
Ideally, you should be going for round or rectangle tubular designs and use proper welding techniques to build your frame. Stainless steels such as 304 have a good tensile strength and yield strength that are suitable go-kart frame materials. Instead, you could go for stainless steel. This is the preferred material but it’s also relatively expensive and you may not even require such a material for your go-kart frame with that high of a tensile and yield strength.
#Go kart frame build professional#
Of course you could go with AISI 4130 or AISI 1018 alloy steels, as they’re used for professional go-kart racing. Steel and aluminium are mostly used, whereas wood is only recommended for mechanical go-karts or go-karts that are meant for kids.

There are three types of frame materials that you can consider for your homemade go-kart, which are steel, aluminium and wood. Generally speaking, you would want to ensure that your custom go-kart has enough structural integrity to be safe, but you also don’t want to over-engineer it, as it may affect its overall weight and cause your go-kart to underperform. It can get a little tricky when it comes to homemade go-karts, as there many different types of go-karts and materials to choose from. The main benefit of the AISI 1018 is that it’s less than half the price of AISI 4130.

However, this also means that the cross sections would be slightly thicker than AISI 4130. Having a tensile strength of 440 MPa and a yield strength of 317 MPa, it can easily be used in a tubular form to create a stable and robust go-kart frame.Īlthough it isn’t as strong and sturdy as AISI 4130 and is slightly heavier, it can provide great properties to ensure the structural integrity of a go-kart frame. It has similar properties like AISI 4130 but to a lesser degree. AISI 1018ĪISI 1018 is a medium low-carbon steel that is also used for building go-kart frames. However, it also needs to be noted that AISI 4130 is about 2 times more expensive than AISI 1018. Hardness and strength are also important on areas of the frame that are bent, to ensure that the frame stays in fact. The AISI 4130 steel has an unmatched yield strength of 460 MPa and a tensile strength of 560 MPa. As go-kart frames are tubular, they need to ensure the high amounts of structural integrity throughout the entire frame. This steel alloy is known to be the best material for go-kart frames, due to its high yield strength, tensile strength and hardness. Steel AlloyĪISI 4130 (chromoly) is a low-alloy steel that contains 1% chromium and 0.2% molybdenum, which act as strengthening agents. Let’s take a closer look at both of them. CIK-FIA homologation dictates that go-kart chassis must be made from ‘magnetic steel’ and the most common materials used are either AISI 4130 or AISI 1018 steel alloy.

That’s why professional go-karts have frames that are tubular in design. Go-karts also have a tendency to be equipped with heavier engines and components.įor those reasons the material used for a racing go-kart frame cannot be too heavy and too flimsy. Therefore, it’s in their nature to be as lightweight as possible, in order to benefit from higher top speeds and quick acceleration. Frames for Racing Go-KartsĪs you know, racing go-karts are performance vehicles with the sole purpose of winning races. If you’re interested to understand the logic behind each of these materials, please read on. However, there are also several suitable materials that can be used for each go-kart type and each has certain advantages over the other. There are also other types of materials that can be used for go-karts and in this article we will be exploring and understanding them in a little more detail. It’s important to identify the right material for the right type of go-kart. In fact the type of steel depends on the type of go-kart. However, it’s not just any type of steel. If you want to read the short answer, the most common and best material for go-kart frames is steel. Finding the best material for a go-kart frame or chassis can be challenging, as there are many different types of go-karts and also quite a large number of materials to choose from.
