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A Haitian hand cart.

A cart is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from a dray or wagon, which is a heavy transport vehicle with four wheels and normally at least two horses, which in turn is different from a carriage, which is used exclusively for transporting humans. The restriction of "carts" to two wheels has become less strictly observed since they were commonly horse-drawn, particularly for those pushed by people.

The draught animals used for carts may be horses or ponies, mules, oxen, water buffalo or donkeys, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs.

History[link]

Hand-propelled wheel cart, Indus Valley Civilization (3000–1500 BCE). Housed at the National Museum, New Delhi.

Carts have been mentioned in literature as far back as the second millennium B.C. The Indian sacred book Rigveda states that men and women are as equal as two wheels of a cart. Hand-carts pushed by humans have been used around the world. In the 19th century, for instance, some Mormons travelling across the plains of the United States between 1856 and 1860 used handcarts.

Carts were often used for judicial punishments, both to transport the condemned – a public humiliation in itself (in Ancient Rome defeated leaders were often carried in the victorious general's triumph) – and even, in England until its substitution by the whipping post under Queen Elizabeth I, to tie the condemned to the cart-tail and administer him or her a public whipping.

Types of cart[link]

Larger carts may be drawn by animals, such as horses, mules, or oxen. They have been in continuous use since the invention of the wheel, in the 5th millennium BC. Carts may be named for the animal that pulls them, such as horsecart or oxcart. In modern times, horsecarts are used in competition while draft horse showing. A dogcart, however, is usually a cart designed to carry hunting dogs: an open cart with two cross-seats back to back; the dogs could be penned between the rear-facing seat and the back end.

The term " cart " (synonymous in this sense with chair) is also used for various kinds of lightweight, two-wheeled carriages, some of them sprung carts (or spring carts), especially those used as open pleasure or sporting vehicles. They could be drawn by a horse, pony or dog. Examples include:

• cocking cart: short-bodied, high, two-wheeled, seat for a groom behind the box; for tandem driving^[1]

• dogcart: light, usually one horse, commonly two-wheeled and high, two transverse seats set back to back

• donkey cart: underslung axle, two lengthwise seats; also called pony cart, tub-cart

A donkey cart used in The Gambia

Tourist carts in Petra Siq (Jordan)

• float: a dropped axle to give an especially low loadbed, for carrying heavy or unstable items such as milk churns. The name survives today as a milkfloat.

• governess cart: light, two-wheeled, entered from the rear, body partly or wholly of wickerwork, seat for two persons along each side; also called governess car, tub-cart

Carts from different Malay regions, exhibited at the Muzium Negara.

• ralli cart: light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn, for two persons facing forward, or four, two facing forward and two rearward. The seat is adjustable fore-and-aft to keep the vehicle balanced for two or four people.

• stolkjaerre: two-wheeled, front seat for two, rear seat for the driver; used in Norway

• tax cart: spring cart, formerly subject to a small tax in England; also called taxed cart

• Whitechapel cart: spring cart, light, two-wheeled, especially for family or light delivery service

The builder of a cart may be known as a cartwright; the surname "Carter" also derives from the occupation of transporting goods by cart or wagon.

Ox carts in Madagascar

Carts have many different shapes, but the basic idea of transporting material (or maintaining a collection of materials in a portable fashion) remains. Carts may have a pair of shafts, one along each side of the draught animal that supports the forward-balanced load in the cart. The shafts are supported by a saddle on the horse. Alternatively (and normally where the animals are oxen or buffalo), the cart may have a single pole between a pair of animals. The draught traces attach to the axle of the vehicle or to the shafts. The traces are attached to a collar (on horses), to a yoke (on other heavy draught animals) or to a harness on dogs or other light animals.

Traces are made from a range of materials depending on the load and frequency of use. Heavy draught traces are made from iron or steel chain. Lighter traces are often leather and sometimes hemp rope, but plaited horse-hair and other similar decorative materials can be used.

The dray is often associated with the transport of barrels, particularly of beer.

Of the cart types not animal-drawn, perhaps the most common example today is the shopping cart (British English: shopping trolley), which has also come to have a metaphorical meaning in relation to online purchases (here, British English uses the metaphor of the shopping basket). Shopping carts first made their appearance in Oklahoma City in 1937.

In golf, both manual push or pull and electric golf trolleys are designed to carry a golfers bag, clubs and other equipment. Also, the golf cart, car, or buggy, is a powered vehicle that carries golfers and their equipment around a golf course faster and with less effort than walking.

