The Raceway

Good track, also the new management that has taken over (Teamsport) have refurbished the Karts.
Downsides:
1– there is no public transportation directly to the track, you’ll have to take a cab from North Greenwich station;
2– they don’t use blue flags, so expect a lot of crashes and race interruptions (i.e. by waving a blue flag to slow drivers when someone faster is coming from behind so they can give way).

THIS PLACE IS CLOSED. The groupon deal is a SCAM.
We bought the vouchers on groupon and we reserved the spot for Sunday morning. We tried to call the company before Sunday and nobody would answer the phone or email. On the voucher it says they will pick you up from bus stop F at north Greenwich but nobody showed up. Their whole facility was closed.

This place is a bit out of the way, by the Thames Barrier and looks pretty dodgy and run down as you are driven up to it (there isn’t any public transport out there so would have to get a taxi from North Greenwich tube station) but as soon as you pull open the main door to this warehouse, you are greeted by a rather lavishly decorated (if not sparse) lobby with slate floors and helmets form David Couthard and other legends.
Grab you Sparco fire proof race suit (not actually sure it is fire proof so wouldn’t advise testing it) and you are ready to enter the ‘Briefing Room’. Quick 5 minute video on what the different flags mean and you are off!
The small of burnt rubber, of petrol exhaust and the tingle of adrenaline is enough to get even the least excited (and apparently uncompetitive) of our team wanting to smash the others off the road and clock up a fast time.
The Karts are good quality, the track is quite long and takes about 45 seconds to do a quick lap. The marshals are well informed and well trained, although they do look quite glum for the most part, not sure I could stand in the cold and watch others having fun all day with a smile in my face either though, so can’t be too harsh.
There is also a bar with a surprisingly large array of bottled beers and you can get yourself rather sorry looking hot-​dog too, but who cares, we are there for the racing!

I had no idea, that go-​karting is sooooo much fun! Wow… I really thought I was being magically transported into a game of Super Mario Kart, when we were all racing along the track. Fantastic!
The Raceway is located in the Docklands, about a ten-​minutes ride from the O2/​North Greenwich tube station. Conveniently enough, they offer a shuttle service that brings you to and from the location.
Once we arrived at the track… all giddied up with excitement… we were given our racing suits — funnily enough they were green ones and red ones, so that we indeed looked like Mario and Luigi. After a brief saftey (insider joke) video demonstration, we gathered at the «pit» to watch as the group ahead of us was circling around the race track. To be honest, I had never done this before and I was a little bit nervous about the upcoming «task», but that fear would go up in smoke very soon…
Here’s what’s happened: we were a group of 12 people and as soon as it was our turn, we were led to our respective karts and we were then able to familiarise ourselves with our «machine». Then, we had a 10-​minute practise round, were we were able to test out our boundaries, such as: how fast can you go; how sharp can you turn without spinning; what does it feel like to bump into someone etc.
Then it was time to get serious: we were lined up in order of how well we’d done during the practise round… and then, as soon as the 5^th red light blinked, we kicked the gas pedals and were magically transported into aforementioned video game. Seriously, it was so much fun: personally I enjoyed overtaking people most (don’t we all???).
The race lastest for 30 minutes and while this is quite a long time, I didn’t get bored at all. In fact, there was so much happening: people got stuck on the race track after taking a curve too closely; people were bumping into you (or the other way around) when they needed to pass each other; and above all there were the race marshalls who would wave their flags to tell you to slow down or to be careful.
After the race was over — all of us being quite sweaty — the award ceremony took place right away. Afterwards we all settled down in the bar to discuss the race over a couple beers. Very nice!
Note: I’m giving this venue 5 stars — just because I had so much fun and I think that alone deserves a good rating. However, there were a few things that I think could be improved, such as the customer-​service-​orientedness of the crew or the coziness of the bar/​restaurant.
Overall though: thumbs up and I’m already thinking of when I’ll be back next time!