How Old Do You Have To Be To Drive a Go-kart?
On most tracks, the minimum requirement to drive a go-kart is to be at least 5-7 years old. This number can vary depending on where you live.
Go Kart Racing
In most of the karting clubs, the minimum age is 5 years old for kid’s karting class.
If you want to get your children to get involved in motorsports, Go-karting is a great way to get started and a karting club is what you should be looking for. Go-karts for kid’s karting have 25- 30mph as top speed.
Usually at that age, go-karting is just a fun activity for kids. The competitive racing really starts as they enter “Cadet Class” which is usually for pre-teen children, as they move up the classes, the top-speeds and cost of go-karts increases.
Teens and Adults have their own class, and there is no age limit. As long as you are in a good physical condition and can drive the kart, you can participate in Kart racing.
Rental Karting
Most rental Karting facilities such as K1 speed have a minimum requirement based on heights instead of age, and minimum height requirements of most of the rental facility is 48″ which is roughly the height for kids with average age of a 7 year old.
For younger children, some amusement parks offer double seater karts in which 4-5 year olds can be passengers. Some rental karting facilities also offer battery powered Karts for 3-5 year olds but that is rare to find.
Building/Buying your own Go-karts
If you’re planning on building your own go-kart or buying your a go-kart for children, you should first off all make sure that they do not drive it on streets or any crowded regions. The karts shouldn’t be too fast, and it shouldn’t be too big.
It is best to wait for your children to be at least 7 years old before you buy/build them their own go-karts.
Karting For Children Under 5 years of Age
As an alternative for Go-karts, you can get them a drift kart, which is similar to go-karts but are smaller and much slower than go-karts. Check our list for the Best Drift Karts.
Drift Karts can be really fun because you can drift them, spin them, move sideways, backwards, etc. The best way to actually understand them is by watching them in action.