The Zipkart Story

Future Formula One stars have to start early, for the same reasons as athletes and gymnasts. The formative years are crucial for anyone wanting to reach the top.

Zip Kart founder, Martin Hines, realised this fact and created the Young Guns Team to allow talented young kart drivers to realise their potential by providing them with the best racing equipment and support available. The Daily Telegraph noted that Martin Hines was "The man most likely to set a Formula One star on the road to success".

To further encourage and promote the young hopefuls on their way to stardom, Hines created the hugely popular Mclaren Mercedes Champions of the Future karting series, which has unparalleled recognition with television coverage on both terrestrial and satellite with audience figures in the millions worldwide.

Hines has almost single handedly been responsible for developing the careers of many of today's stars and his Zip Young Guns Racing Team has become synonymous with their success.

Names such as David Coulthard (F1), Anthony Davidson (F1), Gary Paffett (MCLAREN F1 Tester), Jason Plato (BTCC), Luke Hines(BGT), Mike Conway (Brit F3) and Lewis Hamilton (F1) , amongst others have all benefited from his guidance to name but a few...

Zip has been building championship winning karts for over 40 years now and this unmatched experience is instilled in every kart we make.

We were the first to utilise full F1 spec data logging in the design of our karts and each new model goes through rigorous track testing to ensure that every single aspect of the performance is maximised. New models go through several different layouts and designs and each is evaluated on the track against the current kart. The data logging allows us to be sure that each new model we make is faster than the one it replaces.

This attention to detail is also reflected in the manufacturing processes we use. For our cadet and corporate karts manufactured in house, only the very best materials and skills available go into making our chassis. Every individual weld and join is inspected and only when we are sure the frame is perfect does it go on to be assembled into a Zip Kart. For our 100cc, Rotax and 125cc gearbox karts, the process is slightly different.

These models are made to our specification in Italy by one of the worlds leading kart manufacturers. There is a very simple explanation for why we do this; the special steel tubing used to make these karts is only available to a select few Italian manufacturers. When the chassis’ arrive at Zip Kart, they are all inspected and then assembled by our factory team.

When you buy a Zip Kart, you’re not just buying the best - you’re buying into 40 years of championship winning experience on every level of competition!