"Racing Kart" redirects here. For the overall karts, see Kart.

Template:Kart-infobox The Pipe Frame (also formerly known simply as the Go-Kart until Mario Kart 7, also called Racing Kart in Super Smash Bros. Melee) is the original form of Kart that appears in the first three installments of the Mario Kart series and is the predecessor to the Standard Kart. Throughout the games it appears in, the kart has different colors depending on the driver. In its original appearances, the Pipe Frame acts as the one and only vehicle available. The abilities of the kart depend on the driver so the kart itself has no strong or weak points.

After a 10-year absence, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as an unlockable kart body in all three and generally gives a boost in acceleration and handling while decreasing the weight and traction.

Unlike the Standard Kart, the Pipe Frame does not appear to resemble a real go-kart, though its appearance is somewhat similar to a micro kart, a type of racing kart known for its small size, but powerful engines.

History

Mario Kart series

Super Mario Kart

The kart makes its first appearance in Super Mario Kart, designed as simple, small go-karts with different colors for each character and various performance traits depending on the driver, and an ability to boost by drifting.

Each character's kart has different engines; some uses four-stroke and few others uses two-stroke, based on its sounds.

Mario Kart 64

The Pipe Frame is redesigned in Mario Kart 64, featuring realistic-looking wheels, new colors for every character and a cubical engine with dual exhaust pipes. It also has a different handling compared to its predecessor.

This time, all karts uses two-stroke engines, with the exception of Toad's kart, which use a softer sounding four-stroke instead.

Toad and Donkey Kong are the only characters to have a unique engine sound that is not shared with any other character.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit

The kart's design and colors for this game remain unchanged from Mario Kart 64 aside from its handling, which reverted to that of Super Mario Kart to fit the game's two-dimensional environment.

Unlike in Mario Kart 64, all the karts now uses four-stroke engines.

Mario Kart 7

After being absent in subsequent games after Mario Kart: Super Circuit, the Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart 7 as an unlockable kart body, using its same design from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The character's emblem is shown underneath the engine. It is one of the three kart parts to have a different color for each character; the eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit retain the same color schemes, except for Peach, who has a slightly lighter pink color as in Mario Kart DS. Daisy also retains the same color scheme from said game. Like in Super Circuit, it has a four-stroke engine with powerful-sounding exhausts. Its engine is similar to the Sprinter from Mario Kart Wii. It also shares it with the Blue Seven.

In terms of stats, the Pipe Frame slightly boosts acceleration and off-road, but slightly hinders top speed and weight, which makes it the polar opposite of the Gold Standard in a way. In terms of its hidden stats, it gives a heavy boost in sea and air speeds, a good boost in mini-turbo and a slight boost in drift, while not hindering any other stat.

Red Miis use Mario's color scheme, orange use Bowser's, yellow use Donkey Kong's, light-green use Yoshi's, green use Luigi's, blue use Toad's, light blue use Lakitu's, pink use Peach's, purple use Wario's, brown use Wiggler's, and black use Shy Guy's. White Miis are the only Miis to receive a unique Pipe Frame color, as no other character in the game uses a white Pipe Frame.

Color schemes
Character Color
Mario Red
Luigi Green
Peach Pink
Yoshi Yellow-green
Bowser Orange
Donkey Kong Yellow
Toad Blue
Koopa Lime green
Daisy Golden orange
Wario Purple
Rosalina Turquoise
Metal Mario Blue-gray
Shy Guy Black
Honey Queen Dark rose
Wiggler Brown
Lakitu Sky blue
Mii Depends on Mii's color

Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

The Pipe Frame reappears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe again as an unlockable kart body. This time, it now resembles the kart's original design from Super Mario Kart, featuring only one exhaust pipe instead of two as seen in Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart: Super Circuit and Mario Kart 7. Additionally, the character emblem is now located in the front. Unlike its predecessor, it is now has a two-stroke engine and its sound is shared with the Standard Kart, Teddy Buggy, Wild Wiggler, and the Sneeker, only having a softer exhaust noise.

