A launch pad for racing success

Hertfordshire’s hidden secret

Drop a pin on a map of Hoddesdon and you might think this was the last location suited to a racing track. For a start, it’s surrounded by water, with the River Lee on one side and the Tollhouse Stream canal on the other. A stone’s throw away is the 58-hectare Rye Meads Nature Reserve, which is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The track’s perimeter is further constrained by the West Anglia railway line and the Rye House power station and its associated electricity pylons, one of which is so prominent the organisers named a corner after it.

“With the power station so close, we have a lot of National Grid equipment on the site, including large 36-metre pylons and lots of cabling,” says Sam Green, the Head Coach and Driver Development Coordinator at Rye House.

“We have a very good relationship with National Grid,” he adds. “I don’t think they are on this land much and even if they are, we’re not aware of it. Every couple of years the pylons need to be cleaned and painted, but as the track is quite open, they can come in and out easily.”

Sorting the men from the boys

“One of the greatest features of Rye House is that it’s a very technical circuit,” he says. “It’s very easy to drive around here, but it’s very difficult to drive around here fast. The middle section – the two hairpins – are very challenging. When you get it right you can be very quick; if you get it slightly wrong, the lap times fall away and you’re nowhere.

“It’s one of the oldest circuits in the country and the original track dates back to the 1930s. We’ve changed a couple of corners over the years, added new support buildings, improved the safety aspect, resurfaced and so on, but the basic layout hasn’t really changed that much because it was well designed from the beginning.

A very British institution

Don’t think for a minute that the kids who turn up to Rye House year after year fade into obscurity. In fact, the list of famous drivers who cut their teeth on this track reads like a Who’s Who of motorsport royalty.

Believe it or not, almost every British racing driver who’s risen to the top of the sport in the past 40 or 50 years started out driving at Rye House. Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson and, incredibly, the seven-time F1 World Champion, