Review Part 1: IN THE SHOP

Review Part 2: ON THE TRACK NEW 11/17/05

GoldKart World Formula

GRASSPASS.ORG recently took delivery of a Gold World Formula kart from the helpful people at John's Kart Shop in the Chicago area. John's is the imported for the Gold line of karts, which are produced by the kart parts giant, Rigdetti Ridolfi. Contact T Karts, LLC for more information about ordering a Gold World Formula.

World Formula is an entry level road racing class that uses the new Briggs and Stratton World Formula engine. This affordable OHV engine is very similar to the Honda GX200 used in backyard karting and thus the Gold World Formula chassis made sense for use in dirt road racing. Designed to run low grip tires, the chassis is designed to be less stiff and more compliant, a characteristic that is desirable on dirt.

Our initial impression of the Gold World Formula was positive upon receiving the disassembled kart. Assembly was fairly straight forward, although the karts typically arrive partially assembled. The quality of the components and fasteners was good and the finish of the aluminum and steel components was excellent. The frame is powder coated metallic blue and the aluminum components are anodized gold.

The Gold World Formula that we received came with the Righetti Ridolfi CIK bodywork which mounted easily and appears to be quite strong and durable. Our staff is curious to see how the bodywork will hold up compared to the KG Unico body kit that is in use by most karters.

 

The Gold World Formula uses an aluminum floor, enduro fuel tank and lightweight pedals and bumpers to keep weight down. The suede steering wheel is comfortable and pretty, but will turn a pretty shade of brown after a year of dirt racing. The one piece wheels are machined from solid aluminum blanks and the front wheels have integral bearings. We mounted Dunlop 5x5 and 7.10x5 DBS tires which are the tire of choice at our tracks. The clear fiberglass seat and Honda GX200 will be mounted last. One comment our staff made was about the fact that the Gold Kart is completely metric, sharing almost no components or fasteners with current American built karts.

The World Formula uses a nice looking 4-piston brake caliper and directionally vented brake rotor. While the brake loading on dirt is not a high as pavement, this added braking capacity makes running your World Formula kart on pavement that much easier. Our staff also liked the plastic covered brake lines and the sealed master cylinder, a piece that will hopefully turn out to work as well as it looks.

Please stay tuned as we will be testing the Gold World Formula on a track shortly.