Kart or cart?
3 min Updated how-to
Kart is the vehicle. Cart is the thing you push around a supermarket. Both spellings appear on the same products, and neither will stop you finding what you want.
Where the k came from
Karting started in Southern California in the mid-1950s, generally credited to Art Ingels, who built a small motorised racer from surplus tubing and a lawnmower engine.
As the activity became organised through the late 1950s, the k spelling was adopted to distinguish these machines from carts, which already meant a wheeled container pulled by hand or by an animal. It was a deliberate separation of an old word from a new object.
The spelling stuck through the governing bodies. The CIK-FIA, the international governing body for the sport, uses karting, and every national body and manufacturer follows.
What is correct
| Term | Standard | Also seen |
|---|---|---|
| The vehicle | go-kart, kart | go-cart, gokart, go cart |
| The sport | karting | carting |
| Drift version | drift kart | drift cart, driftkart |
| Racing version | racing kart | racing cart |
Go-kart with a hyphen is the most common in edited writing. Gokart as one word is common in commerce and URLs. All three are understood.
Why the c spelling persists
Because it is the more familiar English word. People typing what they hear reach for the spelling they already know, and “cart” is a word everyone learned first.
The search data shows this clearly. Both spellings are typed in large volumes for the same products, and the c variant is not a small minority. If you have been spelling it “drift cart”, you are in a very large group and search engines have long since treated the two as the same query.
What we use
Kart, throughout, because it is the standard the industry uses and because it is unambiguous. Nothing here depends on it: drift karts and drift carts are the same products.
A few related terms
Kart vs buggy. A buggy usually has suspension, a roll cage and more ground clearance, built for rough terrain. A kart is low, usually unsuspended, and built for hard flat surfaces.
Kart vs quad or ATV. Quads are straddled with handlebars. Karts are seated with a steering wheel.
Drift kart vs racing kart. Same word, opposite design goal. A racing kart maximises rear grip, a drift kart deliberately limits it. That distinction matters far more than any spelling, and it is covered in drift kart vs go-kart.
The practical answer
Use kart if you want the standard. Use cart if that is what you type. You will find the same machines either way.
If you are here because you are trying to decide which one to buy rather than how to spell it, how to choose one is the more useful page, and the range is on electric go-karts.