The top wing is the part of an outlaw kart nobody thinks about until it's bent. Then all of a sudden you're standing in the pits at nine o'clock at night trying to figure out whether you need a whole new wing, a rail, a sideboard, or four dollars' worth of rivets. We sell a lot of wing hardware in the middle of the summer, and it's almost never because somebody planned ahead.
So here's the whole thing laid out — what each piece is called, how it bolts together, what moving it around actually does, and which spares are worth throwing in the trailer before you need them.
What the wing is actually doing up there
Two things, and it's worth being straight about which matters more.
The first is downforce. At outlaw kart speeds you're not making the kind of load a sprint car makes, but it's not nothing either — you feel it most on the top end of a big half-mile-style bullring where the kart settles down instead of getting light. The second, and honestly the bigger one on most nights, is side bite. That tall left sideboard is a sail. In a left-hand corner it catches air and helps plant the left side of the kart. That's why the left board is significantly taller than the right one on every outlaw wing you'll ever see.
The third thing, which nobody puts in the brochure: it's a big flat billboard for your number, and it's the first thing that hits the fence.
The parts of an outlaw wing
Here's the whole assembly with everything named. Print it, tape it inside your trailer door, and you'll never have to describe a part as "the bendy thing on top" over the phone again.
Center panel
The flat top. On our standard Wing Kit the center section runs 32" wide by 34" long; the Hawk Dimensional Wing Kit uses a 32" x 36" flat center body. It's the piece that carries the number and the piece that takes the abuse when a kart gets on top of you. If you've cracked yours, you don't need a whole kit — grab a replacement Wing Center Panel and reuse your braces and hardware.
Sideboards — and why they're different sizes
The left board is tall, the right board is short. On a standard kit that's roughly 17.3" x 39" on the left and 13" x 39" on the right. Step up to the oversized option and the left goes to about 22" x 42" with support struts, right around 15" x 40". The Hawk BP-style wing splits the difference at 21.5" and 15.5" tall.
Bigger left board = more sail = more side bite, and more weight hanging up high. A standard kit runs about 8.8 lbs assembled; the large side panel version is closer to 10.3 lbs. That's a pound and a half sitting at the highest point on the kart, which is not free. If your class allows the big board and you race a heavy, wet, high-bite track, it's usually worth it. On slick, low-grip nights a lot of guys go back to the smaller board to get the kart to roll.
Replacement boards are sold individually — left large with air foils, right large, and small versions of both — plus air foil support struts for the big left panel. Check your rule book before you jump sizes; some classes spec board dimensions.
Angle braces
The aluminum angle that runs along the front and rear edge of the center panel. It's the wing's backbone. A flat sheet of .016 aluminum has almost no rigidity on its own — the angle brace kit is what keeps the panel from oil-canning and flexing itself to death. Braces come in a few lengths depending on whether you need the long top brace, the medium-length bottom brace, or the short bottom brace for the new nose wing.
Braces are riveted on. Which brings us to the part everybody underestimates.
Wing rails, extensions and cage brackets
The wing doesn't bolt to the cage. It bolts to two wing rails that run fore-and-aft above the cage, and those rails bolt to cage brackets. That's the whole load path: panel → rails → brackets → cage.
Rails are sold as a left and a right, or as a complete Wing Rail Set and Bolt Kit that includes both rails, two rail extensions (every kart needs two) and all the bolts, nuts, washers and spring nuts to attach the rails to the cage and the wing to the rails. If you're rebuilding after a bad one, that kit is the shortcut. Brackets are available as a full Outlaw cage bracket and hardware kit or as individual left and right top-rail mounts. Running a Hawk open wing? You'll want the Open Outlaw wing rail sliders.
The wing-to-rail stack, and why holes tear out
Nine out of ten "my wing is junk" calls are really "my mounting holes are egged out." The stack matters and it goes in this order, top to bottom: bolt, fender washer, wing panel, then a threaded clip (U-nut) that snaps onto the rail.
The fender washer is the whole trick. A 1/4" x 1" fender washer spreads the clamp load across a full inch of aluminum instead of concentrating it on a half-inch bolt head. Skip it and thin sheet aluminum will dimple, then oval, then tear. Same story with the 5/16" rail bolts — snug is the goal, not stout. You're clamping soft aluminum, not torquing a cylinder head.
Want to lose some weight up high and make it look sharp while you're at it? Titanium wing rail bolts and black countersunk washer and bolt kits both live in the wing section.
Where you put it changes how the kart drives
Assuming your rules give you room to slide the wing fore and aft on the rails, small moves do real things:
- Wing forward — loads the front more, helps a kart that pushes off the corner, can make it feel darty on entry.
- Wing back — loads the rear, calms down a loose kart on exit, gives up a little front bite.
- Wing angle steeper — more downforce, more drag. Great on a heavy, tacky track; costs you straightaway speed on a slick one.
Move it a hole at a time and write it down. Wing changes stack on top of chassis changes, and if you move the wing and adjust your front end and toe in the same session you'll never know which one did it.
Repair or replace?
Straightforward rules of thumb from the shop:
Repair it if the panel is straight and you've got cracks starting at rivet holes or bolt holes. Drill the crack to stop it, back it with a doubler, re-rivet with exploding rivets, and go race.
Replace the panel if it's creased. A crease is a permanent hinge — it will crack there again, and again, on the same night.
Always replace a bent rail. This is the one people fight. A tweaked rail preloads the panel every single time you bolt the wing down, so you chase cracks all season and never find the cause. Rails are cheap compared to a wing kit and a wasted month.
What belongs in the trailer
The parts that end a night are almost always the four-dollar ones. Keep a small bin with exploding rivets, multi-grip rivets, threaded clips, fender washers, rail bolts and nylock nuts, plus a rivet gun and a drill bit that matches. If you run clamp-on Dzus brackets on your body panels, keep those buttons and springs in the same bin — it's all the same trackside repair.
Need help sorting it out?
Everything above lives in the Wing & Wing Components collection — complete kits, individual panels, rails, braces, brackets and every piece of hardware in between. Cage side of things is in Cages & Components, and the general fastener bins are under Hardware.
If you're not sure whether you need a panel, a rail, or the whole kit, take a couple pictures and call the shop. We've seen a lot of bent wings and we can usually tell you in about thirty seconds whether it's worth fixing.