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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. Most modern Formula One drivers, including Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, and Max Verstappen, have begun their racing careers in karting.

Karts vary widely in speed, and some (known as superkarts) can reach speeds exceeding 160 kilometres per hour (100 mph), while recreational go-karts intended for the general public may be limited to lower speeds.
History
Kart racing in Illinois in 1962
Kart racing in Berlin, East Germany, 1963

American Art Ingels is generally accepted to be the father of karting. A veteran hot rodder and a race car builder at Kurtis Kraft, he built the first kart in Southern California in 1956.[1] Early karting events were held in the Rose Bowl Stadium car park.[2] Instantly popular, Karting rapidly spread to other countries,[3] and currently has a large following in Europe.

The first kart manufacturer was an American company, Go Kart Manufacturing Co. (1957). In 1959, McCulloch was the first company to produce engines for karts. Its first engine, the McCulloch MC-10,[4] was an adapted chainsaw two-stroke engine.[5] Later, in the 1960s, motorcycle engines were also adapted for kart use, before dedicated manufacturers, especially in Italy (IAME), started to build engines for the sport.

First ever Karting World Championship was held in 1964. First ever Karting European Championship was held in 1972.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kart_racing