2 tracks in Berkshire run birthday parties events. The single thing that decides whether this works is age and height, and it catches people out constantly.
Maidenhead, Berkshire
Absolutely Karting Maidenhead is an indoor centre at The Arena on Stafferton Way, close to Maidenhead town centre. Its circuit is built over two levels: adults can drive the lower section alone or the full double-level layout, while younger drivers use the top track.
Reading, Berkshire
TeamSport Reading is an indoor electric karting venue on Cradock Road in south Reading. It has two circuits: a 450 m multi-level main track with ten corners and a 250 m starter track, also on more than one level, intended for families and novices.
Price not published
The thing that catches groups out. Below the minimum you either pay for absent drivers or book an open session instead.
Burgess Hill, West Sussex
AR Kartz is an indoor electric karting centre on the Panattoni Park business estate at Goddards Green, on the western edge of Burgess Hill. The track is 350 metres long with 15 corners.
Price not published
Sittingbourne, Kent
BattleKart Sittingbourne is an indoor venue at Hooks Hole Farm on Chestnut Street, Borden, on the western edge of Sittingbourne. It combines electric karting with video-game style play: tracks and targets are projected onto the floor of a darkened hall.
Sittingbourne, Kent
An 1,100-metre floodlit asphalt circuit on a twelve-acre site behind the Eurolink Industrial Estate at Sittingbourne. It was designed and built by Gerry Lilley on what had been wasteland, opened in 1997, and is now run by his daughter: a genuinely family-run circuit rather than a chain venue.
Price not published
Albourne, West Sussex
Brighton Karting is an 800-metre outdoor tarmac circuit on London Road at Albourne, near Hassocks in Mid Sussex, about ten miles north of Brighton. The track is 7 metres wide and floodlit.
Always check both. The gap between a 1.20m and a 1.40m minimum is the difference between an eight-year-old driving and watching.
Purpose-built junior karts fit smaller drivers properly. Some tracks also fit remote speed limiters so staff can build a nervous child up gradually.
Children mixed in with adults have a worse time. Ask whether junior sessions run separately.
Food, a private room, a podium and a trophy make it a party. Without them it is a driving session with cake in the car.