a bit late with my reply, but regarding looking at alternative methods of control, there is an American on Youtube with a road-legal cyclekart and he has two levers (one either side of his body like tank controls) that run forward to to the axle or steering bellcranks (unfortunately thats hidden in the body). Anyhow, the brakes are like bike brakes on the levers and I think he had a twist grip throttle. It looked wrong but seemed to work very well.
