TeamSport Go Karting Manchester Victoria — Attraction in Manchester

Don’t Bother. I took my sons to Manchester as it was recommended by one of the staff at TeamSport Preston which is absolutely brilliantly run, we go to Preston a lot as we are members and also Warrington which again is brilliantly run and a great experience.

It’s a real shame the same cannot be said for Manchester Victoria!

I read a few reviews the night before we were due to come and they were mixed, I just put the bad ones down to fussy people who likely complain about everything, as we have never had a bad experience with TeamSport, yes you are not always on the track at the stated time and yes it can be frustrating if you are in a group where people keep spinning off and you barely get a good lap in but that’s the luck of the draw. At the other two venues we go to the staff are professional, patient and helpful, the facilities, helmets and suits are clean and maintained, and you go away satisfied that you have got your money’s worth given Karting is expensive.

Honestly, there was so much wrong at Manchester that I dont know where to start. I dont write reviews but if this helps someone taking their family save £100+ of their hard earned money and go to a decent track then good!

Changing room was dirty and stunk, cleaning stuff all on the benches but obviously not used.

Despite the safety video and explaining of flags, no one in our group was black flagged despite crashing every 2seconds, flying round at full speed on a yellow and not stopping on reds. You can’t choose who is in your session but the fact everything just went unchecked completely spoiled the race experience as the same things just kept constantly happening again and again. I’m not asking for people to be kicked out, but as stated at the safety briefing and as experienced at the other tracks, people are asked to pit and given advice and encouragement as to not make the same mistakes. Not here!

When pitting at the end of the session it was an absolute shambles, carts everywhere, no direction given there were about 12 kids in the session, how are they supposed to know where to go? And staff losing their patience (it was the first session of the day so god help the rest of the days customers)

There are not enough helmets! My kids had to give their helmets up after the session for the other group, and then the staff had to go scrounging round before our second session to get enough helmets back for ours. On the helmets they got in return, the visors were broke and would only stay shut meaning they steamed up (again on the safety video, it directly states you should have your visor slightly open so it doesn’t steam up) absolute joke, and given one of my sons wears glasses it made it doubly bad and completely spoiled it.

At one point during the helmet shortage, one of the staff said to the other, ‘can they not just use mediums?’ Mediums are adult helmets. Fortunately she said no, but the fact that was even considered by any member of staff really fills you with confidence as a parent.

Lastly, and I can’t say this for all the staff. The guy on reception was nice, the guy doing the safety briefing was also as well as the bar staff. But the track staff, I don’t want to tar them all with the same brush but let’s just say they really are not of the standard you would want when giving people what they think is going to be a memorable and brilliant experience. You are paying a lot of money for a great experience and these guys are giving you a Lidl checkout service (no disrespect to Lidl, but at least you know your shopping is just getting thrown through as quick as possible)

One guy in particular, freaking out at the kids to ‘give him his personal space!’ When the helmet debacle was going on, telling me to ‘get in my cart’ when wanted to make sure my sons got adequate helmets and generally being rude and stressing at kids! (First session of the day!) Absolute joke!

Lastly, I want to thank the guy at Preston for recommending Manchester Victoria! Yes the track is fun but being a TeamSport employee obviously gives you a much...

We, family of 5 (4 male adults, 1 female), have raced on TeamSport before (e.g. Trafford) and this was our first try with ekarting. Registration, Reception, Changing room and Briefing were all positive - a friendly and organized receptionist and there were clear instruction on briefing. We were directed to bar, yellow band group, to wait. No tannoy was announced (as in other venues) and a member of staff approached us to clarify whether we were yellow group (we confirmed we were yellow and staff member walked away). Approximately 7 minutes after our scheduled start time (15:40) we approached to enquire and were told to rush to start our session. When we checked the monitor and the computer screen in the office, some of our allocated car numbers had been taken by another group. Staff did not resolve this and we tried to figure out our allocated kart numbers using the monitor and computer screen (in the office) to figure out allocated numbers as staff were not helping us. We then tried to find our allocated cars in the pit, which were not available or ready. We were reallocated cars in a rush, some appeared to still be charging. We were then told to jump into the nearest car and join the race. The loss of track time was a big disappointment and staff gave us the impression of disorganized chaos and poor communication. Further, the staff appeared frustrated and blamed us for not attending on time (despite not being called at any point and following staff direction to wait in the bar area). By way of information, we waited in a central area beside the bar counter - so obviously in sight.

