Kart racing or karting is a variant of open-wheel motorsport

Motorsport

Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...

 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

Kart circuits

A kart circuit is a race track designed for kart racing. There are several types of kart circuit, depending of the type of use desired.-Short circuit:Any outdoor circuit of less than 1,500 meters in length....

. Karting is commonly perceived as the stepping stone to the higher and more expensive ranks of motorsports.

Karts vary widely in speed and some (known as Superkart

Superkart

Superkart is a form of motor racing based around a racing vehicle sized like a kart but with several characteristics more strongly associated with open-wheel racing cars....

s) can reach speeds exceeding 160 miles per hour (257.5 km/h), while go-kart

Go-kart

thumb|A [[Kart racing|racing kart]] at the [[Commission Internationale de Karting|CIK-FIA]] European Championship 2008A go-kart is a small four-wheeled vehicle...

s intended for the general public in amusement parks may be limited to speeds of no more than 15 miles per hour (24.1 km/h).