How to Build a Great Gravity-Powered Go-Cart!

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I asked my dad how to fix it, and he suggested using thick plywood for the sides, since that wouldn't split. He also said I should require drivers to have a license or insurance to cover damages. Ha ha ...

After I fixed the sides of the go-cart with plywood, it was sturdy. It went amazingly fast, too. One of my friends, Eric Eidsvik, had a gasoline-powered go-cart. When he saw how much fun we were having using only people power, he tried to race mine without using his cart's engine. Eric thought that because his was a commercially made go-cart, it would cremate mine. So he brought his to the top of my racing hill at a nearby church parking lot.

Eric told me that since his go-cart was so heavy, it would go like the wind. Some of the neighborhood kids gathered around to watch and make bets and harass us with cheers and silliness. Well, I yelled "Go!" and, for good measure, gave him a push before I jumped on my own cart. He took off like a snail! I took off like a rabbit! He made about five feet for every ten yards that I covered.

So now I'm acting as a "consultant" to show Eric how to build his own wooden go-cart like mine.

My Second Go-cart, "The Heavy Hauler"

Everyone in the neighborhood wanted rides on my Thunder Racer, so I soon saw that we needed to have another cart. I made the second one sturdier (I wanted to be able to use it for hauling things) and changed a few other things, as well (I learn as I go!). And since this time I used wheels from a busted lawn mower my dad had, I had to make my own axle.

I've had a lot of races between the Heavy Hauler (my second go-cart) and the Thunder Racer. Even though they both weigh about the same, the Heavy Hauler definitely goes slower. I think the thin lawn mower wheels of the second one just aren't as fast as those very sturdy, broad, Big Wheel-type wheels.

I like the longer axles the Heavy Hauler has, though. They made the cart easier to build (I didn't need to make the front end narrower), keep the cart very stable (although I've never come close to tipping over in either go-cart), and let me steer it more sharply. So most of the instructions in my section on building your own go-cart are based on the Heavy Hauler.

Fun, Fun, Fun

Sometimes when I take one of my carts out to ride it, I see friends that I haven't seen in a long time, or make new friends. Other times, a bunch of kids out riding on their bikes will stop and ask for a ride. Usually, they at least want to ask a lot of questions, because they've never seen anything quite like it. And when I tell them that I made the go-cart myself, they act like I'm some kind of wizard or something.

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