Sidetrax Sabbatical As Family Business Crosses Finish Line

Hundreds of thousands of laps have circled Mackay’s only indoor Go-Karting venue Sidetrax over its three years of operation in West Mackay, and the family favourite facility will close its doors at the end of January as it looks for a new location.

With the building’s three-year lease at an end, owners Piet and Alta Snyders will finish up the last circuits of Sidetrax this Sunday, and now begin the task of packing down while looking out for a new spot to race.

It’s been difficult for the pair, whose search for a new premises has gone on for a year and a half, with the difficulty coming from specific building zoning and parking requirements the venue would need to meet.

“It’s just impossible to find a building and if there is a building out there, it’s just zoned wrong,” Piet said.

“We’ve had a couple of places we’re interested in but that was shut down because of some other red tape.”

The land would need to be zoned as sports and educational, and there are not too many that have buildings on top of them that are suitable for Go Karting.

Piet also said that, with the nature of their business, they can’t compete with the big mining companies who pursue similar warehouse type buildings and have much more of a purse to fall back on.

“What we’re hoping to do is build our own place, because it’s too expensive to rent a place or buy a place with a building on it,” Piet said.

“We’re trying to find a small piece of land and slowly build it up – there’s so much we want to do and to add to it.”

The owner of the lot where Sidetrax currently stands allowed Piet and Alta to continue operating throughout December to the end of February, giving them an extra month in what is normally their busiest period.

“We thank him for that, really,” Piet said.

It took them four years to first start the business, and Piet said it may take them a few years again to get the track up and running in the new location.

“I’m not too nervous about this period – I’m more excited – I know what we can make our own place into, and all I’ll say is it’s going to be amazing.”

Sidetrax have had an outpouring of support on social media, with the community reaching out to let Piet and Alta know they will be missed during their time off.

“We love Mackay, our children grew up here, so we certainly want to stay and keep Sidetrax here,” Alta said.

They ask if any Mackay local knows of a spot to set up shop to reach out to them on their Facebook page.

Our reporter enthusiastically hopped into a kart in a match up against Piet when he met the pair in mid-January.

It was not a close race, with Piet lapping our sluggish writer six times.

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