K1 Speed

Had an awesome time with a group of buddies at k1. I used my friends to mop the track and everyone enjoyed the beating. All the employees were nice and friendly. They make your slower friends move to the side so you can get the times you’re aiming for. I’ll be back and I only wish they had a location closer to the downtown area.

Like the lay out of the Buffalo Grove location better, but the Buffalo Grove location is a joke. I will always pick this location to go to over that one. This location has 2 tracks as well but it seems both tracks here had a lot of twists and turns. Still fun. There wasn’t much of a wait for a Sunday night either so we got right in. They even put us in a race alone. Staff is friendly. The front desk recognized us and helped us same with the guys on track.

this place is awesome, we only had time to race once, and at the price, that’s enough. 5 of us spent over 125 dollars for 15 minutes of super fast racing. Wish there was some better package offers for kids!

This is the first 1 star review I have written. I would give them zero stars if I could. I have been waiting three hours now to race. I don’t understand why people that came in and paid after me are able to race before me. Now I understand weekends tend to be busier but this is unacceptable. This is my first and last time here. I drove from the city to check this place out, what a waste of gas and time.

My colleagues & I did a Grand Prix package for our «fun activity» the night before our yearly review meeting. There were 9 for karting and we booked the cybersport for an hour as well. I was surprised at how much better the service is now that it is owned by K-​1 (we’ve karted before when it was Chicago Indoor). No confusion or questions, we were given clear instructions on where to go, when to go, and what to do. There were some problems with the karts during cybersport, but we were compensated with extra time without even having to ask. It was great, and I’m sure we’ll be going back.

My fiancé and I have been here a few times. Last time we were there there wasn’t whirly ball and all the jazz going on.
We came on a Sunday with a group to celebrate my fiancé’s birthday. We presented two very expired Groupons that we thought we could use the promotional value towards the bill. We were told we couldn’t. I kindly pointed out the sentence on the physical Groupon that says the value NEVER expires– still told no. Okay, we paid and raced and had a good day.
I work with costumer service so I understand things happen, people just aren’t trained and respond with what they think is right. A few days later I sent an email about the situation explaining that we bought the groupons will full intent of using them promptly, but deaths in the family slowed down our lives.
That same day Jason called me directly, explained what happened and what SHOULD have happened. Apologized. Gave us the groupon deal to use toward our next visit.
We had a great time. Sure the wait can be long… but the facility is immaculate. The karts are maintained. Equipment is clean. Yes the prices are a little higher than some other places, but you leave without your hair smelling like gasoline and fumes.
While watching other races I saw some people spin out and block the track… the guys are quick on their feet to slow down the race and get people organized to continue. I’ve been to other places where spinning out can be terrifying because the other karts AREN’T slowing down and plow right in to you. So if you’re driving like a jerk don’t be surprised if you get some attitude.
Conclusion: This place is great for races. And costumer service is top notch.
¹⁰⁄₁₀ would burn some rubber here again.

Call ahead or come late at night. The wait can be pretty long during peak hours. Staff is friendly. Karts have a pretty large variance. Some work better than others. Make sure to point out problems to the staff so they can address them. Just frustrating to not have consistency. Make sure to pay attention to the briefing and to the flags while on course. Move aside for faster drivers and be aware of your surroundings. It can be pricey. But the facility is clean and organized. The electric karts are clean, torque, and quick. The bar and food here are decent. It’s a fun place to hang out. There are comfy couches to sit around. There are pool tables. They even have whirly ball!

Rude employees, this happens every time I go there. I honestly feel that they don’t want people’s business.

At this place I crashed a few times and the guy holding the flags came to reset the track and yelled at me multiple times. I was a new driver so obviously I would crash. The employee was rude. Total waste of money. The place is over priced and terrible. It was like $ 50 to do the race. Overpriced. I’m never gonna do to this place again. If I could do negative stars I would. Never come here only come here if you know how to drive a go cart without crashing. If you want to see how rude they are go watch people crash and they’ll yell. When I crashed he said stop your gonna dent the sides. The sides were plastic. If it did dent it’s no big deal. How is it gonna effect someone?

Just know that this place is extremely expensive. Most go-​karting places you can do a foursome for around $ 30. We did a three some for $ 80.
Once we got on the track it was alright, the go-​karts are fast and all, but boy did our time go fast for $ 80.

My friends love this place, and the facilities are really too knotch. The crowd is very diverse and we have seen wedding parties, groups of highschoolers, and the occasional office group here.
Everybody likes driving fast. I will warn you though, that if your group isn’t big enough, they will match you with others. This isn’t bad, but man are some people bad at driving. They always try to be safe, but that often results in having to slow everybody down to deal with new drivers.
Also, there is a it of waiting around while your group sorts through the queu. There is also an arcade and party room, and I think K1 is optimized for very large events.

It was my girlfriend and I anniversary so we decided to have some fun. We had a great time, the cars are fast and it’s a great experience for a group outing. I suggest get their as early as possible cause it’s a nice wait. You get a helmet and head scarf, I was hoping the whole race car suit but that’s wishful thinking lol. I used a Groupon:-$ 48 comes with two races for two people and two licenses. I saved about $ 30 – 40; good idea

This was a great, fun, family outing! I have older kids now and it’s challenging to find something we can all do together without hearing them crab about it. We will return here in the future.
We went in the afternoon so we didn’t have to wait too long. They helped us out right away, explained the money part to us and helped us register. Then we had an orientation about what to watch for (the flags) and operating the vehicle.
Next came the helmets and we had to put that sock thing on our faces first. We all got a really good laugh out of that. We all (6 of us) got to race together the first time which was fun, although I got the blue flag (you’re too slow, hang on the right) a little too much.
I sat out of the next race and there were a few non-​family members with my kids. One was a total asshole and rammed 2 of my kids and the other 2 people were even slower than me!
You just never know who you are going to have to deal with, but an asshole on a race track? Really?