Unlike past installments, the colors of the Pipe Frame are now shared with multiple characters, featuring 23 unique colors used among the 36 characters (and of those, thirteen of the colors are exclusive to one character, counting alternate colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy, but excluding Miis aside from the brown color). The eight characters from Mario Kart 64 and Mario Kart: Super Circuit once again retain the same color as they were in the original games, while Koopa Troopa now retains the yellow color from Super Mario Kart. In addition, all the Koopalings (except Morton) have unique colored steering wheels for their karts, as opposed to the standard black for the secondary color. Also, all the Koopalings have unique colored exhaust pipes, as opposed to the standard yellow for the tertiary color, and their wheel hinges are uniquely colored, instead of being colored gray. The Inkling Girl's orange variation uses the yellow Pipe Frame, though the icon on the kart selection screen shows the yellow-orange Pipe Frame instead.

Like the Standard Kart, Standard Bike, and Standard ATV, the Pipe Frame body is occasionally used by all the CPU-controlled characters. Most CPU racers will always pair the Pipe Frame with the Standard tires, but Donkey Kong and Koopa Troopa in Mario Kart 8, as well as Dry Bones and Ludwig in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, occasionally also use the Monster tires instead. In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, CPU Toad is occasionally seen using this body equipped with the Slim tires; Toad, as well as the babies and Shy Guy, also equip it with the Parafoil. The 150cc staff ghosts for Donut Plains 3 and Cheese Land use Lakitu and Orange Yoshi on the Pipe Frame with the Monster tires. The 200cc staff ghost for Bone-Dry Dunes in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe uses Dry Bones on the Pipe Frame with the Wood tires.

In Mario Kart 8, the Pipe Frame gives a good boost in handling and a slight one in acceleration, but it hinders traction and slightly hinders weight. In terms of its hidden stats, it offers a good boost in sea and air handling, and slight boosts in sea and air speeds, anti-gravity handling and mini-turbo, while only slightly hindering anti-gravity speed. It shares its stats with the Wild Wiggler, Standard Bike, Flame Rider, Varmint, W 25 Silver Arrow, and City Tripper. Overall, the Pipe Frame has the second highest stat total of any kart body, and the third highest among all vehicles.

In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Pipe Frame's stats have been altered so that it now hinders speed, but gives a higher boost in acceleration and now slightly boosts traction. In terms of its hidden stats, it no longer increases water speed and now hinders air speed and air handling, while hindering anti-gravity speed further, with no compensation. It now only shares its stats with the Varmint and City Tripper.

An early version of the Pipe Frame's body featured the same design it had from Mario Kart 64 to Mario Kart: Super Circuit, with the only exception being that the character's emblem was located at the front, like in the body's final version.

The Mario Kart 8 version of the Pipe Frame was used in a LINE set of stickers based on the game and was used in a Google Maps Easter egg for Mar10 Day 2018, which ran for a week ending March 17, 2018.

Similarly, in this game, unlike Mario Kart 7, brown Miis are the only Miis to receive a unique Pipe Frame color, as no other non-Mii character in either version of the game uses a brown Pipe Frame.

Color schemes
Character(s) Color Image
Body Wheel hinges Steering wheel Engine and exhaust
     (Red, Mario/Pikmin Suit) Red Gray Black Gold  
      (Green, Luigi/Yoshi Suit) Green Gray Black Gold  
          (Pink, Peach/Kirby Suit) Light pink Gray Black Gold  
       (Orange, Varia/Inkling Suit) Yellow-orange Gray Black Gold  
         (Light-blue, Mega Man Suit, Rosalina Suit) Sky blue Gray Black Gold  
  Metallic gray Gray Black Gold  
     (Light-green, Animal Crossing Suit) Lime green Gray Black Gold  
          (Yellow, PAC-MAN/Wario Suit) Yellow Gray Black Gold  
       (Blue, Hylian/Captain Falcon/Fox/Toad/Sonic Suit) Blue Gray Black Gold  
    (White) White Gray Black Gold  
       (Black, Bowser Suit) Black Gray Black Gold  
  (Brown, DK Suit) Brown Gray Black Gold  
  Metallic pink Gray Black Gold  
   Orange Gray Black Gold  
    (Purple) Purple Gray Black Gold  
  Dark blue-violet Gray Black Gold  
  Bright green Bright indigo Bright indigo Purple  
  Magenta Bright pink Bright pink Violet-purple  
  Light teal Orange Orange Orange  
  Yellow Cyan-blue Cyan-blue Teal-blue  
  Pink Fuchsia Fuchsia Teal  
  Dark blue Blue Blue Forest green  
  Dark gray Forest green Black Teal-gray  

Mario Kart Tour

The Pipe Frame returns in Mario Kart Tour, retaining its Mario Kart 8 design and serves as the starter kart. It uses a new set of tires debuting in this game, which resemble the tires it used in the first three games. It is classified as a Normal kart. Slipstreaming lasts longer and yields more points when using this kart. Unlike in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the Koopalings do not possess unique color schemes for their own Pipe Frames, just like the Koopa Clown and Landship.

