During the 1990 American karting season there were a number of serious injury accidents in laydown enduro karts. Such karts raced on car racing circuits such as Daytona International Speedway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The late Ken Waller of Durand, Illinois, was painfully aware of the dangers of karting having lost a son, Bob Waller, to a karting accident a few years earlier.
Ken Waller at that time was a Trustee of the World Karting Association and knew about the rash of injuries sustained by the competitors involved in accidents on big motor racing circuits whilst competing in enduro events.
At the December 1990 Kart Manufacturers Show then held annually at Daytona, Florida, during Daytona Kart Week Ken approached Californian karting engineer Mark Weaverling if he would be interested in a project kart. The brief for the project was to design a kart with safety being the primary goal. However, cost and performance had to be acceptable to the karting public; current rules and designs nevertheless were to be ignored. Weaverling who was always enthusiastic about designing and building karts a little out of the ordinary was just the gentleman to undertake Ken’s project; he did not have to think twice before agreeing to fabricate Ken’s big circuit racing kart.
Weaverling, upon getting back to his Californian headquarters began to sketch up a few ideas. It soon became clear that fabricating a kart to protect against all possible dangers was out of the question; the kart would be too heavy and too expensive.
Later in January 1991 Ken Waller flew out to California to rendezvous with Mark Weaverling. Over lunch Mark drew a few ideas on a napkin and made plans to meet Ken the following April in Charlotte, North Carolina, the home of the World Karting Association. The wheels were turning. At the same time the project required a name; something that was specific and individual. Vida, Italian for life, fitted the bill; Vida kart it was.
Detailed drawings were produced as well as a 1/5 scale model of the chassis, driver module and body. At that time Mark was working on personal beliefs and not injury statistics, so the trip to the World Karting Association Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, was going to either make or break Mark’s ideas.
Whilst at Charlotte, Mark was given access to data on road race (enduro karting) injuries. The conclusions were clear and direct. The major injury accidents involved the driver being restrained part way in/out of the kart by the steering wheel and the bodywork. The type of injury that most would have thought to have been sustained would have been to a competitor’s feet/ankles but this was not the case. The way forward required a kart built with roll over protection and seat belts. From Mark’s perspective the kart would not be acceptable unless it was relatively inexpensive, handled well and looked good. The challenge was set.
Mark was well aware that karts with roll cages/bars at that time were notoriously bad handling. A kart frame was a fine tuned mechanism designed for use as was; no roll bar, no cage. Mark decided to build a chassis very near to the then current road racing frame but a little wider. For all practical purposes, a road race chassis without a front porch and seat. Chrome-moly tubing was used throughout the frame. The major change was the provision of a driver’s module. The entire roll over protection; top of hoop was five inches above driver’s helmet, foot box, seat, seat belts, headrest and horizontal top steering shaft support were all located in a separate unit from the chassis. The unit/module was something of a pod being the length of the driver.
What made the Vida pod different from all other cage karts (the type of kart used at the Purdue Grand Prix) was that the driver’s module attached to the main frame in the exact same positions the driver’s seat normally located so that the loads from the driver were transferred into the main frame as if there was not a cage at all.
Where the seat would normally attach to the cross member positioned in front of the rear axle there was a Heim joint mounted centrally to connect the rear of the driver module and where the front of the seat would normally mount to what would have been called the steering post support cross member the module was also attached to another centrally positioned Heim joint at that middle of frame location. On either side of the driver module at the cross member in front of the seat were two Lord type rubber mounts and another two at the extremities of the rear chassis cross member just ahead of the rear axle. All the Lord mounts were changeable from soft to stiff using either 1 inch, 1.25 inches or 1.5 inches diameter rubber or urethane of different durometer readings. The two Lord mounts at the front or the two at the rear or all four were used to control the adjustment of the main frame flex front to rear.
The type of injuries that the WKA data specified did not call for anything more than a single roll bar to provide roll over protection. The rest of the driver was totally enclosed. By using arm restraints there was no reason to have a cage similar to a sprint (World of Outlaws) car.
The power and braking systems were mounted on the Vida machine as on a normal kart. Because of the added weight of the roll over protection four wheel brakes were installed.
The steering was a little different from a conventional kart. The mounting point on the bottom of the steering shaft was again provided using a Heim joint located on the front axle because the chassis and the driver module moved in relation to one another. As there was no vertical steering post between the driver’s legs, the driver’s module supported the top steering shaft mount. This mount was on a tube mounted horizontally and retained by two 3/8 inch diameter bolts. Such an arrangement allowed the removal of the two bolts and the quick release steering wheel plus 5 Dzus fasteners so that an injured driver could be lifted straight up out of the kart. The steering shaft was a two piece design that would collapse upon shearing two plastic pins axially. The inner and outer parts of the steering shaft were made in such a way that they could not turn relative to one another at any time.
