the increased piston pop-up to +.015" and WKA held the line at their previous +.005" pop-up. If this same standard were held to engines today, the clone may not have had all the rules changes and new casting migrations that it did -- Then again, it may never have even continued given the poor QC specifically on early clones.

I could do a whole page on the rules changes to the flathead and the ensuing cost increases (ground cams in 1989, porting in 1993, etc.) Aftermarket springs, heat treated lower retainers, billet lifters, chamfered lifter bores, welded blocks, billet rods...the engine quickly went from $700 to $1200 in just a few short years.

The Chi-Coms AND Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, etal, were never hurting for profits in those early days of racers blowing them up and returning them. The engines cost $35 each (with dock and tariff fees.) I really don't think they minded much the high return rate from karters when they were tripling their money on each engine sale. Although the engines were never designed to be a loss-leader like Coke and Pepsi, the engines served the purpose well in creating a customer base for the rest of the products that HF offers. There's a reason that these engines continue to be features in their sale fliers today.

On the 2 cycle side, West Bends gave way to primarily Macs, which then yielded to a wide variety of piston port, reed, and import engines, finally to settle back with a somewhat stock (yet blueprinted) Yamaha KT100. Many TaG and spec engines have been tried over the years, but ultimately cost and lack of participation gets the best of them.

Briggs, (late 70's early '80s,) had several competitors for the early 4-cycle days of karting...Kawasaki had a 5HP flathead that was somewhat popular, Tecumseh & Kohler were tried as well. Like Briggs, Tecumseh started up their own motorsports division to try to revive the Tec line to no avail.

"The Fact" was Dave Klaus and had several on-off love relationships with this site. His disagreements with Bob Evans (site owner) were pretty well documented back to the old forums. Dave no longer works for Briggs, but when I spoke with him last, he still had a love for our sport and a respect for Bob and the value of this great site.

Although EPA regulations had a good bit to do with the decision process @ Briggs, ultimately it was a change in the lawn and garden market that dictated the change to OHV engines, specifically the animal engine. The animal was a factory designed race version of their popular Intek ohv engine that had already been pushed to the L&G market. It made financial sense to eliminate flathead production if it were limited to "race only" for us here in the states. The engine was still produced in small numbers for racing and for export, but the dwindling demand eventually eliminated the platform. There were 3 "official" versions of the Raptor engine in complete form. A Raptor 4 came in kit form and was short lived.

Cost of national level flatheads at the time were around $1500. When the animal was introduced, it was sold by builders at roughly the same price point -- $1200 for a blueprinted engine, $1500 for a top notch one. With the new engine seeming more of a lateral move (price-wise,) and some early version growing pains, karters didn't jump to abandon their trusty old flatheads. Some balked at the price tag of the flatheads and the increased rebuild prices, while not many new folks were coming into the sport due in good part to the engine cost.
Along comes the HF Greyhound and Blue engines that were dubbed "the saving grace" of karting. In stock trim, the engines served their purpose in cheapening karting to the masses. Unfortunately, rules varied from track to track and our sanctioning bodies were in disarray with no one steering the ship. Along comes fracturing of the sanctioning bodies, the addition of AKRA & NKA, and a myriad of new rules for the clone. Subsequently, we saw clone prices increase from $300 to $1000 in just a few short years (similar to the progression of the flathead.) The clone seems to have topped out at the same point the flathead did with $1200 blueprinted engines and $1500 national level engines, and the racers went looking for a cheaper alternative.

Briggs re-introduces a low-cost animal & clone alternative with their LO206. With factory written rules that addressed many of the problems in karting at that time, things were looking bright. While the sprint & road course crowd quickly embraced the new engine due to their increased frustration with the clone and earlier Briggs models (and increases in 2 cycle engine costs), the oval crowd wasn't all that eager to forgive Briggs for killing their beloved flatheads. I'd say that sentiment continues somewhat today, as the overwhelming success of the sprint market seems to take the majority of Briggs' factory support.

Here we are today, repeating history (and expecting a different outcome?) with the Predator engine. Karting will always have a need for a low-cost, entry-level, engine, but we already see with a lack of consistent rules, Predator engines bringing $600-$800 with the governor still in tact!


There is so much more that could be said, and obviously from different view points. Enough to merit a book, but who would pay to read it? :)

FWIW, I began kart racing with a literal yard kart running a flathead in 1971. In 1972 I got my first race kart, a Dart A-Bone chassis and McCulloch 91A. It was only after we had blown up several 91s & 93s, even a pair of 101s that I'd love to wheel again today, that my father put me on to the Briggs flathead out of affordability and reliability. From those early days as a kid, I've always loved working on and building the Briggs flathead. I certainly miss the days of showing up to the track and seeing 100s of flatheads, each vying for a coveted spot in the A main.

Karting has, and always will be, a place for tinkerers. Where a guy can play with pouring different chemicals on his tires, or turning the piston around backwards to gain a small advantage of an offset wrist pin. Spec engines, cheap entry level engine, etc can all be instrumental to the introduction of karting to the masses, and even a spot for seasoned veterans to keep their skills sharp, but from the very earliest days, the object of karting is to make more speed out of what you've got to work with.

-----
🏁Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Carlson Motorsports on Facebook
33 years of service to the karting industry ~ 1Cor 9:24
Linden, IN
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
One of our first karts was a piece of 2" water pipe that went down the center of the kart and we then welded the remaining piece on the front and rear as axles. The steering was a piece of 3/4" tubing, with a wheel off of an old Ford and some angle going to some home made spindles. It worked great until some of the welds cracked.
my dad and his brother would find abandoned kart tracks just how you described. just one spot cut out of a farmers field (Illinois). they would pass the karts over the fence and race each other or hours. dads kart was home made and my uncles was probably a go kart brand my uncle went on to become a fairly successful SCCA sport Renault racer and my dad throws up every time we take him to rental karts LOL
 
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