Came here for the first time with a group of my friends and I must say that the experience is absolutely worth it. The ladies at the front desk were absolutely accommodating and took the time to explain how things worked and what I was actually paying for. They answered my questions with knowledge and patience and customer service like that nowadays is hard to find.
The gentleman that took us through safety briefing was knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time.
The place was just friendly overall and although some might argue that it is a bit pricey for go-​karts, the service and cleanliness of the place was more than worth the value.
My friends and I are already planning our next trip.

Never been here before till the other day when a few of us went. Customer service from the front desk to the guys on the track were great. The Go Karts themselves were in great shape and were pretty quick. Will definitely be coming back

Came here for a bachelor party, had a great time. The instruction was great, girl didn’t mind a bunch of 40 years olds were here to screw off. Wait wasn’t to bad especially since we had a few late arrivals.
Racing was fun, it was my first time. I am the idiot who hit the gas and the brake at the same time, and caused my car to stall. After the first race I got a better handle on the controls and steering wheel. Second race was a lot of fun, someone got flagged for something a few times. I got flagged for not breaking on a turn… whatever.
Third race was great, I got bumped and fell behind. everyone was laughing including me. the rest of the race I was trying to catch up and I got flagged to slow down on turns or something, I didn’t care.
Cant drink when you have a wristband on. I wanted to keep the mask but they wouldn’t let me :(
Lot of fun especially once I got used to the steering and the gas/​brake situation. I would definitely go back.

My cousin’s and I came here for our monthly family outting and had a gang of fun. Its a very big place, they have games, pool, whirlyball and of course, racing and a bar. Once you register and pay, you get a wristband and you wait for them to call your party to go race, BUT you cannot drink any alcohol while you have on the wristband, I get it, I understand, drinking and driving is bad and dangerous, blah, blah, blah, but I just wanted ONE beer. We arrived at 7 pm and could not race until 10 pm, wtf were we suppose to? We did go to the bar to eat and I had a Sprite. You have to wear these awful, heavy, smelly helmets. It was a great experience and I love hanging with my family. I wouldn’t mind going again, but I want my drink FIRST.

Fun, but a few drawbacks…
This was my first time doing anything like this before. I went as a work outing for my job so we had a group of 11 of us. We asked to be split up each race (its more fun to have 5 – 6 people out there at a time instead of 11), which they did.
I had a hard time hearing the workers often, speaking up would have helped immensely. But we managed.
I really had a great time for the most part though. I think the biggest thing I was suprised/​disappointed in was the way that after a race they would slow down the carts and speed them up with NO warning. This resulted in the person in front of mine’s cart stopping out of nowhere so I slammed on my breaks. The person behind my cart was still at top speed and hit me at full speed. I now have two giant welts on my back from this crash. It really hurt :(I just think having some carts stopped and some going top speed is incredibly dangerous.
Other than that, I enjoyed myself a lot here.

I came here for a birthday party. I have very mixed reviews about the place.
1. Registration. The staff said «go register.» Being there as a group it would have been nice if someone just walked us over and said here are the computer’s, each of you needs to register and choose your group name. This last part is important because 8 out of 10 of us had to re-​register because we were not told this last part.
2. The concept is great. I love that they have two tracks. However, both are quite difficult to maneuver for newbies. The staff got upset with a group of 12 year olds for having too many collisions. For many people this was their first time. Rather than being understanding, they were pretty short with us. Obviously, they are used to expert drivers, but that was not us.
3. Making a reservation does not matter. We had one as a group, we waited nearly an hour.
4. Short people matter. I barely fit in the adult car with the booster seat and pedal extenders. They would not let me ride in the junior cars. No weight was explained, just my height. However, I really did not fit in the adult cars.
5. The actual experience. Fantastic. The cars are FAST. There is a board so you can look at your time. The cars can be controlled by remote in case of accident, I appreciate that safety standard. The tables and couches make the time in between races really fun. The place is clean, the bathrooms are clean and there is a great arcade room.
6. It does not smell!!! These are electric cars! It is clean and they keep the place cool, which is nice when you are wearing a sock and a helmet.

Fun times! Everything here was so clean and new. I came on a Wednesday night and it wasn’t crowded at all. The first thing they have you do is sign up at one of the computer terminals. This was my first time here and I purchased the $ 45 package that included 3 races and an annual license (that comes out to $ 15/​race). The license gets you: free use of helmet, headsock, and online scoring. You can bring your own helmet to wear, but make sure it has a visor. If you don’t buy at least 3 races, it’s going to cost $ 6 for the annual license and $ 20/​race.
The people working here were nice and friendly. The track was new and clean. It takes about 4 minutes to go around 14 laps/​race. When I was there, we had about 6 – 9 karts on the track at time. The electric go karts were very nice and fast. The staff has control over all of them and can limit the speed to go slow with a push of a button. Make sure you buckle down real tight with the seat belt so you don’t get banged around inside the kart too much. At the end of each race, they will print out the results and put them on the counter by the front desk.