kartSTART Presented by Toyota Prepares for its 2018 Cross-Canada Tour

kartSTART Presented by Toyota is celebrating its eighth year providing hands on drivers’ safety education to kids across Canada and is preparing for its 2018 cross-Canada tour. The program is ASN Canada FIA safety endorsed and is led by retired professional race car driver Russ Bond and has helped more than 6,000 kids establish an early foundation for safe and responsible driving. Starting on June 30^th, kartSTART will visit 10 cities across Canada including a new stop added in Ottawa, Ontario and a return to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where it was last held in 2015. “What’s great about the kartSTART program is kids are not only given the opportunity to experience being behind the wheel of a motorized vehicle (many for the first time), but they’re becoming familiar with driver safety well before they can get a license,” said Cyril Dimitris, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Toyota Canada Inc. “kartSTART is helping create a better, safer future for the drivers of tomorrow.” New to the program this year is a go-kart that has been made accessible for kids with physical disabilities so that they can drive too. The karts look much the same as the other karts but feature hand-controlled throttle and braking controls integrated into the steering wheel. Jonak Motorsport, who are one of Canada’s leading racing fabrication and restoration companies, designed, tested and built the accessible go-kart. The company has been a partner of kartSTART for eight years and has been instrumental in developing a specialized fleet of karts specifically for the program. For more information or to reserve a spot in the 2018 kartSTART Presented by Toyota Nationwide Tour, please visit www.kartstart.ca.

2018 kartSTART Presented by Toyota National Tour Dates

• Chilliwack Area – Greg Moore Raceway – June 30 to July 3 – Chilliwack, BC
• Red Deer Area – Westerner Park – July 6 to 8 – Red Deer, AB
• Saskatoon Area –  Martensville Speedway – July 13 to 15 – Saskatoon, SK
• Winnipeg Area – Red River Exhibition Park – July 19 to 21 – Winnipeg, MB – (July 19 -evening)
• Hamilton Area – Flamboro Speedway – July 25 to 27 – Millgrove, ON – (July 26 – evening)
• Toronto Area – Sunset Speedway – August 5 to 8 – Innisfil, ON
• Ottawa Area – E Y Centre – August 11 to 13 – Ottawa, ON
• Montreal Area – Autodrome – August 15 to 17 – Saint-Eustache, Québec
• Trois-Rivières – SC Performance – August 20 to 22 – Saint-Célestin, Québec
• Halifax Area – Scotia Speedworld – August 25 to 27 – Goffs, NS