I’ve been racing sports cars almost as long as I’ve been building businesses. I always wanted friends and associates to understand the thrill of racing – but without getting behind the wheel of a race car? Impossible. Then I had a chance to go kart racing on an indoor track – felt just like driving an open-wheel race car! I knew immediately that I wanted to open an indoor track – and to it better than anything ever had.
RJ Valentine, Chairman The MBA GroupX1 Boston
North America’s premier indoor kart track
The Concept
Bring the excitement of racing to everyone, by putting them behind the wheel of a race-engineered kart on a purpose-built indoor track.
The Facility
X1 Boston, which we opened in June of 2000, is a 106,000 square foot conference, dining and racing center just south of Boston. There are two separate indoor tracks, each very different in its challenges.
X1 Boston's multi-level tracks were designed by racing professionals for a true racing experience. Perfectly scaled for the race fleet of performance karts, the tracks create a true race experience. Professional race car drivers have told us that with the speeds the karts achieve, indoors, an inch above the ground, they perfectly simulate the feel of open-wheel race cars, with all the adrenaline, sense of speed, and exhilaration you would expect.
The two tracks are often combined for league and endurance races, to double the challenges and excitement.
The Racing
X1 Boston offers Arrive & Drive racing, for licensed drivers 18 and over who need only arrive at the facility and register for a race. We provide uniforms, safety g-ear and equipment. Also available at the tracks: Adult Leagues, Junior Racing Schools, Endurance Race Series, and Corporate/Private/Fundraising Race Events
The MBA Group Differences
With every business that we found, we intend to be the best. The systems we developed in our earlier successes still work: identify a great concept with a large target market…implement extensive, multi-channel marketing campaigns…then, basically, outwork and out-operate the competition.
Rapid Growth -- As the first indoor kart racing in the United States, X1 Boston always had the lead in its field. We proved the concept immediately on opening – booked solid with corporate events, plus lines and waiting lists for Arrive and Drive and League racing. In our first five years, we hosted more than 200 corporate events annually and issued thousands of licenses annually to individual kart racers.
Founding the Companies We Need -- As we grew, the industry grew, with new kart tracks being built in other parts of the country. Rather than competing with X1 Boston, those track owners turned to us for advice. We became the primary karting consultants in North America. At the same time, we were founding other karting related businesses to support our own needs. We imported kart, parts and supplies. We invented a safety system. We sold all of these things to other track owners.
The Results to Date
In 2015 X1 Boston celebrated 15 years in operation and its position as the premier indoor karting facility in North America. We stayed strong through the national recession, by refocusing our marketing, building additional facets of our business, and capitalizing on the efficiencies of our automated organization. We have entered another high growth phase, with increased corporate and private events, full leagues, solidly booked junior racing acadamies, a thriving restaurant, bar and catering operation, and a profitable retail store. We also continue to be the nation’s leading karting experts, sought out as consultants and partners by track owners throughout the country.
