These guys put the 'go' in go-kart

Students assemble kart that travels 190 km/h and costs $11,000

DON THOMAS Journal Staff Writer
EDMONTON

It looks much like any other go-kart, but it goes 190 km/h and corners so fast the driver has to wear a bullet-proof vest.

“It's fun, it gets really exciting, these things are FAST,” says Jonathan Bardett, who has spent the past few days helping build one of Alberta's hottest go-karts.

The $11,000 machine he and three classmates at Sturgeon Composite high school assembled from a kit belongs to a private owner. Its frame sits just 11 millimeters above the ground, and from a distance it doesn't look much different from your average go-kart.

But its 45 horsepower engine will push it up to 190 km/h. It will pull such powerful G-forces rounding curves at the new Stratotech Park International Raceway near Fort Saskatchewan the driver will have to wear a bullet-proof vest to protect his rib cage from being crushed.

The four automotive students have spent the past two weeks assembling 30 slightly less powerful go-karts for members of Stratotech's new over-35 men's racing club. They'll spend the next month or so working as pit crew for the kart's owner at the raceway.

Bartlett, 19, hopes to work at the raceway this summer then specialize in servicing even more powerful race cars as he goes for his journeyman's ticket.

“Working on a kart and then seeing the customers take it out for his test drive and come back from the track saying we were awesome on this kart is just great. mean, these things will fly.”

As a reward for assembling the race carts, raceway owner Dan Beith presented the school automotive department Tuesday with a junior racing kart to work on.

Sturgeon Composite High School automtive student Robert Dyck, Ryan Brown, Colin Clark and Jonathan Bartlett show off the high-performance go-kart given to the school.

Stratotech, which opened last year, hosts about 70 drivers and replaces a smaller track near Warburg, which members of the Edmonton and District Kart Racing Association used for several years. It's also used for small race cars and racing motorcycles.

Automotives instructor Vincene Cullen, 40, is unusual not only because he has doctoral degree. He's also a former professional motocross driver who raced dirt bikes all over the U.S. and South America. With the school and raceway only 25 kilometres apart, it seemed natural for them to work together, he said.

“Even though these machines look small, there's a lot of really intricate adjustment on the chassis, suspension and brakes which are very similar to automotives," he said.

“With that facility so close to us, we know we can do a lot research and development and testing.”

dthomas@thejonrnal.canwest.com