'It's a blast': Rhode Island's only kart track reinvents itself with two-level race course

LINCOLN − Steve Carreiro took off his helmet after getting off the new two-level indoor kart racing track in Lincoln, R1 Indoor Karting, a smile on his face.

"It's a blast," he said.

On a track a third of a mile long, Carreiro, of Bristol, and the four people he came with for a work holiday party raced for seven minutes with a top speed of 35 mph.

"The speed, that's the best part of it," Carreiro said.

While 35 mph might seem slow, when you're practically sitting on the ground in a tiny kart on a track with 14 turns that is only a third of a mile long, it feels very fast, Marketing Manager Nick Buzzi said.

Carreiro said he is no stranger to karting tracks in the area, and had driven on the R1 track before it got a second level. He said it's the cleanest track he'd seen in a long time. Since the karts are electric, there are no exhaust fumes.

The track was built by 360 Karting, a Slovenian company, and shipped to Rhode Island, where it was put together in 10 days.

It allows up to 18 people to race at a time. Races last about seven minutes, enough time, depending on a racer's ability, for five to six laps. The two-level track is a result of owner and former FIA GT and Le Mans Series racer Mike Hezemans' vision that the entertainment complex be ever-changing.

Nick Sholtis, of Lincoln, came with a friend from out of town after finding out the track added a second level. The pair qualified for the highest speed kart racing, up to 45 mph, after meeting the required fast lap times. As for who won, they said they tied.

"It's just another challenge, that's what nice," Sholtis said, referring to the new course.

The only other kart tracks in the area are in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and at Foxwoods in Ledyard, Connecticut.

As the karts speed around the track, artificial engine sounds emanate from speakers on the, Carreiro said it was not nearly as quiet as other tracks with electric karts that have no fake engine sound, which is the easiest way he can tell how much electricity he is putting to use.

Ax bar and dart games

In an old mill building in Lincoln, only a portion is dedicated to the two-level race track. Billed as a family entertainment center, the complex tries to please as many disparate groups of people as possible.

Go in one entrance, and you hit the ax-throwing bar, with 10 bays. Another is a dart-throwing bar where every board is surrounded by cameras that track the darts, creating new ways of playing.

For the children, there is an arcade, and for those still young at heart, there is "TimeMission," a series of rooms that offer different challenges while also telling a story that spans the past and future.

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island's only kart track becomes a two-story affair