Go Karting Business

[jonnyboy89]

**Stupid Question Alert**

Do Go Karting business's make much money?

 

[James.Dunford]

Ahhh my specialist subject

Well, firstly we need to establish a big question, indoor or outdoor?

Indoor tracks are totally differnet to outdoor, which were you thinking?

 

[jonnyboy89]

i was considering indoor due to set up costs, im glad theres a specialist in this field im very new to business's and could do with all the help youre willing to give.

What are the big differences and why?


thanks

 

[James.Dunford]

i was considering indoor due to set up costs, im glad theres a specialist in this field im very new to business's and could do with all the help youre willing to give.

What are the big differences and why?


thanks

No problem - I am big time into Karting fortunatly

The main difference is that they are aimed at two very different markets.

Indoor=Tourists, people on holiday, people out for a bit of fun, stag/hen and sometimes "team building" excersizes etc

Outdoor= Aimed in general at serious racers. The outdoor tracks often run owner driver events as well as hire karts. The hire Karts are faster, and the tracks are better, so are aimed at people who are a bit more involved. The market for that is not generally as big (depends on area) but this is more than justified from the running or race meetings for owner driver. For example my local Kart track will have a race meeting every month. This race meeting will cost around £40 to enter, and around 150 people enter, you do the math on that..! Secondly there is tests days. These are usually veeery profitable if you can get a good amount of people. The reason being, you don't need an ambulance or anything like you would for a race meeting, no organisation, just open the track and let people out, for again £40 a time!

The indoor tracks are very very very dependant on location, where abouts are you?

 

[jonnyboy89]

Im based in Kingston-upon-Hull East Yorkshire

 

[James.Dunford]

Dont' know a huge amount up there, but no tracks on the Karting.co.uk track directory -which is good news. Doesn't look like there are any very close actually, very good news! Have you got a location in mind or not? If you need any help with track design should you continue with it give me a shout

 

[jonnyboy89]

There used to be a smallish out door track called FastTrack but it closed down but its location was realy realy poor, most people in the city didnt even know it existed!

i havent found a location yet becuase im very undecided about indoor or outdoor, is your experience in racing the karts or owning a go karting busines??

Thanks

 

[James.Dunford]

A bit of both i guess, i mailny race Karts, but i started with the indoor tracks and worked at a few for a whilst, so know the market pretty well

 

[jonnyboy89]

i realy want to follow this through but im at the very beginning and as i said before im completly new to business. Have you ever started up your own business?
Thanks

 

[James.Dunford]

i realy want to follow this through but im at the very beginning and as i said before im completly new to business. Have you ever started up your own business?
Thanks

Me? Yup www.motorsports-uk.co.uk and www.floatingaway.co.uk Admitedly the first is in the process of closing down due to a certain Mr ecclestone slashing prices...

 

[jonnyboy89]

They both look realy good, i hope they both prove successful for you

Im more interested in the outdoor circuit now as Hull isnt a big tourist attaction even though its a big city and the fact that there isnt many outdoor circuits in Yorkshire itself. The only problem would be start up funds, im only 20 with no money to put in myself and if i was to go down the outdoor circuit route id want to buy the land and then build everything so talking £££,£££.££ at least maybe more i cant see a bank wanting to do that.

 

[James.Dunford]

They both look realy good, i hope they both prove successful for you

Im more interested in the outdoor circuit now as Hull isnt a big tourist attaction even though its a big city and the fact that there isnt many outdoor circuits in Yorkshire itself. The only problem would be start up funds, im only 20 with no money to put in myself and if i was to go down the outdoor circuit route id want to buy the land and then build everything so talking £££,£££.££ at least maybe more i cant see a bank wanting to do that.

Yeah that is the thing, the indoor tracks are generally for tourists and people who try it once in a whilst. If you look at seriously good indoor tracks then it is a bit different, aim it at the corporate market too.

They do cost a fortune, the cost of the tarmac alone for a kart track is well in excess of £50K..!

Just keep plugging away, look at something different for the mo till you have a bit more money! I am only 18

 

[jonnyboy89]

18! wow congrats on everything youve done so far!

Do you have to tarmac the indoor tracks?

 

[James.Dunford]

18! wow congrats on everything youve done so far!

