Go-kart

A go-kart (often just kart) is a small four-wheeled vehicle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from motorless models to high-powered racing machines, some, like Superkarts, being able to beat racing cars on long circuits.

Gravity racers, usually referred to as Soap Box Derby carts, are the simplest type of go-karts. They are propelled by gravity, with some races taking place down a single hill.

Amusement park go-karts can be powered by 4-stroke engines or electric motors, while racing karts use small 2-stroke or 4-stroke engines. Most of them are single seater but recreational models can sometimes accommodate a passenger.

In some countries, go-karts can be licensed for use on public roads. Typically there are some restrictions, e.g. in the European Union a go-kart on the road needs head light (high/low beam), tail lights, a horn, indicators and a maximum of 20hp.

Recreational, concession and indoor karts

Besides traditional kart racing, many commercial enterprises offer karts for rent, often called "recreational" or "concession" karts. The tracks can be indoor or outdoor. Karts are rented by sessions (10 to 15 minutes usually), they use sturdy chassis completed with dedicated bodywork providing driver safety. Most of these enterprises use an "Arrive and Drive" format which provide customers with all the safety gear (helmets, gloves and driver outfits) where necessary and allow them to show up any time to race at a reasonable price, without the hassle of owning one's own equipment and gear.

Kart racing

Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport with small, open, four-wheeled vehicles called karts, go-karts, or gearbox/shifter karts depending on the design. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits. Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher ranks of motorsports.

Karts vary widely in speed and some (known as Superkarts) can reach speeds exceeding 260 kilometres per hour (160 mph), while amusement park go-karts intended for the general public may be limited to speeds of no more than 25 kilometres per hour (16 mph).

History

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. Instantly popular, Karting rapidly spread to other countries, and currently has a large following in Europe.

The first kart manufacturer was an American company, Go Kart Manufacturing Co. (1958). In 1959, McCulloch was the first company to produce engines for karts. Its first engine, the McCulloch MC-10, was an adapted chainsaw 2-stroke engine. 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.

List of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episodes

This is a list of episodes of the American animated television series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy created by Maxwell Atoms, which originally aired on Cartoon Network from June 13, 2003, to November 9, 2007, but a spinoff film titled Underfist: Halloween Bash aired on October 12, 2008.

Eighty half-hour episodes were produced, each consisting of two or three shorter segments. Only a small number of episodes consisted of a single segment.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 0 (Season Pre-1/Pilot/Grim & Evil segments) (2001–02)

Season 1 (2003)

Season 2 (2004)

Season 3 (2004–05)

Season 4 (2005)

Season 5 (2006)

Season 6 (2006–07)

Movies & Specials

Movies

Special

Shorts

Billy's Birthday Shorties

These shorts were parts of a mini-series called Billy's Birthday Shorties, which mostly starred Billy. The shorts revolved around Billy's birthday and aired on "The Grim and Courage Hour", an hour-long block of episodes from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Courage the Cowardly Dog. It aired for four days in October 2006 on Cartoon Network.