After climbing Mount Rainier, I spent an extra day in Seattle and Dan took me to an indoor karting place called K1 Speed. I had been karting a few times before, mostly at places that also featured mini-golf or some sort of midway. K1 Speed was a venue devoted entirely to karting and it was a totally different experience. The most obvious difference was that the karts were actually fast and, by association, fun to drive.

I was relating my experience at K1 Speed to Nate, and he told me that a similar place existed in Albuquerque, ABQ Karting. Last night, Nina and I went over and gave ABQ Karting a whirl. So here is my first impression comparison of the two outfits, having done exactly three races at each venue.

The Karts
K1 Speed's karts are electric, whereas ABQ Karting's karts are internal combustion. This makes K1 Speed's karts a bit quieter and less smelly, but these were really not major concerns (ABQ Karting's facility is very well ventilated, so exhaust fumigation was never a problem). K1 Speed's karts have one huge advantage over ABQ Karting's, however, and that is torque. The K1 Speed karts have some serious punch to them, particularly at low speeds, whereas I felt like ABQ Kartings karts take forever to come up to speed. This performance difference made the ideal driving line completely different, because you have to do everything in your power not to drop speed, even if it means taking a much longer line around a curve. As for top speed, I think the two karts are about the same. The ABQ Karting karts take longer to get up to speed, but the track also features a much longer straight, so in the end my top speed an the two tracks felt comparable. Turning radius, braking, and drift performance was about the same on both karts. Overall, I found the K1 Speed karts slightly more fun to drive because of their better acceleration.

The Tracks
The K1 Speed track is pretty short; my best lap time on the track was about 18 seconds. The ABQ Karting track is much longer, with my best time being 28 seconds (granted some of this is due to the slower-accelerating karts, but not much). The variety of turns on the K1 Speed track is better, with turns varying from a 180-degree hairpin to a gentle high-speed curve after the straight away. I've been told that they change the track layout at K1 Speed occasionally and, as you can see here, the tracks are different at each of the K1 Speed facilities. ABQ Karting, on the other hand, has a constant track layout (shown here). ABQ Karting's turn selection varies a bit, but not as much as K1 Speeds. I felt like the course was a bit less challenging.

The Facilities
K1 Speed has a really finished appearance. The decor in the lobby is fancy, the employees wear uniforms, they have a website that they have clearly dumped some money into, etc. ABQ Karting is definitely more of a budget affair. The lobby is sparse, there is no flair out on the track, and the employees wear whatever they want. Both outfits offer an arcade out in the lobby, but in this respect ABQ Karting is actually slightly superior with a greater selection of arcade cabinets as well as pool and air hockey. Both outfits provide you with a printout of race statistics after each race, though K1 Speed's presentation is better. They offer a color printout with a graph showing race position vs. lap, lap times, career stats, etc. ABQ Karting's black and white printout offers only tabular lap time data and tabular data for the best of the day, week, and month. K1 Speed goes one step further, making your race information available on their website along with comparisons of your career averages against other racers. ABQ Karting has free water but no concessions. K1 Speed has an elaborate concessions stand but nothing is free.

The Damage
Both K1 Speed and ABQ Karting cost a fortune. K1 Speed wanted $5 for a mandatory membership, followed by $20 a race. Races were fixed at 14 laps, or about 4.2 minutes of racing. Race packs were available which offered a slight discount on races if you buy them in groups of 3 or more. ABQ Karting offers a $20 optional annual membership, and races are $15 for members or $20 for non-members. Assuming you race 4 times in a year, the membership is a win. Races are guaranteed to be at least 8 minutes long, and if there aren't people waiting in line to race, they'll let you race longer. They also offer race packs for a discount. Furthermore, the have daily specials (students get half-off all races on Wednesdays, etc.). Assuming my average lap times at both venues and a membership at each, the cost per unit breaks down as follows:

K1 Speed: ~$4.76 per minute or $1.42 per lap.
ABQ Karting: ~$1.88 per minute or ~$0.86 per lap.

Clearly, one of these two options is more economical. Add to this the fact that racing off-peak hours means that your races tend to run long at ABQ Karting, whereas K1 Speeds race lengths are set in stone, and the disparity is only extended.

The Conclusion
In the end, K1 Speed offers a slightly better service on almost every count, but you just don't get very much of it for your money. Combined with the fact that the nearest one is some 500 miles away from me, I'll obviously be spending my (meager) karting budget at ABQ Karting. However, even if they were both located next door to my house, I'd probably spend more time at ABQ Karting. The only thing that really matters is how much fun it is to race, and even despite the slightly lower-performance karts at ABQ Karting, the fun level was pretty much equivalent. And since you get twice as much for your money, it's worth it in my humble opinion.

PS: Dan, if you ever come back to NM, I want a rematch. Now that I suck...less.