Do you have to tarmac the indoor tracks?

Thanks!

Depends, some of them you can leave the concrete surface, but that is totally **** and people won't come back as the grip levels are so low it gets beyond ridiculous!

 

[jonnyboy89]

ok lol, would you mind helping me with a detailed list of all the things that i'll need to buy or lease and costs if you know them if i was to set up a go karting business? i want to make a cashflow so i can make an educated decision on whether or not to persue this idea only i dont have as mich experience in this field as you seem to have.

Thanks

 

[vvaannmmaann]

**Stupid Question Alert**

Do Go Karting business's make much money?

There are no stupid questions.We all had to start somewhere.
Good luck with it.

 

[Nickdavis87]

Remember the indoor ones will not have to worry too much about the weather. The outdoor will make more per day but check how many days on average you will get people in.

Ive never been go karting so it might not be a problem, but worth checking!

 

[James.Dunford]

ok lol, would you mind helping me with a detailed list of all the things that i'll need to buy or lease and costs if you know them if i was to set up a go karting business? i want to make a cashflow so i can make an educated decision on whether or not to persue this idea only i dont have as mich experience in this field as you seem to have.

Thanks

Yea no probs, i will put down some initial figures

Karts - £1400 each plus VAT x 20 = £28000 plus VAT (You need to start off with good karts so people will come back, you need a lot because they break down etc, and if you only have 10 karts it isn't really enough!)
Barriers -£5K
Spares - £1K (People do crash them so a basic stock will do you well!)
Helmets x 40 (Different sizes) Cheapo ones at £50 each = £2K
Race Overalls at £30 each x 40 (Again cheapo ones) = £1200

That would just be on the Kart front, all depends on your premises etc, and that is based on indoor karts

 

[jonnyboy89]

Thanks for all your help so far, i dont suppose you know what the going rates are for indoor karting do you?

 

[James.Dunford]

Thanks for all your help so far, i dont suppose you know what the going rates are for indoor karting do you?

No problem

Roughly as follows
10 mins = £15
20 mins = £25
30 mins = £35

Group Grand prix (So say 16 people get 4 races each, against each other) for a corp group = £500-£600

Individual GP (So say you get 25 people every Saturday to come and race together, against competitors) £40-£50

Annnd don't forget fuel, they do guzzle quite a lot!

 

[jonnyboy89]

Thanks again, would you mind if i was to keep asking you more questions as my cashflow get more in depth? youve been REALY helpful already.

also how long do you think the track should be and what size warehouse would you recommend? im thinking along the lines of a realy good indoor circuit now so i can keep it running all year round, would the fact its indoor put people off even if it was the same quality as the out door ones?

 

[Nickdavis87]

Thanks again, would you mind if i was to keep asking you more questions as my cashflow get more in depth? youve been REALY helpful already.

also how long do you think the track should be and what size warehouse would you recommend? im thinking along the lines of a realy good indoor circuit now so i can keep it running all year round, would the fact its indoor put people off even if it was the same quality as the out door ones?

My guess is that getting a track big enough to compete with the outdoor ones is the biggest problem.

The company i work for is just off the M1 (so probably quite expensive) and i think our warehouse would be just about big enought to fit a track as good as the local datona karting, we pay £600,000 a year rent.

 

[Chris_OCR]

Complete wind up again guys, I can't believe people keep fooling for this idiot!!!

 

[James.Dunford]

I just love Karting so don't mind, to be honest when someone says they "don't have very much money" and are thinking of spending £100K plus to start a business

 

[jonnyboy89]

Complete wind up again guys, I can't believe people keep fooling for this idiot!!!

was that directed at me? :|

 

[jakethehighlander]

I know a good site in Inverness, been doing some research and there was an outdoor track but think that was shut down. If I'm going to seriously consider setting one up, then will look at business plan. Have to have a good look to see if there is a market... It has been really good these threads. Did you open up a track in the end?? All the best.....

 

[GaryF]

Great posts by James.Dunford!

I think I saw a failing one on a programme once, looked like a bit of a struggle for him. Maybe he just wasn't a business man by nature. Can't remember the show now.[FONT=verdana,geneva,lucida,arial][/FONT]