K1 Speed

Address:	2500 Mc Hale Ct, Austin, TX 78758, USA
Phone:	+1 512-271-5475
Site:	k1speed.com
Rating:	4
Working:	12–10PM 12–10PM 12–10PM 12–10PM 11AM–12AM 10AM–12AM 10AM–10PM

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 6

Kim K

Race: The race was great! The cars go up to 40 MPH - super fast! I raced twice. The only thing I didnt like about the first race was the other racers. I wasin a group with a bunch of camo wearing "macho" dudes. They were bumping/being aggressive/not allowing others to pass even before we were up to speed and the race began. WTF? You do know this is not real life and just for fun, right? They were super irritating. but alas, you cant choose who you race with and the staff cant detect jerks before they get on the track. The second group I raced with was great! (except for the little kid who should have raced with the junior racers. He ran straight into the barriers and the race had to be paused). Staff was quick to help and all was well within a minute or two. Everyone else in this group was courteous and had a great time! Staff: Ill be honest, Im usually not too impressed by anyone working in a service-related job who is age 20 or below. Most of the employees Ive encountered here both times are young; however, everyone from the cashier to the guy waving the flag were all very friendly, professional, helpful and courteous! I would completely disagree with previous reviews regarding staff - every last one of the staff members were great. Wait: Weve been twice and had no problem with wait time. If having a wait will completely ruin your experience, just call ahead. Easy as that! Tips: Dont brake and press the gas at the same time - you will go nowhere. Dont be a jerk and bump people. Get there right when they open. Both times we were there at open and hardly had any wait.

Brian Tholen

Ive been going to K1 for a while now. Their track configuration has been changed, and it has an emphasis on high speed corners now. Its not quite as technical as the previous configuration, in my opinion, but it does result in quicker laptimes, and it probably helps to speed races up a bit to get more people on track and reduce waiting times. Concerning the driving, its pretty downright amazing. The karts have a gas and brake pedal, so nothing difficult. You can seriously drive the whole track without using the brake, just by scrubbing off speed while cornering, but I trail-brake a tad on some of the slower corners. The steering is unassisted and does a fantastic job of telling you how much grip is available. Each kart will drive differently from the one you drove in a previous race. This is guaranteed. Kart condition/tuning alone can result in as much as a seconds difference between your fastest and slowest laptime. Its also best to go Monday-Thursday, because the crowds can get big Friday-Sunday, and oftentimes youll find little kids and older people with about as much driving skill as an epileptic zebra. Seriously, it can be kind of scary at times because of the difference in speed on track, and it also limits how many times you get an open track with which to try for some unhindered hotlaps. Either way, its still incredibly fun. Fastest laptime so far is a 26.023. I look forward to reducing it!

Xavier Sidatt

The only place to race fast, nimble go-karts in Austin. Sure, they are quite popular and dont sucker punch you with short 6-8 lap races, so the wait to race can be extensive. My suggestion is to get in, pay for your races, and leave K1 until your time to race comes. Once you have a race under your belt for the day, you are the first to be called for the next race (assuming there are not 8+ people in the que as well... Most walk-ins will do 1 race and leave, freeing up the track for those who booked 2-3 races.) 14 lap races are great as youre on the track for 7-8 minutes+ each race, depending on amateur wipeouts and crashes bringing out the caution flag. The best part about K1 is that your car will go faster than the track will allow (you must slow down for tight turns, etc) so you can really push your car to get a fast time on the straight road. My fastest time is 30.8 seconds, which I felt was darn good, until I saw another review stating they got a 22.... how thats even possible, I am not quite sure, as there is no way I could shave 8 seconds from my time. $45 for 3 races... worth it.

Lee Looger

K1 Speed is a lot of fun. I cannot stress enough how much fun this place is if you are the average consumer. If you actually want to race then not so much. It seems thay cannot keep up with maintenance on carts or do not want to spend the money on it. Most have bent axles, this causes them to hop as you drive making them very unpredictable in turns. It feels like the track has waves in it. Some have tires that are completely shot: I actually think that I have had one with a good left front and an old right front. Some have new motors and some do not. What all of this leads to is very noncompetitive racing. If you get two drives, one great, one just ok. Put the so so driver in the car that just happens to have the new tires, motor, or axle. Put the great driver in one of the carts that is busted. Keep in mind they pick the carts for you. The slow guy will win every time. Its can be really frustrating. I am sure most people do not know any better. This place was amazing when they first opened. Now everything is beat up and not getting fixed. It kind of takes the fun out of it.

Michael Estrada

1. Was told to wait 2.5 hours, ended up waiting nearly 4 2. Problem 1 is caused by poor attention to maintenance/track management. At least one car completely broke down every race (or nearly every race), requiring the driver to get out and get an incomplete race. No refund, and no courtesy on the matter. 3. Once you finally get called out to the track, you realized they called you to line up and wait behind not one, but two races. In other words, you get called out back to the track to sit in the car for 30 minutes to watch 2 races from the seat. To do 3 races, we were in the building for 5 hours. Dont come here unless you have nothing else to do. Ive done go karting at several places around the US (outside Texas). This ranks the lowest. 2 stars because yes it was fun, and waits are normal in karting, but the huge issue was that karts would break down, then they would hand the kart that just broke down out to a new racer, and yeah, it broke down again. I understand having karts go down every few races, few meaning 1 in 10. Every race is unacceptable.

Jamie Fitch

I grabbed the groupon and made a date night out of it. There was a wait when we went and weve tried to go in groups (~6) but havent been able to get in due to the wait (4 hrs). They will only let you call ahead and reserve if the group is 9+. Thats frustrating and something that isnt likely to be resolved soon as they continue running groupons to get their name out. That said, once youre actually racing its a great experience. The cars are easy to handle and the helmets fit fine. The races are pretty long and the track is an F1 style course w/ numerous twists/turns. They also occasionally adjust the course to keep it from becoming stale if you go a few times/yr. They are REALLY against bumping, which is hard to avoid w/ a lot of cars on the track, but once you get used to the flow you can really go. They also give you a personalized report upon completion detailing splits, average speed, etc which is great for comparing w/ friends. In short, if you can get over the wait your experience will be great.