The Shifter Kart

The Shifter Kart is fast, and more demanding than a regular racing kart. As the name says, the karts have gearboxes with 5 or 6 gears, depending on the kart.

They are mainly used for sprint kart racing, on road course tracks. But they are sometimes found on ovals, but not often, and it would not be normal to see them on them.

A special thing about these is that they are one of the more demanding types of karting. You have to worry about cornering, and shifting at the same time, so this is usually the class for more professional type races, as well as Formula Car racers for practice in the offseason

What do they look like?

A Shifter with Water Cooled Engine

Since they are mostly raced on sprint tracks, the chassis are open straight chassis. They are designed to handle left and right turns.

They have bodywork that consists of two side "pods" and a small low-profile front nose.

If the engine for the shifter is water cooled, it will have a radiator to the left of the kart's seat.

Shifter Kart Engines

Like all karts, the power to weight ratio is outstanding on shifters. Some can do 0-60 in 4 seconds or so. With a 125cc engine your probaly expecting top speeds of 85mph on sprint tracks.

As with all karting, there are many different builds of engine one can use, especially in different regions. But some of the more popular engines are the 125cc shifter karts.

ICC Engines:

• ICC 125cc Maxter MX125-04
• ICC 125cc TM K9B
• ICC 125cc Pavesi

Honda Moto Engines:

• Moto 125cc - Honda CR125
• Moto 80cc - Honda CR80

Some classes you may see at a sprint track running these:

• Adult Classes - These are for ages 15 and up and are raced with 125cc engines.

• Junior Classes - These are for ages 8-15. Classes depend on age. Llsted from youngest to oldest. These names may vary depending on track.

Junior classes with shifters can run 60cc engines for 8-12 year olds and 80cc engines for 12-15 year olds. Different places do it different ways though.