A five point restraint system was used to hold the driver in the case of a frontal impact. A form fitting seat was installed to help distribute any impact force evenly on the driver’s body. However with the driver restrained reaching the carburettor was out of the question so a remote carb adjuster was fitted. Since the steering wheel came off to facilitate driver in and out egress no controls could be attached to the wheel so a control panel was built just to the driver’s left and within reach. The panel contained an engine kill switch, carb adjuster, front brakes bias control and the Halon fire suppression control. The sole gauge was mounted just above the control panel and was a simple digital tachometer. . Since the driver could not turn their head whilst belted in mirrors were required. Finding mirrors that fitted the scale of the kart was not easy. Fortunately Honda felt it necessary to make Odyssey mirrors that were perfect for the Vida kart.
The race ready weight of the Vida was 240 lbs (109 Kg). The overall length of the kart was 97 inches (2464 mm) and the width was 38 inches (965 mm).
At the time the kart was finished Mark had no intention that it would ever be raced; he viewed the machine as a first generation model. It was something for people to look at and suggest things that needed to be changed, added or removed; a simple visual aid.
Following a showing at the 1991 Daytona Kart Manufacturers Show the kart was for a time the centre display in the lobby of the Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) where it was one of the most asked about displays that they ever had at CMS.
A decision was made to run the kart at the WKA race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in April 1992 using an engine that was literally out of the box. To Mark and Ken’s amazement the kart was ultra competitive, the car was a bullet in Mark’s words. It was however, a little too soft for the tight infield corners but a number of miles an hour faster than the winning kart that particular weekend.
Following the CMS race the driver’s module was slightly modified and more testing was undertaken. After Mark completed his involvement with the project a ‘halo’ was later added that was intended to reduce arm injuries but unfortunately upset the aerodynamics.
There was not a single decal on the kart. Every logo and letter on the kart was hand painted by Steve Hanson. The screaming yellow paint applied by Kurt Grimes in challenging conditions and the lettering were covered by two coats of clear Imron. The main chassis and driver module were nickel plated. At that time Mark considered the kart to be one of the best looking he had ever built.
Ken Waller died August 2, 2024, aged 88. The writer was privileged to have spent time with Ken at the races. Mark Weaverling still retains an interest in karting and in particular the vintage variety.
Ken Waller at that time was a Trustee of the World Karting Association and knew about the rash of injuries sustained by the competitors involved in accidents on big motor racing circuits whilst competing in enduro events.
At the December 1990 Kart Manufacturers Show then held annually at Daytona, Florida, during Daytona Kart Week Ken approached Californian karting engineer Mark Weaverling if he would be interested in a project kart. The brief for the project was to design a kart with safety being the primary goal. However, cost and performance had to be acceptable to the karting public; current rules and designs nevertheless were to be ignored. Weaverling who was always enthusiastic about designing and building karts a little out of the ordinary was just the gentleman to undertake Ken’s project; he did not have to think twice before agreeing to fabricate Ken’s big circuit racing kart.
Weaverling, upon getting back to his Californian headquarters began to sketch up a few ideas. It soon became clear that fabricating a kart to protect against all possible dangers was out of the question; the kart would be too heavy and too expensive.
Later in January 1991 Ken Waller flew out to California to rendezvous with Mark Weaverling. Over lunch Mark drew a few ideas on a napkin and made plans to meet Ken the following April in Charlotte, North Carolina, the home of the World Karting Association. The wheels were turning. At the same time the project required a name; something that was specific and individual. Vida, Italian for life, fitted the bill; Vida kart it was.
Detailed drawings were produced as well as a 1/5 scale model of the chassis, driver module and body. At that time Mark was working on personal beliefs and not injury statistics, so the trip to the World Karting Association Headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, was going to either make or break Mark’s ideas.
Whilst at Charlotte, Mark was given access to data on road race (enduro karting) injuries. The conclusions were clear and direct. The major injury accidents involved the driver being restrained part way in/out of the kart by the steering wheel and the bodywork. The type of injury that most would have thought to have been sustained would have been to a competitor’s feet/ankles but this was not the case. The way forward required a kart built with roll over protection and seat belts. From Mark’s perspective the kart would not be acceptable unless it was relatively inexpensive, handled well and looked good. The challenge was set.
