Tottenham to build world's first in-stadium karting track

Football

Published: 01 Mar. 2023, 12:48 Updated: 01 Mar. 2023, 17:48

Tottenham to build world's first in-stadium karting track

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium [AP/YONHAP]

Not content with housing just football, rugby and American football matches, boxing fight nights and music concerts, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is now set to become the first venue in the world with an in-stadium electric karting facility complete with Formula One driver academy.

The new track, announced Tuesday, is expected to be the longest indoor track in London when it opens later this year. It is expected to be built under the stadium’s South Stand, currently home to a large carpark that is also used to house the retractable football pitch when it is put away to reveal the NFL pitch underneath.

The facility is being built in partnership with Formula One and will also include a driver academy to help grow motorsports and train the next generation of F1 drivers.

The track has already been certified by Britain’s National Karting Association, meaning it could be used in the future for competitive championship races.

“As we continue to grow our sport around the world, partnering with world renowned brands like Tottenham Hotspur allows us to take F1 and motorsport to new and diverse audiences,” Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.

“The karting experience will be a destination and place that families, friends and aspiring drivers from all over the world will want to visit and enjoy, engaging new audiences and offering an accessible entry point to the world of motorsport.”

For Tottenham Hotspur, this is just yet another string to the multifaceted stadium’s bow.

The football pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium [TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR]

When Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened in 2019, it not only became the new home of Tottenham football club — Son Heung-min commemorated the move by scoring the first ever goal there — but also the official home-away-from-home of American football and the NFL.

As an official NFL stadium, the first ever to be built outside of North America, Tottenham hosts at least two American football games every year as part of the NFL International Series, a series of regular season games played outside the United States.

The artificial NFL pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is used for a game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants on Oct. 9. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

But you can’t play two different sports — no matter how unfortunately similarly named — on the same pitch. Instead, Tottenham built two entirely different pitches, a traditional state-of-the-art football pitch mounted two meters above an artificial NFL pitch.

The top football pitch retracts in three sections and is stored in the carpark currently under the South Stand. The NFL pitch is also used for music concerts and other sporting matches as it sits lower and has an artificial playing surface, allowing for multi-purpose use without damaging the grass.

The side of the Tottenham Hotspur football pitch stored in the ″pitch pocket″ is visible during a tour of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Dec. 5. [JINSIL YU]

The retractable pitch weights just short of 10,000 metric tons and fills the South Stand car park from floor to ceiling. Presumably that means karting facilities won’t be available when the NFL is in town.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]