TeamSport Go Karting Southampton — Attraction in Eastleigh

I have been a TeamSport member for over 10 years now and been to over 20 tracks but this new Southampton venue has really left me disappointed. I will not be returning along with the same opinions of my friends who also attended sat night.

First of all the new venue on a visual side looks good and much better than priviously as the old layout was very dated. The golf and arcades were a nice tough.

Sadly the actual karting experience let us down. As a group, we had so many different issues it was just not really acceptable, especially being brand new karts.

My first kart had insane amount of lag with the acceleration. Nothing happened for the first second of pressing the pedal and was costing me so much time. Unsure if this was normal with electric karts as not driven them in years since Farnborough was converted. I went along for the first 15min session and told the Marshall about it after. He then proceeded to put that kart back out for someone else. 3 of my friends also reported the same issue.

2nd kart was perfect with no issues. I was instantly 1.7 seconds a lap quicker and got the fastest time of the session which was nice but I know it was mainly down to the kart.

3rd kart was kind of a mixture of the first 2 but also struggled with turning and making some of the corners.

We were a group of of 7 and like any karters, discussed things in between sessions. It seemed almost every kart had some kind of issue with them.

Boost buttons were just not very clear with when it's ready to use... Some lights on the buttons worked.. Some didn't.

My brothers kart ran out of battery half way through the 2nd session. He coasted into the pits, we're a Marshall pushed him further in. Only to say just park up and watch the rest from the side. Didn't even say sorry or offer another kart. The minimum you would expect to go karting is a kart that can actualy last 15 min - the whole session and not half of it.

3 black flags were waved at my friend's in the course of our 15 min sessions. Each one of them didn't do a thing wrong and the marshals called the wrong person in. I just happened to see it unfold I front of me.

The electric karts just seem so poor to drive compared to petrol. I know its the way TeamSport are going but it's just not fun anymore. All you can hear is very loud tyre squeel and the karts bottoming out due to the extra weight it seems. None of us really enjoyed it which is a real shame as this is our 2nd local track and will not be returning mainly due to the fact that it's now electric.

Conclusion - We have been to Southampton many times in the past for memebrs events and normal sessions but I don't think we will be returning. Far too many issues for brand new karts and the marshals just weren't very good at managing it. So many people overtaking on yellows without being penalised. None of us are super fast karters, just average but after all the issues, we just came away unhappy. The new track layout was okay with a good upstairs section, although a little similar to other tracks. Just very hard to overtake with electric and on this track layout. Luckily a few of us raced at Daytona Sandown park the following day and had a much better time with the old faithful petrol karts. We shall be sticking with the remaining petrol karts at TeamSport for as long...

Track 15/35. I managed to visit this one the night before visiting Goodwood Revival 2021.

I wasn't expecting a lot from Eastleigh, it has the shortest track I've seen by TeamSport at 375m and upon arrival I couldn't believe how small the reception area was, it's all open and next to the track. I think the pit lane is a bit dangerous at this location for 2 reasons: When entering the karts there's no walkway between the karts, you're already wearing your helmet so tripping or catching your ankle would be likely. Also the pit lane sticks out into the track after coming down the bridge, if someone were to spin here or get bumped out of position they could quite easily end up full speed into the end of the pit lane divider.

What a pleasant surprise the track was though. The layout really works here, it is quite a slippy track that sees a lot of people spinning out but once you're used to it it's bags of fun and works really well.

Something that has become all too apparent over my many visits to TeamSport are the minor differences between karts and that's why I've put the kart numbers in the video (on YouTube) this time. If you want a fast lap right now kart 3 is the one to have, I got karts 15, 4 and 10 but kart 3 was consistently faster in both sessions. I was the fastest in Session 1 and 2 but in Session 3 when the person who placed 3rd in both previous sessions got kart 3 he went from 25.665 down to 24.890 and the person using kart 3 in the sessions between us was getting half a second a lap quicker than everyone else, coincidence? Possibly, but I doubt it.

My fastest lap overall was 25.144s in session 2 which is rank 711 on the leaderboards as of 21/09/21

These shorter tracks really work well on the 342 sessions because you can easily get 30 laps per 15 minutes which means you have more chance to put in a great lap time. £26.25 for around 45 minutes karting providing you have the elite membership. If you enjoy karting and plan to visit more than 3 times in the year it's well worth it because you'll get your money back from the discounts.

I wish I were able to book another session and try to get kart 3 which no doubt would've got me below 25 seconds a lap but unfortunately it's a 4.5 hour drive!

I'm touring all the TeamSport locations, please check out my Karting...

Had to register other children's names [for stats board] fine. Then being asked to complete other parent's children's dates of births addresses and emails. None of this complies with GDPR, nor would the other parent's be happy to receive unsolicited marketing.

Upon arrival, chaotic registration. Had to register children's details, x4, still being asked to provide personal information, contrary to GDPR. Provided our own details as their was no option to decline these details.

At the counter, informed we had to purchase hoodies, adding extra expense which we weren't expecting; should have been included in booking fee.

Not accepting cash [legal currency] another hindrance. Interesting the games area accepted cash.

Expected the children to be racing as a separate group, so they could enjoy racing together.

Too many stop starts, eating into allocated time slot.

Surprised to see adults competing with non teenage children! Adults were aggressive in their driving, colliding with children in our group, barging them out of the way. This was totally unacceptable also, not health and safety compliant.

Track Staff ignored this bullying and dangerous behaviour.

Spoke to my children after racing; they stated adults ignored go slow/do not over take, warning lights. Several collisions adults caused, spun children's go karts- due to excessive force. My son has bruises, now complains his leg hurts when walking, due to aggressive driving by adults on track.

Two of his friends did not take part complaining about the heat, after putting on layers of a jumpsuit, stab vest, hoodie and crash helmet. Said steering karts was stiff and hard work.

Not offered a credit or refund.

Expected an exciting/enjoyable experience, instead, charged more money at the venue, unhappy with adult racers ruining children's enjoyment and, my Son's birthday treat.

Felt cheated out of almost £200 for a ruined family event,

Would not recommend this experience to other's, to protect their children from harm

N.B Have been to other go cart tracks where the atmosphere is not aggressive or...