Mark was well aware that karts with roll cages/bars at that time were notoriously bad handling. A kart frame was a fine tuned mechanism designed for use as was; no roll bar, no cage. Mark decided to build a chassis very near to the then current road racing frame but a little wider. For all practical purposes, a road race chassis without a front porch and seat. Chrome-moly tubing was used throughout the frame. The major change was the provision of a driver’s module. The entire roll over protection; top of hoop was five inches above driver’s helmet, foot box, seat, seat belts, headrest and horizontal top steering shaft support were all located in a separate unit from the chassis. The unit/module was something of a pod being the length of the driver.
What made the Vida pod different from all other cage karts (the type of kart used at the Purdue Grand Prix) was that the driver’s module attached to the main frame in the exact same positions the driver’s seat normally located so that the loads from the driver were transferred into the main frame as if there was not a cage at all.
Where the seat would normally attach to the cross member positioned in front of the rear axle there was a Heim joint mounted centrally to connect the rear of the driver module and where the front of the seat would normally mount to what would have been called the steering post support cross member the module was also attached to another centrally positioned Heim joint at that middle of frame location. On either side of the driver module at the cross member in front of the seat were two Lord type rubber mounts and another two at the extremities of the rear chassis cross member just ahead of the rear axle. All the Lord mounts were changeable from soft to stiff using either 1 inch, 1.25 inches or 1.5 inches diameter rubber or urethane of different durometer readings. The two Lord mounts at the front or the two at the rear or all four were used to control the adjustment of the main frame flex front to rear.
The type of injuries that the WKA data specified did not call for anything more than a single roll bar to provide roll over protection. The rest of the driver was totally enclosed. By using arm restraints there was no reason to have a cage similar to a sprint (World of Outlaws) car.
The power and braking systems were mounted on the Vida machine as on a normal kart. Because of the added weight of the roll over protection four wheel brakes were installed.
The steering was a little different from a conventional kart. The mounting point on the bottom of the steering shaft was again provided using a Heim joint located on the front axle because the chassis and the driver module moved in relation to one another. As there was no vertical steering post between the driver’s legs, the driver’s module supported the top steering shaft mount. This mount was on a tube mounted horizontally and retained by two 3/8 inch diameter bolts. Such an arrangement allowed the removal of the two bolts and the quick release steering wheel plus 5 Dzus fasteners so that an injured driver could be lifted straight up out of the kart. The steering shaft was a two piece design that would collapse upon shearing two plastic pins axially. The inner and outer parts of the steering shaft were made in such a way that they could not turn relative to one another at any time.
A five point restraint system was used to hold the driver in the case of a frontal impact. A form fitting seat was installed to help distribute any impact force evenly on the driver’s body. However with the driver restrained reaching the carburettor was out of the question so a remote carb adjuster was fitted. Since the steering wheel came off to facilitate driver in and out egress no controls could be attached to the wheel so a control panel was built just to the driver’s left and within reach. The panel contained an engine kill switch, carb adjuster, front brakes bias control and the Halon fire suppression control. The sole gauge was mounted just above the control panel and was a simple digital tachometer. . Since the driver could not turn their head whilst belted in mirrors were required. Finding mirrors that fitted the scale of the kart was not easy. Fortunately Honda felt it necessary to make Odyssey mirrors that were perfect for the Vida kart.
The race ready weight of the Vida was 240 lbs (109 Kg). The overall length of the kart was 97 inches (2464 mm) and the width was 38 inches (965 mm).
At the time the kart was finished Mark had no intention that it would ever be raced; he viewed the machine as a first generation model. It was something for people to look at and suggest things that needed to be changed, added or removed; a simple visual aid.
Following a showing at the 1991 Daytona Kart Manufacturers Show the kart was for a time the centre display in the lobby of the Charlotte Motor Speedway (CMS) where it was one of the most asked about displays that they ever had at CMS.
A decision was made to run the kart at the WKA race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in April 1992 using an engine that was literally out of the box. To Mark and Ken’s amazement the kart was ultra competitive, the car was a bullet in Mark’s words. It was however, a little too soft for the tight infield corners but a number of miles an hour faster than the winning kart that particular weekend.
Following the CMS race the driver’s module was slightly modified and more testing was undertaken. After Mark completed his involvement with the project a ‘halo’ was later added that was intended to reduce arm injuries but unfortunately upset the aerodynamics.
There was not a single decal on the kart. Every logo and letter on the kart was hand painted by Steve Hanson. The screaming yellow paint applied by Kurt Grimes in challenging conditions and the lettering were covered by two coats of clear Imron. The main chassis and driver module were nickel plated. At that time Mark considered the kart to be one of the best looking he had ever built.
Ken Waller died August 2, 2024, aged 88. The writer was privileged to have spent time with Ken at the races. Mark Weaverling still retains an interest in karting and in particular the vintage variety.