In the screenshot used for New York Tour's Coin Rush mode, Gold Mario also used the Pipe Frame, but it was equipped with the Gold Tires instead of the regular Pipe Frame's tires. However, Gold Mario used the Gold Standard in-game.

Color schemes
Character(s) Color Image
           Red  
     Green  
         Pink  
     Lime green  
        Yellow  
   Orange  
       Blue  
    Turquoise  
      Cyan  
     Purple  
    Indigo  
     Magenta  
   Gray  
      White  
      Black  
  Brown  
  Metallic gray  
   Gold  
  Pink gold  

Club Nintendo

"Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All"

 
Mario and Luigi driving karts in the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All".

In the Club Nintendo comic "Die Jagd nach dem Nintendo 64: Krawall im All", Mario and Luigi are seen driving karts in their mission to find a spaceship shaped like the Nintendo 64. They compete against Wario and Bowser and make another reference to the Mario Kart games by dropping Banana Peels and making them crash. The karts seen in this comic resemble those seen in Mario Kart 64. Unlike their video game equivalents, though, they can also be turned into jet skis by pushing a button on their steering-wheels.

Mario Kirby Meisaku Video

A Pipe Frame makes an appearance resembling the one in Super Mario Kart in the Mario segment of the Mario Kirby Meisaku Video where Mario drives it during his pursuit of the mysterious thief W. Eventually, after being attacked by some monsters, he spins out near a vegetable garden.

Super Mario-Kun

Pipe Frame karts are seen in the Mario Kart adaptions of Super Mario-Kun. The first time they appear, Mario races against other characters including Donkey Kong Jr. and Bowser.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

A Pipe Frame appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a trophy under the name "Racing Kart". The trophy can be obtained at random in the Lottery or in the game's single-player modes.

Profiles and statistics

Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy

Name Image Game Description
Racing Kart   Super Mario Kart
9/92
The famous racing karts from the ever-popular Mario Kart racing series come loaded for speed with three different engine sizes: 50, 100, and 150 cc. The karts' handling differs with the characters driving them, but all of them utilize Mario Kart standards like drift, jump, and turbo. They're extremely durable and impossible to total.

Mario Kart series

Stat values are out of 6.

Mario Kart 7

  • Speed: -0.25
  • Sea Speed: +1
  • Air Speed: +0.5
  • Acceleration: +0.25
  • Weight: -0.25
  • Handling: 0
  • Sea Handling: +0.25
  • Air Handling: +0.25
  • Off-Road: +0.25
  • Mini-Turbo: +0.5
  • Stability: 0
  • Drift: +0.25

Mario Kart 8

  • Ground Speed: 0
  • Water Speed: +0.25
  • Air Speed: +0.25
  • Anti-Gravity Speed: -0.25
  • Acceleration: +0.25
  • Weight: -0.25
  • Ground Handling: +0.5
  • Water Handling: +0.5
  • Air Handling: +0.5
  • Anti-Gravity Handling: +0.25
  • Traction: -0.5
  • Mini-Turbo: +0.25

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

  • Ground Speed: -0.5
  • Water Speed: 0
  • Air Speed: -0.5
  • Anti-Gravity Speed: -0.5
  • Acceleration: +0.5
  • Weight: -0.25
  • Ground Handling: +0.5
  • Water Handling: +0.5
  • Air Handling: -0.25
  • Anti-Gravity Handling: +0.25
  • Traction: +0.25
  • Mini-Turbo: +0.5

Mario Kart Tour

  Slipstream Plus
Favored Courses
Three Star  
Two Star          

Gallery

Artwork

Screenshots

Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart 8

Mario Kart Tour

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning
Japanese スケルトン
Sukeruton
Skeleton

Dutch Skelter
Go-kart
German Go-Kart
Go-kart
Italian Tuboturbo
Pipe Turbo
Korean 스켈레톤
Seukelleton
Skeleton

Portuguese (NOA) Tuboturbo
Pipe Turbo
Portuguese (NOE) Tubomóvel
Pipemobile
Russian Труботурбо
Truboturbo
Pipe Turbo

Spanish Tubiturbo
Turbo Pipe