A Porter's trolley is a type of small, hand-propelled wheeled platform. This can also be called a baggage cart. since the 13th century.^{[citation needed]}

Autocarts are a type of small, hand-propelled wheeled utility carts having a pivoting base for collapsible storage in vehicles. They eliminate the need for plastic or paper shopping bags and are also used by tradespersons to carry tools, equipment or supplies.

A soap-box cart (also known as a Billy Cart, Go-Cart, Trolley etc.) is a popular children's construction project on wheels, usually pedaled, but also intended for a test race.

The term "Go-Kart", which exists since 1959, also shortened as "Kart", an alternative spelling of "cart", refers to a tiny race car with frame and two-stroke engine; the old term go-cart originally meant a sedan chair or an infant walker

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carts

Look up cart in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Hand and Horse Drawn Firefighting Apparatus
• History of the Shopping Cart

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Gil de Ferran
de Ferran at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in March 2011.
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	(1967-11-11) November 11, 1967 (age 44) Paris, France
IRL IndyCar Series
Years active	2001-2003
Teams	Penske Racing
Starts	31
Wins	5
Poles	5
Best finish	2nd in 2003

Gil de Ferran

De Ferran at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967 in Paris, France, to Brazilian parents), is a professional racing driver and team owner. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for the Penske Honda Team and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500.

Inspired by the success of fellow Brazilian Emerson Fittipaldi, de Ferran began his career in kart racing in the early 1980s. He graduated to Formula Ford level in 1987 and Formula Three in 1991. Driving for Edenbridge Racing, De Ferran finished the 1991 British Formula Three season in third, only behind Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. For the 1992 season, De Ferran moved to Paul Stewart Racing and won the title, scoring seven wins in the process.

1993 and 1994 were spent driving for Paul Stewart Racing in International Formula 3000. De Ferran finished fourth in the series in 1993 and then took the championship down to the wire in 1994, ultimately finishing third. In 1993, De Ferran tested for a day the Footwork Arrows Formula One team along with Dutch racer Jos Verstappen. His day was seriously compromised after he bumped his head while walking nearby the motorhome and also due to Verstappen's impressive test times.

At the end of 1994, de Ferran was invited to test a Champ Car by Hall/VDS Racing. Despite the worries of the team's sponsor Pennzoil that de Ferran was not famous enough name for their car, the team was sufficiently impressed to offer de Ferran a drive for 1995. With no top-line Formula One drive available de Ferran took up the offer to drive in America.

De Ferran won the rookie of the year award in 1995 by finishing 14th. He scored his first Champ Car win in the last race of the year at Laguna Seca.

In 1996, de Ferran was a consistent challenger but only scored one win, at Cleveland. This win was the last for veteran car owner and driver Jim Hall who retired from the sport at the end of 1996. Hall's retirement also spelled the end of the Pennzoil Hall team. Despite rumours that he would be a driver for the new Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team, de Ferran stayed in America for 1997, joining Walker Racing.

De Ferran finished 1997 as runner-up to Alex Zanardi with ten top-ten finishes but failed to score a single victory. He looked on course to win the season opener at Homestead but was knocked out of the lead by a lapped driver, Dennis Vitolo. At the Grand Prix of Portland he lost out to PacWest Racing's Mark Blundell in the closest finish in Champ Car history.

The expected championship challenge never materialized in 1998, unreliability, driver errors and the inferior performance of the Goodyear tires compared to the Firestone tires all combined to leave de Ferran 12th in the standings, again with no wins in the year.

In 1999 the breakthrough finally came as de Ferran beat Juan Pablo Montoya at Portland to take his first win since mid-1996 and the Walker team's first since early-1995. However that victory would be the end of an era as Goodyear and Valvoline both left Champ Car racing at the end of 1999. Toward the end of that season, de Ferran and Greg Moore were signed to Marlboro Team Penske to replace Al Unser, Jr. and the rotating arrangement of drivers employed after Andre Ribeiro retired. However, Moore was killed in a crash in the season finale and de Ferran's fellow countryman Helio Castroneves joined him.

