An Italian advert for the Quick Noleggio (rental) kart listed E Giostra and Company located at 20 Via Ambrogio Villa, Vedano al Lambro, as the fabricator of the Quick Kart. Incidentally sixty years later that address is now occupied by residential properties. Emilio Giostra back then was an established maker of parts for bicycles and mopeds and was the president of S.A. Officine Meccaniche di Vedano, a large impressive manufacturing facility; S.A. in Italy is an abbreviation for Public Limited Company.
Giostra was not only the surname of the factory owner; it provided a trademark for the company because the literal English translation of Giostra was Carousel or Merry-Go-Round; look closely at the Quick Kart decal to see the outline of the carousel.
The trademark was registered as far back as 1947 and was used to market the bicycle crank sets and moped parts including Telesimplex forks made by Giostra’s company.
Quick karts were first announced in the United Kingdom and further afield when an advert for the marque appeared in the March 1963 issue of Alan Burgess’ English based Karting magazine. The advert published the fact that a Quick Kart had won the 1962 Class 1 Coppa del Mondo at the Pista Rossa in Milan. According to Burgess, established star drivers namely Giulio Pernigotti and Bobby Allen finished behind the unmentioned Quick kart driver!
The very early Quick machines were similar in design to the 1960 American Go Kart 800 except for the steering hoop which was bent in a tighter radius. The seat back hoop was rounded just like the Go Kart 800. That particular Quick Kart came to market in 1961 and was sold mainly in Italy. The karts were described as stepped frames; the portion of the frame from the front of the seat stepped up to provide seat side members and continued rearwards over the top of the rear axle.
Later the Quick kart had additional anti flex bars fitted to production frames that were shaped from ⅝ inch diameter steel tubing welded on either side of the frame from below the cross member behind the seat hoop to the cross member that carried the steering hoop at the front of the seat something that the America kart did not have as standard.
For the 1962/63 seasons Quick offered four models namely the Sport, Captain, Caravelle 100 and the Caravelle 200. All the main frame components were constructed from 1 inch diameter cold drawn seamless steel tubing, (not 25 mm as would be expected with an Italian kart), having a wall thickness of 2 mm i.e. 14 gauge. The seat back was formed from ⅞ inch diameter tubing as was the front bumper. The seat back hoop now featured a horizontal section at high level rather than the 5 inch radius continuous bend and was curved where it was attached to the main chassis legs. The steering column support was bent from ⅝ inch diameter tubing and was welded to the cross member in front of the seat rather than the main chassis legs as on the earlier models.
The Sport model was specifically set-up for a single engine which was mounted on the right side and attached to a lightened steel base plate welded to the frame behind the seat. The Sport frame featured a straight lowered front axle set to give a caster angle of 12 degrees and neutral camber. The rear axle bearing plate carriers featured slotted holes to enable the front and rear axles to be easily made parallel. The dual engine version of the Sport model was known as the Captain.
The Caravelle 100 was the single engine version of a slightly more sophisticated chassis than the Sport in that the front axle was angle backwards in a similar fashion to the Fox Mak Kart providing an additional 4 inches of leg room. Despite the swept back front axle the Caravelle still employed forward steering utilizing a small ratchet steering box. The engine was mounted to a folded sheet metal swing mount that was supported on bearings running on the rear axle and bolted to the frame behind the seat using thick rubber washers to deaden the motor vibrations. The Caravelle 200 was the dual engine version of the Caravelle 100.
All the Quick Karts from the 1962/63 era featured a plush upholstered fibreglass seat not unlike the American Fox kart 'Satelite' seat of that time, aluminium wheels, mechanical disc brake and a floor mounted fuel tank. The floor which was made from alloy sheet featured press formed heel depressions. Throttle and brake pedals were fitted that were similar to the Faye pedals which were used on Bug karts then. Such pedals provided a couple of inches of extra leg room. The Caravelle models also came with a Nassau type front number panel.
Sometime in late 1963 the Pederzani bothers along with their business partner Nini Zini introduced their Tecno Piuma to the karting world and afterwards kart design changed forever.
Quick Kart followed the Tecno revolution and for 1964-1965 introduced their version of a sidewinder kart offering two versions. They continued to call the single engine frame the Sport and the dual engine version was marketed as the Twinjet. Both new karts featured rear steering, meaning the track rods were positioned behind the driver’s ankles. Also featured in the new sidewinder karts was a useful grab handle that was built into the seat support structure. The handle provided drivers with a lifting device when push starting the kart by themselves after a spin. The lifting aid was omitted on later models and the seat supports were then fabricated similar to the Tecno Piuma.
