The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was praised for its ingenuity at the time of its construction, and things have been taken to a whole new level with news that a go-karting track will be built inside the venue.
The Premier League has signed a long-term strategic partnership with Formula 1, and the first fruits of that agreement is an electric karting track that will be built underneath the stadium’s South Stand. It’s thought the circuit will be the longest and fastest in London.
There also plans to develop a driver academy programme at the venue, with separate National Karting Association approved tracks for adults and juniors to be laid. The hope is that potential future F1 stars will get behind the wheel – Lewis Hamilton is just one of a number of Formula 1 champions that served their apprenticeship in kart racing.
The Premier League and F1 also plan to pool their resources to develop green initiatives and environmental innovations, with the end goal of being net carbon zero by 2040.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy hopes the new venture will attract a different audience to Tottenham games, commenting:
“We have been able to bring the biggest names in sport and entertainment to London N17. We are extremely excited about what this long-term partnership with F1 will bring for our global, national and local communities.”
The World’s Most Unique Sports Stadium Features
It would be fair to describe a go-karting track at your home stadium as a rather unique and innovative feature.
But plenty of other sports teams and organisations have pre-dated Tottenham’s free-thinking with quirky additions of their own.
Munich’s Allianz Arena is cladded in more than 2,000 diamond metal panels, which can be lit up in the colours of host teams Bayern and Hertha, the white, red and yellow of the German national team or any other arrangement. It’s an arresting sight at night that can be seen for miles around.
Allianz Arena lit up with Mane’s name on it ??
(via @FCBayern) pic.twitter.com/tahiup4z3c
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 22, 2022
The Kaohsiung National Stadium in the Zuoying District of Taiwan has nearly 9,000 solar panels on its retractable roof that deliver power to local residents, while the Sapporo Dome in Hokkaido, Japan was one of the first venues to feature a retractable grass pitch – an innovation later borrowed by the architects behind the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And then there’s the downright bizarre. The American Family Field, home of MLB outfit Milwaukee Brewers, has its own giant water slide running around the stadium. The home team’s mascot, Bernie, celebrates a home run by slipping and sliding down the feature, although it’s not for the faint-hearted as an American sports journalist found out to his cost when he fractured six ribs….
There’s a full-size pirate ship inside Raymond James Stadium in Florida, a 27ft statue of a horse (complete with to-scale testicles) at Mile High Stadium in Denver and a giant toy train running around the playing surface at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
The Tampa Bay Ray’s Tropicana Field even has a 35-foot fish tank next to the baseball diamond that is home to different species of rays!