K1 Speed no longer wants to be seen solely as a family entertainment venue, as the go-kart racing operator works to gain credibility in professional motorsports through its own championship series and new collaborators.
“We’re a great place for birthday parties, but now we’re also trying to cater to a more serious demographic, saying we’re a legitimate option for racing,” Public Relations Director Tom Abbott told the Business Journal.
Since its founding in 2003, K1 Speed has expanded to more than 70 locations, or circuits, in the U.S. and abroad. With its current footprint and traffic, the franchise says it has the best chance of entering the professional stratosphere among its competitors.
“We’re now at the point where it’s possible to do these things because of the scale of the company,” Abbott said.
Abbott also said the company aims to help make the professional levels of competitive karting more accessible. To accomplish this, K1 is making progress with a few new organizations, including Porsche’s motorsports division.
The end game is to give K1 racers a path to transition from indoor karting to professional-level sports car racing.
“We are always a racing company, and it’s just a great opportunity to widen doors in the world of motorsport with very prominent names,” K1’s Abbott said.
‘Future Champions Start Here’
In December, the Irvine-based operator announced a multi-year collaboration with Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) “designed to identify and elevate the next generation of racing talent,” Porsche said in a statement.
Porsche Motorsport will start advertising its races in K1 Speed’s 70 locations, and the Irvine brand will be added to Porsche single-make race cars in upcoming competitions.
“The Porsche step is crucial, I would say, to legitimizing the brand and getting credibility from a professional partnership like that is huge,” Abbott said.
The K1 Challenge GP is the operator’s racing league, divided into junior, teen, and adult age groups. Top competitors are selected from monthly races at local K1 facilities to participate in state and then national-level events.
“K1 Speed hosts thousands of motorsports enthusiasts each year and all of us at PMNA look forward to connecting with them,” PMNA Chief Executive Volker Holzmeyer said in a statement.
K1 Speed’s 20-horsepower electric adult go-karts can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour, which the company says is the fastest in the industry. The junior karts can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.
The Junior Challenge GP league is designed for children who are 4’ to 4’10” in height, and its Teen Challenge GP league is designed for children who are 4’10” and taller and under the age of 18.
In the 2025 season, 2,658 racers competed in at least one round of the Challenge GP.
This year, K1 held its third concurrent state championship at the Irvine location on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. The finalists will go on to the national championship on May 2 and 3 at the company’s newest outdoor K1 Circuit Winchester.
From the group of national competitors, Porsche Motorsport and K1 Speed will select two drivers – one teen and one adult racer— who will each have their entry fee waived for a future season of either Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama or Porsche Sprint Challenge USA West by Yokohama.
“We built K1 on the belief that future champions start here, and this partnership with Porsche creates a pathway to take them from our indoor tracks to the country’s greatest circuits,” K1 Founder and CEO David Danglard said.
On top of this, the 2026 Junior and Teen U.S. champions will both receive a Segway GoKart Pro 2 as one of their prizes, thanks to a new partnership with Segway that K1 Speed formed last year.
To branch out further, K1 also signed an agreement with RGMMC Group – international owners of the Champions of the Future racing series. RGMMC and K1 are launching a new U.S. karting series, Champions of the Future America.
“America is the largest karting market, and partnering with K1 allows us to bring a proven development pathway to a country with passion, scale, and talent,” RGMMC CEO James Geidel said in December.
Events started in January and will run through September at K1 circuits. The 2026 champion will win an all-expenses-paid Formula 4 Training Program at Winfield Racing School in France where racers such as F1 World Champions Alain Prost and Damon Hill trained.