Quick karts continued to be developed and became very similar in appearance to the Tecno Piuma. By the late sixties, little was heard from the Quick Kart factory; it was thought the company probably had bigger fish to fry in their supply manufacturing operations associated with cycling and scooter production.
The writer is indebted to Ted Rawlinson for providing a copy of the comprehensive Quick Kart brochures used in the article.
Giostra was not only the surname of the factory owner; it provided a trademark for the company because the literal English translation of Giostra was Carousel or Merry-Go-Round; look closely at the Quick Kart decal to see the outline of the carousel.
The trademark was registered as far back as 1947 and was used to market the bicycle crank sets and moped parts including Telesimplex forks made by Giostra’s company.
Quick karts were first announced in the United Kingdom and further afield when an advert for the marque appeared in the March 1963 issue of Alan Burgess’ English based Karting magazine. The advert published the fact that a Quick Kart had won the 1962 Class 1 Coppa del Mondo at the Pista Rossa in Milan. According to Burgess, established star drivers namely Giulio Pernigotti and Bobby Allen finished behind the unmentioned Quick kart driver!
The very early Quick machines were similar in design to the 1960 American Go Kart 800 except for the steering hoop which was bent in a tighter radius. The seat back hoop was rounded just like the Go Kart 800. That particular Quick Kart came to market in 1961 and was sold mainly in Italy. The karts were described as stepped frames; the portion of the frame from the front of the seat stepped up to provide seat side members and continued rearwards over the top of the rear axle.
Later the Quick kart had additional anti flex bars fitted to production frames that were shaped from ⅝ inch diameter steel tubing welded on either side of the frame from below the cross member behind the seat hoop to the cross member that carried the steering hoop at the front of the seat something that the America kart did not have as standard.
For the 1962/63 seasons Quick offered four models namely the Sport, Captain, Caravelle 100 and the Caravelle 200. All the main frame components were constructed from 1 inch diameter cold drawn seamless steel tubing, (not 25 mm as would be expected with an Italian kart), having a wall thickness of 2 mm i.e. 14 gauge. The seat back was formed from ⅞ inch diameter tubing as was the front bumper. The seat back hoop now featured a horizontal section at high level rather than the 5 inch radius continuous bend and was curved where it was attached to the main chassis legs. The steering column support was bent from ⅝ inch diameter tubing and was welded to the cross member in front of the seat rather than the main chassis legs as on the earlier models.
The Sport model was specifically set-up for a single engine which was mounted on the right side and attached to a lightened steel base plate welded to the frame behind the seat. The Sport frame featured a straight lowered front axle set to give a caster angle of 12 degrees and neutral camber. The rear axle bearing plate carriers featured slotted holes to enable the front and rear axles to be easily made parallel. The dual engine version of the Sport model was known as the Captain.
The Caravelle 100 was the single engine version of a slightly more sophisticated chassis than the Sport in that the front axle was angle backwards in a similar fashion to the Fox Mak Kart providing an additional 4 inches of leg room. Despite the swept back front axle the Caravelle still employed forward steering utilizing a small ratchet steering box. The engine was mounted to a folded sheet metal swing mount that was supported on bearings running on the rear axle and bolted to the frame behind the seat using thick rubber washers to deaden the motor vibrations. The Caravelle 200 was the dual engine version of the Caravelle 100.
All the Quick Karts from the 1962/63 era featured a plush upholstered fibreglass seat not unlike the American Fox kart 'Satelite' seat of that time, aluminium wheels, mechanical disc brake and a floor mounted fuel tank. The floor which was made from alloy sheet featured press formed heel depressions. Throttle and brake pedals were fitted that were similar to the Faye pedals which were used on Bug karts then. Such pedals provided a couple of inches of extra leg room. The Caravelle models also came with a Nassau type front number panel.
Sometime in late 1963 the Pederzani bothers along with their business partner Nini Zini introduced their Tecno Piuma to the karting world and afterwards kart design changed forever.
Quick Kart followed the Tecno revolution and for 1964-1965 introduced their version of a sidewinder kart offering two versions. They continued to call the single engine frame the Sport and the dual engine version was marketed as the Twinjet. Both new karts featured rear steering, meaning the track rods were positioned behind the driver’s ankles. Also featured in the new sidewinder karts was a useful grab handle that was built into the seat support structure. The handle provided drivers with a lifting device when push starting the kart by themselves after a spin. The lifting aid was omitted on later models and the seat supports were then fabricated similar to the Tecno Piuma.
Quick karts continued to be developed and became very similar in appearance to the Tecno Piuma. By the late sixties, little was heard from the Quick Kart factory; it was thought the company probably had bigger fish to fry in their supply manufacturing operations associated with cycling and scooter production.
The writer is indebted to Ted Rawlinson for providing a copy of the comprehensive Quick Kart brochures used in the article.
