One of the mainstays in the North American karting market over the years has been the Benik chassis. It first launched toward the end of the 2013 season with a dedicated focus on the Cadet divisions. Among the early drivers on the Benik brand was Canadian Devlin DeFrancesco, as the IndyCar driver helped to springboard the success of the Cadet chassis both in the United States and Canada during his early years of development. Through the addition of other drivers across the continent, Benik emerged as one of the leading brands, remaining there over the last decade.

Full size chassis in competition at the 2026 Florida Winter Tour (Photo: CKN – Cody Schindel)

Co-founder Nick Mitchell has continued building the brand, not only through the chassis and race team program, but also through other outlets including their former Team Benik formula car race team, their Benik Academy Driver Development program and, most recently, their expansion with the Benik E-Sports program.

The Benik Raton chassis is what has helped to build the brand of Team Benik. The 950mm chassis is CIK/FIA homologated, and is designed to work with all engine platforms in both 2-cycle and 4-cycle. The 2015 season was the breakout year for the Benik Raton, earning championships on the SKUSA Pro Tour and the United States Pro Kart Series with Lachlan DeFrancesco, while also earning its first SuperNationals victory with the UK’s Jonny Edgar – a now sportscar championship driver. In total, the Benik Raton has four SKUSA Pro Tour titles, six USPKS championships, and six victories at the SKUSA SuperNationals in the last 11 seasons.

Today, drivers like Dutch Westbrook – the EKN Driver of the Month for April 2026 – in the Mini categories and Beau Wyatt in the Micro divisions continue that success of Team Benik and Benik chassis.

F1 driver Alex Albon trained this winter in the USA aboard a Benik shifterkart (Photo: Alex Albon)

Building toward the future, Benik has added to its chassis line for the 2026 season and beyond with two new models. The Benik Torpedo is the full-size chassis for drivers to utilize in the Junior, Senior and Master categories in 100cc or 125cc single speed engine platforms.

The second model that was launched in 2026 is the Benik Shifter chassis. The model was built for the gearbox categories that are available throughout karting. Team Benik is working with drivers at the local and regional level in the developmental stage of the model with hopes of expanding to the national scene.

“Nearing our 20 years of the Benik brand, we felt it was time to expand our chassis model line,” stated Nick Mitchell of Benik. “Our driver development program, not only at our home base in Florida but also within Team Benik, needed to be a streamlined process with not only the drivers but the material we are working with. We are taking all the knowledge that we’ve gathered after decades of karting into what we feel works best for the full size Benik Torpedo and continuing to develop our Benik Shifter chassis.”

Benik is one of the first American-based chassis brands to expand to a global network. Today, Benik is available on four continents, featuring dealers in North America, South America, Asia and Europe. The last few seasons has seen a strong growth within the Mexico and Colombian markets while continuing its full North American reach with its dealer network.

Website: Benik-Kart.com

Facebook: Team Benik

Instagram: Team Benik

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