The Banstead Image Library
Banstead boy builds first 'Go-Kart'
In 1948 Brian Lloyd-Jacob and two friends (Peter Billing and Geoffrey Fletcher) built the first ever 'Go-Kart'; of course the term Go-Kart had not been invented at that time but the 'Go Kart' clearly had and it was British.
The picture shows Brian Lloyd-Jacob kick starting the engine into life.
The vehicle does look very kart like and was powered by a 250cc Villiers engine that originally powered a generator on a boat. It is coupled through a three-speed gearbox to a live rear axle that as one driven wheel and one free rotating wheel. The wheels were solid and from a heavy duty trolley. The brake was a lever and pulley belt from a lathe operating on the rear axle! Everything was bolted together, there was no welding.
The flying bedstead as it was originally known cost 12s and 6d.
Read the full story at
http://www.britishhistorickartclub.com/2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Trackside-Winter-Edition-Final-Print-Copy.pdf
Thanks to Lorraine Lloyd-Jacob for letting us know this fascinating bit of local history. Well done Brian!
Picture added on 22 July 2018 at 17:05
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Banstead History
Banstead History
This really is a remarkable and unique piece of Banstead history - enhanced by an unusually clear photograph for its time. I love the fact that it's equipped with a horn... as if anyone wouldn't have heard the engine from a hundred yards away!
Added by Peter Denton on 22 July 2018
Very interesting steering arrangement although it's not quite clear from the photo how it worked!
Note from LNW: Watch this space Michael as I am on the trail of some video footage of this go-kart.
Note from LNW: Watch this space Michael as I am on the trail of some video footage of this go-kart.
Added by Michael Funnell on 08 September 2018
Re the steering arrangement......My father (Brian Lloyd Jacob), says it was steered by cables working from a little bevelled driven winch. One is on the end of the steering column and the other on a little upstand which carries the cables, like a little winch that pulls and pushes a cable to the steering gear! It pulled and pushed to the stub axles! He says we have a better action photo! My Dad is keen to point out that Peter Billing was one of the prime movers in the project!
Added by Lindsey Lloyd Jacob on 05 April 2024
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