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 scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on full-size motorsport circuits. Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports, with most Formula One drivers—including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen—having begun their careers in karting.
A sprint race at a karting event
Kart racing in Illinois in 1962
Kart racing in Berlin, East Germany, 1963
Shifter kart engine
An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fenders. Open-wheel cars are built both for road racing and oval track racing. Open-wheel cars licensed for use on public roads, such as the Ariel Atom, are uncommon, as they are often impractical for everyday use.
2023 Formula One car, McLaren MCL60, driven by Lando Norris
A Ford Model T, one of the most popular road-legal cars of the early 20th century. Note how the wheels are well outside the main body of the car, as was typical for the era.
A 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL which featured wheels under the main body of the vehicle, primarily for aerodynamic drag reduction
Caterham open wheeled sports car, derived from Lotus 7