TeamSport Go Karting Nottingham — Local services in Gedling

I’ve given 2 stars as I’ve been twice before to Leicester and really enjoyed it but today experience at nottingham was no stars.

Firstly in the toilets of both men’s and women’s, no toilet paper or hand towels. No hand dryer. £7 for my sister and brother in law to buy gloves and balaclavas dispite gloves being free in the main racing area and the women were given a free balaclava/top to keep our hair back so not extra charges were needed for the women.

My sister had never done this racing before and I was saying how enjoyable it had been in the last and convinced her to take part. £39.96 each. We spent £239.76 in total for less that 30 mins on the track.

There was 13 people in the race. Too many in my option. The other racers were keen to be as ruthless as possible to race each other not caring who was in their way. Not responding to the Amber and red lights. I don’t see the point in the briefing when others get away not obeying the rules and bumping us constantly.

After the first 15 mins - (was more like 10 minutes with all the stopping because of the other group of boy racers who kept stopping everyone because of their crashes) we came off and all of our group of 6 weren’t enjoying the constant stopping and bumping. We spoke to the Marshall and they said they’d look out for it in the next half.

The next half was worse, I personally got bumped and was part of a 4 person crash because of the other groups reckless driving. The second time someone took me out I spoke again to the Marshall. They held up a sign that said ‘no bumping’ unbeknown to me my daughter was also constantly being bumped by the other team and my sister came off after the 4th lap in the second half because she’d had enough of the fowl play. Needless to say she didn’t enjoy it.

I got a car in my back at full speed when the amber light was showing. Eventually 2 of the other group got a black flag but then came back on with even more testosterone to prove they were a wannabe max verstappen. The second round lasted 12 minutes.

We weren’t ever asked by any member of the team if we enjoyed it so weren’t able to feed back in person. The track staff weren’t friendly and seemed just to be going through the motions of their job. £239.76 plus travel down the drain and all I came out with was a bad back from the collisions. I’m unsure why the focus is on the fastest lap when you’re barely able move on the track with so many people on it. I really think the company need to look at this and be stricter with bumping, people are choosing to spend their money wisely at the moment and I’m afraid we wouldn’t do it again unless it was a private track for our group only as you just don’t know how unhinged the other people you’re group might end up of the track with are. A shame as it was a treat for my husbands birthday, and before today I was due to book a corporate event here. There was no questions asking if it was a special occasion or any focus on having fun. A very mundane experience...

Ok experience.

When we arrived it took over half an hour of standing in the foyer to check in as there was tech problems with the computers but noone told any of us waiting. There was a large group Infront of us that managed to get sorted but then they couldn't check us or the groups behind us in. Just one member of staff on th computer and everyone else just wandering around. Really really try to push the drinks packages on you when you pay for the gloves and balaclavas which was off putting. There's a package which includes beer and then in the safety video it says you shouldn't be under the influence of alcohol which seems a bit contradictory.

Session was meant to be 20;30, arrived at 19:30 and started late. Paid for 3 15min sessions and didn't finish till 22:30.

The track is great and the staff on track are clearly very well trained and friendly and ensure they keep you safe. However, your lap experience is unfortunately completely dependent on those around you. Unfortunately the two large groups that were there seemed so intent on proving they were the next Lewis Hamilton they kept spinning off and crashing into each other which kept causing the sessions to get yellow flagged where you are meant to slow to walking pace and not overtake. In the first 15 mins we only managed 2 flying laps because of it. In the second session I got smashed into in a side swipe twice - both times the driver that did it promptly spun several corners later and caused a yellow flag. It was incredibly frustrating, I get people wanna race and they want to compete with their friends but losing control constantly meant that it's actually spoiling the session for everyone else. Twice people managed to spin on the ramps coming down (no idea how!). Even under yellow flag conditions i had them overtaking so clearly they either weren't paying attention or just couldn't control their karts. After the second session I spoke to our TeamSport session lead and said it was ridiculous and he agreed and said he was gonna get everyone back in the briefing room as they were "trying too hard". But it didn't happen. The final session we probably had the most racing but by then I was fed up and just wanted to leave, there was still dangerous and silly behaviour with the same guy getting "black flagged" (pulled over for a talk with the steward for dangerous driving) twice! There was another group that alternated with us for on and off track time and it was much smaller and they hardly ever got yellow or red flags so clearly I think your session enjoyment is out of your hands and reliant on other people. Unfortunately we got a bad group. Wish it has been handled different by the staff tbh. Maybe not let people drink between lap sessions too?! I see the potential in it but unfortunately won't be returning as it's an expensive gamble that other people aren't...

Absolutely shocking. Don't waste your money for the following reasons: Spending your money on two sessions of 15 minutes each will get you about 7 minutes of green racing time in total. Even then, you are lucky to get a full lap on green. Staff stop the race regularly and delay the amber light turning back to green even when the issue on track has been rectified. We were there for three hours to get the above 8 minutes of racing time today, so it takes up a full evening. Your 15 minutes starts when the first car comes out the pits. It takes a while to get everyone out, one race I watched took over 7 minutes to get everyone out before the race went to green from amber. So that last person out would have only got 8 mins of track time, and everyone would have got a max of 8 mins of racing, however... They call you in a few minutes from the end of the race. I asked at reception if this was normal and was told 1 to 1.5 minutes is the norm, but the race I watched they were all in the pits with 1 minutes and 7 seconds left. They stopped the race on a red light just to talk to one driver for nearly two minutes, why not just bring that driver in the pits for a word? Apparently the timing is done on sensors which are automatic, but this seems to fail because they are haphazard with regards to start times for different races. When I explained this to reception they said the times start when the first car comes out, but their camera footage would show otherwise. When I asked reception how timings would work they confirmed all the above, that the time starts when the first car comes out (even though other cars were stuck behind empty cars on the pit which takes up more time, it's as if they don't want you to get much time racing), and that you come in 1 to 1.5 mins from the end. To fix the problem of having hardly any time on track I was then told to sign up and pay for an annual membership, which would get me 20% off karting and I could go on a Monday night for members which would be better drivers. Great solution TeamSport, I would love to give you more money now. I was told this was how all go karting tracks work, however, we have been to other tracks and some charge on a lap basis. You don't get stopped a fraction as much as at TeamSport.

Note, I was not actually on track, I was there for the full three hours watching from the balcony whilst friends were on track, I thought it was so shocking I started recording times and noting start and stop times. In summary: Do something else, it is hardly worth the price for...