KOS · Karting Operating System · kos.now

Karting still runs on clipboards

Karting has been built on archaic primitives for decades: paper waivers, binders, disconnected apps, and workflows that have barely changed since the 1970s. KOS is the operating layer we needed before we knew we were building one.

1970soperating primitivesBASELINE
1 recordfor customer, kart, incidentKOS
4 pillarsfrom waiver to renewalINSURANCE
10 modulesone operating layerPLATFORM
1970soperating primitivesBASELINE
1 recordfor customer, kart, incidentKOS
4 pillarsfrom waiver to renewalINSURANCE
10 modulesone operating layerPLATFORM
Built from the track floor

We built the operating system we wish existed when insurance companies started squeezing every track in America.

One unified platform. Defensible records. Real leverage at renewal.

OriginBuilt at Black River / Lorain KartPlex
PressureInsurance renewal, incident history, and operating proof
OutcomeOne operational record tracks can defend
Four pillars

Insurance gets us in the room.
The other three are why you sign and stay.

01

Liability & Insurance

The wedge. Digital waivers with video and parental consent. A driver risk profile that follows the racer between tracks. Mandatory safety briefing logs. Per-kart, per-session inspection records. Incident reports filed live. A defensible operational record that gives tracks real leverage at renewal.

02

POS & Ecommerce

The cash register. Square or Stripe at the counter. Branded online storefront for parts, apparel, gift cards, arrive-and-drive packages, memberships, and race entries. One catalog, one inventory, one customer record across in-person and online.

03

Race Hub

The event engine. Events, series, seasons, classes, age divisions, season passes, results, penalties, championship points. Linked across tracks so a racer carries one identity, one garage, and one history into every facility on KOS.

04

Maintenance Suite

The shop. Work orders, technicians, customer kart service, fleet inspection, parts pull from inventory, magic-link customer portal, invoicing. Same engine handles paying customers and your own rental fleet — and feeds the inspection record back into the insurance chain of custody.

AB
Already running

Tracks powered
by KOS.

kos.network
1// brand: LOK
2layer:    "track"
3modules: [
4  "race-hub",
5  "liability",
6  "pos",
7  "maintenance",
8  "memberships",
9  "crm"
10]
11status:   live
Live · running today
How it works

One product.
Three surfaces.

KOS is one product expressed through three surfaces — Storefront for customers, Track Admin for operators, Racer Portal for racers — sharing one customer record, one inventory, and one operational truth. Ten modules, opted into as a track grows.

3
Surfaces
10
Modules
1
Customer record
kos.surfaces10 / 10 modules
Storefront
Customer-facing · branded site, shop, register, waivers
Branded
Track Admin
Operator-facing · catalog, inventory, service, events
Console
Racer Portal
Cross-track · garage, team, live timing, history
Portable
Liability & Insurance
Required module · waivers, briefings, incidents
Pillar
POS & Ecommerce
Required module · one catalog, one inventory
Pillar
Maintenance Suite
Required module · work orders, fleet inspection
Pillar
Today vs with KOS

One product.
One truth.

Live|--:--:--
0%
Digital waivers, signed and timestamped
0
Customer record across waiver, shop, race entry, work order
0
Modules to opt into — turn on what you need
0
Paper binders required at renewal
Modules

Ten modules.
Turn on what you need.

One product, ten modules. Every module shares one customer, one inventory, one record. No monolithic install.

Liability & Insurance
Required
Commerce
Required
Inventory
Required
Maintenance / CMMS
Required
Racing
Required
Memberships
Required
CRM
Required
Marketing CMS
Required
Arrive & Drive
Optional
Storage
Optional
Liability & Insurance
Required
Commerce
Required
Inventory
Required
Maintenance / CMMS
Required
Racing
Required
Memberships
Required
CRM
Required
Marketing CMS
Required
Arrive & Drive
Optional
Storage
Optional
Storage
Optional
Arrive & Drive
Optional
Marketing CMS
Required
CRM
Required
Memberships
Required
Racing
Required
Maintenance / CMMS
Required
Inventory
Required
Commerce
Required
Liability & Insurance
Required
Storage
Optional
Arrive & Drive
Optional
Marketing CMS
Required
CRM
Required
Memberships
Required
Racing
Required
Maintenance / CMMS
Required
Inventory
Required
Commerce
Required
Liability & Insurance
Required
Insurance

The wedge.

Karting operators are being squeezed by an insurance market with very few viable options. KOS gives tracks the operational data layer they have been missing — waivers, inspections, incident reports, maintenance records — built to create leverage, accountability, and defensibility at renewal.

WaiversBriefingsInspectionsIncidentsProfiles

Digital waivers

Signed, timestamped, IP-logged, optionally video-attested. Parental consent for minors. Reissues automatically when terms change.

Driver risk profile

Age, training, prior incidents, banned-driver flag. Travels with the racer between every KOS track.

Mechanical inspection

Per-kart, per-session, signed by a named tech. Connected to the maintenance suite and the chain of custody.

Incident report

Filed live on the operator app with photos, witnesses, kart, racer, session, conditions. The defense file writes itself.

For racers

Built for the floor.
Loved by racers.

Operators get the platform. Racers get something they have never had: an identity that follows them between facilities. That cross-track moat is what makes KOS-powered tracks sticky.

One account, every track

Sign once. Race anywhere on KOS.

My Garage

Karts, transponders, classes, current setup.

Live Timing

Inside the racer portal, branded for the track.

My History

Every event, result, and championship point.

{
  "racer": "M. McCrone",
  "license": "club",
  "tier": "Senior",
  "tracks": ["LOK", "..."],
  "waivers": "current"
}
Why we built KOS
01 / 04

"Karting has been built on archaic primitives: clipboards, binders, cash-drawer habits, and disconnected tools. The floor modernized around the racing, but the operating model barely moved from the 1970s."

O

Operations

11pm Saturday, LOK · Lorain Ohio Kartplex

The shape

Old primitives, new system

Three brands, three layers, one product underneath

LOK · Lorain Ohio KartplexKartZoneMcCrone MotorsportsFounding Track 04Founding Track 05Founding Track 06kos.now
LOK · Lorain Ohio KartplexKartZoneMcCrone MotorsportsFounding Track 04Founding Track 05Founding Track 06kos.now
Internal founders letter

Why this
has to exist.

To the team deciding what KOS becomes,

Karting has been operating on archaic primitives for a long time. Clipboards, binders, counter habits, phone calls, one-off logins, and renewal paperwork became the system. The karts got faster, the timing got sharper, the customers got more digital, but the operating layer underneath the track has barely changed since the 1970s.

For years we ran a karting business on whatever we could stitch together. Some of it we built. Some of it came from vendors who had never set foot on a kart track. Every Saturday was a square peg in a round hole — a registration tool that did not know about the catalog, a shop tool that did not know about the rental fleet, a timing system that did not talk to anything else.

One morning we put the pieces on a table — what we had built, what we had bought, what we had outgrown — and the seams disappeared. Same kart. Same Saturday. The six problems we had been solving in six different places were one problem with one shape. We built KOS as the one shape and pointed it at the track we already run. The next track to plug in does not have to live the years it took us to see it.

The KOS founding team

kos.now

What we need
to prove next.

The founding cohort is not just distribution. It is proof that KOS can migrate real tracks off fragmented systems, produce cleaner insurance data, and become the daily operating layer before renewal season.

Decision needed: pilot scope, migration support, pricing, and renewal-data milestones.