Unfortunately, our experience was dampened further as the other group of racers (8 adult male racers) who were increasingly aggressive in both their driving and manner over Session 1 and Session 2). Two key behaviours of concern from this racing group were passing on Yellow - for up to 3 cars each time on yellow - when this was highlighted as unfair one of the eldest in the group held up his hands in resignation and another younger member became verbally hostile and threatening. The second issue of concern was reckless tapping by drivers of karts in front when cornering - cause people to spin out into barriers. This was in addition to racers tapping the rear of the karts on the straight lines. The overall frustration here was that the marshals did not manage the breach of rules and our group were the one having to approach drivers on the yellow to highlight the rules. This lack of authority and management tipped the experience into negative and customers should not be expected or left to manage both aggressive driving and threatening behaviours. As a father of the one female on the track, I had to become 'wingman' to her towards the end of Session 2, the last 2-3 laps, to limit the impact on her of the disregard by the other racing group. Again, authority, awareness and communication by the marshals was poor.

My group members also had complaints about the kart conditions (distorted wheel alignment, power, etc.) although we are aware that new cars are due this week on 21/11/24 - I did not have any complaints myself although I'm mindful that I am not engineers like the rest of the group. There was anxiety by one racer in our group that they would not have the correct race times due to car switches - when asked about the marshal's response seemed dismissive 'Don't worry about it, it will get sorted". Signage to, entrance and exit was poor. Data protection (especially given threatening behaviour of other racers) is a concern - e.g. lap reports on monitors onsite and via email. Glove availability and helmet cleaning was poor. Overall, a horrible experience and a stark contrast to other TeamSport tracks. There is no way our family can recommend the Victoria experience to anyone. It was hard to find positives - driving ekarts on cement track was a new challenge and interesting. We do though prefer the sensory experience of petrol engines, so we would not be attending Victoria again for that...

I visited on 18/01/25.

Firstly, the entrance is not at all signposted which it should be, as to find this you need to navigate through a carpark and we needed to ask attendants for directions. Also, when booking, it isn't clear that balaclavas and gloves need to be brought with you unless you want to purchase these for around £6. But, after purchasing we were later shown a big bin of gloves we can borrow so it became clear you don't need to purchase gloves at all and this is just a cash grab.

Eli on Reception was very welcoming, friendly, and helpful, as was the lady who took our safety briefing although she spoke a little fast. However, most of the other staff's conduct, and a combination of Health and Safety, and upkeep and cleaning issues attributed to Management, led to a horrible birthday experience.

The lady who fitted our helmets didn't acknowledge us upon arrival, had a very offstandish demeanour, and created several poor impressions as follows. She did not have up the safety belt barrier upon arrival, and when one of our party entered the pit after being instructed to by the screen, the woman rudely faulted our party and said that we were not allowed there and that that wasn't the pit, which it obviously was; this also shows poor planning and safety measures. Further, in the briefing video, it was instructed that the helmet face shield should be very partially opened for preventing fogging, however my helmet was not able to do this - only after raising the problem did she explain that this is because I was given a different helmet type and I should pull my balaclava down to fix the fogging instead. But, this does not fix any fogging and I had to have my face shield half open which put me at risk as this didn't properly protect my eyes and lower face.

There was another lady with tied black hair and black converse who, while we were in the pits, instructed one of my party to go, and then told her off for going, because she had actually wanted her to pull up to the red line but hadn't even said this. This is a health and safety concern for people to potentially be moving forward onto the course when they shouldn't. This same woman also thought an appropriate way to get the attention of my mother is to shout "Oi Oi Oi" - it is not.

Further, during my racing, I was pulled into the pit to be corrected for using both pedals at the same time- but I could not have done this as I take my foot completely off of the pedal when I'm not using it so use one foot at a time. This erroneous correction took time away from my experience which I was not pleased with.

The staff in the racing room should also all be given speakerphones, as it's extemely difficult to hear with the helmets on.

There are a variety of upkeep and cleanliness issues as follows. The racing suits are so old that the velcro has worn away so they don't close properly or in many cases at all; many also had holes in them. This puts us at risk as we won't be protected in case of an accident. They were also visibly unclean with caked on dirt and hadn't been washed in a very very long time, or ever. Excluding the changing room and safety briefing room, all areas of the site are filthy with unknown grime and thick layers of dust- this includes the bathroom, which also had very bad odour and old urine on the floor, and the restaurant which obviosuly doesn't make eating there feel reassuring or appealing.

I overall would not recommend the company and branch and none of my party will be returning. I have emailed customer service and hope to hear...