TeamSport Go Karting Cardiff — Attraction in Wales

The single worst karting experience I've ever had. Waiting around for 35 minutes in the induction room until one of my party notified a member of staff, who then rushed in and appopogised for the delay and then started the video playing. Yet more waiting around to go on the track. Once on the track the incompetent 'marshal' couldn't manage to organise the groups going on, resulting in everyone driving the wrong kart so that timings were unfathomable. On the track, we had been lumped in with a younger group who could not turn a corner without spinning their karts, resulting in the majority of our time being spent driving at walking speed. Finally, during the second session, the same incompetent jobsworth, high on a power trip, decided that 3 of us (2 from my party, and 1 from the children's party), were driving so recklessly that we needed to be pulled off the track and sent in. Considering the entire second session up to this point was 5-7 minutes of driving on Amber, all 3 of us were highly confused as to what exactly we had done wrong. The 'marshal' was extremely dismissive and rude, giving us only that 'you overtook going up the ramp'. I've never been spoken to in such a disrespectful, dismissive, and rude way in my life, and was taken aback by the experience. Regarding the alleged 'incident': Firstly, I did not overtake up the ramp, secondly, the instructional video says that you must go on thr power to ensure that you get up the ramp on all light states, and thirdly, the instructional video says that if you are found to be doing something wrong, the marshals will escort you to the pits, take a moment to explain what you did wrong, and send you back in with the knowledge (this was not offered to any of us). Telling the front staff about the incident, the 'marshal' was there, provided me with dirty looks, talked over me while I tried to explain, changed his reason for pulling us off (to overtaking on a different part of the track), told me (10-15 years his senior) that I should show him respect when talking to him, and continued to answer back and escalate the situation seeing that I was already irrate. They then went into a different room to 'review the cctv' and low and behold, found that I did do whatever story they were deciding to go with from the 'marshals' multiple stories. Though they looked very shifty and were extremely vague explaining this to me saying 'many people were overtaking'. To be fair, the front staff and bar staff were excellent, warm and welcoming, and tried to defuse the situation when I came to them, talking to me in a respectful and normal manner that one would talk to another human being. I had no issues with the other marshals and followed their instruction. I'm saddened that the incompetent 'marshal' feels that he can talk to anyone that way, let alone a customer who frequents this facility. What made this worse was that it was my stag do, of which, I only get one in my life (all going well), and this soured my experience and will remain with me for the remainder of my life. I've been to teamsport cardiff 5 or 6 times in the last couple of years, with groups of 7-10 people (and once with just my brother) and have had an impeccable experience every other time. Cardiff isn't my local track, however I go for the facilities and the customer experience. I feel that I am unable to return due to this aweful experience and am highly disappointed by a service that is close to my heart due to the memories that I have there. I now feel robbed of my money and my memories are now tainted by...

This review is in two parts, please read until the end.

I have used Team Sport a number of times before in their old location, but this review is purely based on my last experience on the new track and in the new premises.

Firstly, there is a free on site car park, but it's not very big so you may find yourself out in the industrial estate at busy times.

The process is the same as before, register your details if you're new, grab your overalls and have a safety brief before hitting the track.

The overalls this time we're pretty shoddy, with none but the tiniest bit of velcro working and the track marshalls constantly telling me to do it up, which was quite annoying. I took my own helmet and gloves so I can't comment on those, but no-one elsenin my group seemed to have a problem with them. Note: you need to wear a balaclava under your helmet if you're using theirs, which are available for purchase on the desk.

The new track configuration is pretty cool. Split over two floors, wide enough to race side by side, and plenty of twists and turns to get your blood pumping. The karts are ok. Out of three sessions, only one of them was 'the dog' which could have benefited from a little TLC, but the other two were good to go.

The actual race was a bit disappointing though. If you've never been before, they use a traffic light system where green is race, yellowish slow to walking pace and no overtaking, and red is stop, but there was one particular karter not from our group, who took no notice. Under the warning of yellow flashing lights, he continued to race around and has one of our members black flagged (pulled out of the race for a number of laps) twice, for banging into her and running her of track, but frustratingly, never got pulled himself. I brought this up with the manager who insisted that the track was being marshalled properly, but couldn't explain why this individual was allowed to continue racing dangerously, or, why one of our members was left for nearly two laps pointing the wrong way with no-one helping.

Unfortunately, the break didn't go well either. During both break sessions (around 10 mins each) there was no-one serving drinks or snacks and both times I had to go and find someone, which left no time for a rest and meant gulping down the drinks to get back out again (it gets quite hot).

All in all, this experience was ok, but would've been much better had it been properly marshalled. It's not cheap to take a party, and for them miss half their laps due to someone else is pretty poor. I would still go back though, as they might just have been having a bad day, and I didn't have this many problems in the old venue.

UPDATE (28/09): Went again today for a 10 year olds party with most of them being their first time karting, and Team Sport were absolutely brilliant. They were really patient with the kids and had food ready for when the kids finished and we had none of the previous issues mention above. The staff were really helpful even though they were being pulled in all directions with the amount of people there, and from today's experience, I would definitely go again.

Special big thanks to Iestyn (member of staff) who oversaw our visit, you made...

A few weeks ago, i booked a karting session for 4 on the 23rd of December. i have been to teamsport cardiff once before in late november, and another time at teamsport bristol. One of my friends in our group of 4 had also been to teamsport cardiff before. So naturally, i went in there expecting no problems.

We had booked a session at 11am. The track for that session was quite full. After settling down in the karts just before getting ready to move off, the marshalls suddenly asked 3 people from the session to get out of their karts: Me, one of my groupmates, and a guy from another group. They told us that the kart was too big for us and that our legs were fully extended while we pressed on the brakes, and so couldn’t kart.

For context i am 155cm tall, or 5’1. My friend is 5’2.

As you can imagine, i was shocked because i didn’t expect any such problems having been karting at teamsport before; twice even. I requested the marshall to give me another go at sizing myself up for the kart, and once again he said that i was ineligible. Personally, i didn’t feel that there was any problems and felt that my legs were slightly bent when i was in the kart. Although of course from a safety point of view, thats not for me to say. However, this was when my impression of teamsport started to turn for me.

I first asked them why i couldn’t kart even though i have been here before, and they said that i was not supposed to have been allowed to kart in the first place and that the marshalls made a mistake. How likely is it for 2 seperate marshalls to have let me go karting? One in cardiff and one in bristol?? Ridiculous! So obviously i didn’t buy that reason. But of course if its for the sake of safety, then what choice do i have but to swallow that fact, whether it be true or not.

When i asked for a refund, the counter staff gave me 2 options: to credit it into my teamsport account have it credited into my bank account which would take 5-7 working days. I was confused by this because i didn’t expect them to refund me by credits, since they had told me that I’m ineligible to kart in the first place. After further clarification, i realised that the first option meant that they would give me my refund via credits. How shameless!! First you tell me that I’m actually ineligible to kart, next you try to refund me via credits!! Credits that i can only use to kart, which as you said, i can’t! Thats just gobbling my money up and giving me a false refund then!

Don’t worry i managed to get my refund back by obviously choosing the 2nd option. And yes, although they did give me an option to have it refunded directly into my bank account, I feel cheated by the fact that they even have the audacity to give me an option to have my refund done through teamsport credits.

Teamsport is one of if not the biggest indoor karting company in the UK. To say that teamsport has ruined karting for me is an understatement. I will never ever return to Teamsport Cardiff (or any other teamsport...