Rye House Kart Circuit is a

kart Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ...

circuit, in

Hoddesdon Hoddesdon () is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, lying entirely within the London Metropolitan Area and Greater London Urban Area. The area is on the River Lea and the Lee Navigation along with the New River. Hoddesdon ...

, Hertfordshire,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and is adjacent to the

Rye House Stadium Rye House Stadium is a former greyhound racing and speedway venue in Rye Road, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. It is situated adjacent to the River Lea Navigation. Origins The name Rye House originates from a collection of medieval buildings on an ...

. The circuit is one of the oldest in the country, and has been used by drivers including

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...

Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vide ...

and

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mic ...

Hoddesdon Kart Club

The Hoddesdon Kart Club is an approved MSA club, which holds its events usually on the third Sunday of every month. Events are run year round, running from February to December.Hoddesdon Kart Club
/ref> In September, the club run an event called the London Cup. This has been televised on

Motors TV Motorsport.tv was a pan-European digital television channel dedicated to motorsport. It ceased broadcasting in late September 2018 to concentrate on web-streaming only. Launched in 2000 as Motors TV, it broadcast an extensive range of nationa ...

in previous years, except for 2010. The event attracts competitors mainly from the

Super 1 National Kart Championships The Super One National Kart Championships, also known as S1 or Super One, is a karting championship based in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation since 1983 and is regarded as the premier karting championship in the UK, producing profession ...

as well as other drivers from National kart clubs and associations.

Circuit improvements

Since 2003, the circuit has undergone some major refurbishments. Early that year, the track was resurfaced, and since then a new cafe and hospitality area have been added. In between the March and April MSA meeting, a new covered grandstand was built at Stadium Bend, the fastest corner on the circuit. The grass on the exit of both hairpins one and two has been replaced with brickwork, in an effort to reduce the water-logging which plagues the circuit due to the close proximity of the wetlands and surrounding lakes and rivers. The new race control building was completed in late 2009. The track was again resurfaced in early 2022. New drainage was added along with extended asphalt run off areas at the exits of turn 6 and 7.

In popular culture

The track featured prominently in the 1964 movie 'Go Kart Go' starring

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', '' Minder'' and '' New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of th ...

and

Wilfrid Brambell Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' ...

References

Kart circuits Motorsport venues in England Sports venues in Hertfordshire Hoddesdon {{England-sports-venue-stub