There is a particular thrill in the first corner of a kart race, when the wheel is heavier than you expected and the back of the car ahead is suddenly very close. You need no licence and no experience to feel it, which is exactly why karting works for a birthday, a stag or hen do, or a wet Saturday when the children are bouncing off the walls. The happy news for Portsmouth is that a proper circuit sits just across the harbour.
You might also like
The one genuine karting venue on the city’s doorstep is TeamSport in Gosport, a short hop over the water. Past that, a couple of larger tracks reward the drive if you want open-air racing or a longer day of it. Here is how to choose, with the ages, the speeds and what actually happens once you pull the helmet on.
TeamSport Go Karting, Gosport
Out on Fareham Road in Gosport, TeamSport runs the closest real track to Portsmouth, roughly half an hour by road around the top of the harbour, or a Gosport ferry crossing and a short onward trip. It is an indoor, fully electric circuit, so there are no fumes, no rain to call off play and a quieter kart that still pulls hard out of the bends.
The layout runs to 450 metres over several levels, with ten corners, a bridge section and just enough straight to let the quick karts reach about 45 miles per hour. Younger drivers race in junior karts held to 25 miles per hour. Reviewers keep mentioning the large spectator gallery, the free parking and marshals who know what they are doing, several praising staff who talked a nervous first-timer back onto the grid.
That warmth comes through again and again in the write-ups, like this one from a parent.
Special kudos to the instructor for the one-to-one coaching in the pit lane, which gave our nervous racer the confidence to join his friends out on track.
It is the kind of detail that turns a birthday wobble into the best part of the day.
Who can race, and what it costs
Drivers can get going from eight years old, provided they meet a minimum inside-leg measurement of around 25 inches for the junior karts, while the full-power adult karts generally want you to be 13 or older. Everyone gets a safety briefing, a race suit, a helmet and a fresh balaclava before they go out. Prices shift with the day, the time and the format, but as a rough steer a single race experience tends to sit somewhere around £25 to £35 a person, with the longer Grand Prix sessions costing more; booking online ahead and using the discount code on the venue’s own site usually trims about 10 per cent.
The sessions are built around how much track time you are after:
- Rookie Race, a relaxed two-part taster where families race together, best for first-timers and younger children;
- Ultimate Race, two timed stints on the main track with a pit-lane start and the fastest lap taking the honours;
- Grand Prix, the full works with a qualifying session, a grid start and a podium at the end;
- parties and group events, from children’s birthdays through to stag and hen do’s and corporate away-days.
Racing further afield
If you would sooner race in the open air, Thruxton Kart Centre near Andover is the nearest outdoor option, about an hour away towards Salisbury and set beside the well-known motorsport circuit. It is a genuine outdoor layout and a natural step up once indoor karting has its hooks in you.
On the western side, TeamSport Southampton at Eastleigh is another indoor track cut from the same cloth as Gosport, useful if you are already heading that way. For much smaller children, the gentle go-karts at Paulton’s Park are more of a first taste than a race, but they do the job of getting a nervous five-year-old behind a wheel.
Getting there and a few tips
By car the track is signposted off the A32 as you come into Gosport, with free parking on site; without a car, the Gosport ferry from the Hard drops you a short bus or taxi ride away.
A little planning keeps the day smooth:
- Book online ahead, especially for weekends and school holidays, and look for the discount code on the venue’s site;
- wear trainers or flat shoes and clothes you do not mind getting warm, since the race suit goes over the top;
- turn up about fifteen minutes early for the briefing, or you risk losing track time;
- tie long hair back, and check the junior inside-leg measurement before you travel with younger children.
Karting is one of the rare days out that lands just as well for an eight-year-old’s party as for a group of grown-ups who have not raced since childhood. If the weather closes in and you still fancy something competitive under a roof, our guide to ten-pin bowling in Portsmouth and the city’s crazy golf courses offer two more ways to settle who is quickest, or at least who is luckiest.