On October 28, 2000, during CART qualifying at Auto Club Speedway, de Ferran set the track record for fastest lap at 241.426 mph (388.537 km/h). As of March 2012, this stands as the fastest lap speed ever recorded at an official race meeting.^[1]

The Penske years saw de Ferran finally fulfil the promise of his earlier career with two Champ Car titles and an Indy 500 victory. His analytical approach earned him comparisons with Penske's first driver, Mark Donohue. He also garnered praise for his politeness and integrity: when Penske switched to the Indy Racing League in 2002, he did not criticize the move even though it meant he could not defend his Champ Car title.

Following his Indianapolis triumph de Ferran decided to retire at the end of 2003. He won his final race, although the moment was soured by a terrifying crash during the race that left fellow Indy winner Kenny Bräck seriously injured.

In 2005, he moved to the BAR-Honda Formula One team as their Sports Director. He resigned from this position in July 2007 after becoming "increasingly uncomfortable" with the team.^[2]

On January 29, 2008 de Ferran announced that he will return to the cockpit and field a factory-backed LMP2 class Acura ARX-01b prototype in the American Le Mans Series. The team began competing around the mid-way point of the 2008 season, with De Ferran running the team and sharing driving duties with Simon Pagenaud.^[3]

Success again was immediate and de Ferran Motorsports took four front row grid positions, led six races and scored three podium finishes in just eight starts.

2009 saw another challenge when de Ferran Motorsports was chosen by Honda to develop the Acura ARX-02a for competition in the LMP1 division of the American Le Mans Series. The team scored five outright wins, seven poles, seven fastest laps and finished runners up in the ALMS LMP1 Championship.

Half way through 2009 de Ferran announced his decision to retire from the cockpit at the end of the racing season, expressing his intention to concentrate all his resources on expanding his team, making public his desire to return to IndyCar racing as a front running team owner. Prior to the start of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar season, Gil merged de Ferran Motorsports with Luczo Dragon Racing, a team started by Jay Penske, the son of Gil’s former boss Roger Penske, and Steve Luczo, a successful technology leader and racing enthusiast. The new team was named de Ferran Dragon Racing and is the realization of Gil’s ambition to return to IndyCar racing as well as the beginning of another exciting chapter in the de Ferran success story.

De Ferran Dragon Racing, with driver Raphael Matos, earned four Top Ten finishes in its debut campaign and led 15 laps during the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2010, IndyCar also began planning for a completely new car concept, to debut during the 2012 season. Due to his technical knowledge, motorsports experience across different series and roles, as well as the widespread respect he holds within the racing industry, de Ferran was chosen by his team owner peers to represent their interests in the development of the future IndyCar. As part of the prestigious ICONIC committee, Gil was instrumental in creating the innovative concept for the future of IndyCar Racing.

In 2011 Deferran Dragon racing closed its doors due to lack of funding, having attempted to stay operational for the new season - however this has allowed this versatile racing personality to further utilize his creative technical thinking and broad motorsports experience to pursue new projects in the industry.

De Ferran currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with his English wife Angela and children Anna (born 1995) and Luke (born 1997).

Motorsports Career Results[link]

Complete International Formula 3000 results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

American Open Wheel[link]

(key)

CART career results[link]

CART[link]

2 championships, 7 victories

Indy Racing League career results[link]

0 championships, 5 victories

IndyCar Series[link]

Indianapolis 500 results[link]

Complete American Le Mans Series results[link]

See also[link]

• de Ferran Motorsports

External links[link]

• Official website

References[link]

Carts of Darkness is a 2008 National Film Board of Canada documentary film by Murray Siple about a group of homeless men in North Vancouver, who use shopping carts to collect bottles and cans to return for money and also race down the city's steep slope for thrills.^[1]

The subjects in the film control the carts using only their weight and one foot, during descents that cross intersections, with top speeds claimed to be as high as 70 km/h.^[2]

Siple, a former director of extreme sports videos and an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, became a quadriplegic after a car accident in 1996. His first film after his accident, Carts of Darkness allowed the filmmaker to regain the excitement he had experienced with extreme sports and to relate to a fellow group of outsiders.^[1]

Reception[link]

Carts of Darkness was shown at public screenings in Vancouver and Victoria, with the film's subjects in attendance. It was also selected for the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.^[3] The film received the Leo Award for Best Documentary Program in the Nature/ Environment/Adventure/Science/Technology category as well as the award for best documentary over 30 minutes at the Picture This Film Festival in Calgary.^[4]

See also[link]

• Shameless: The ART of Disability

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carts of Darkness at the Internet Movie Database
• Watch Carts of Darkness at NFB.ca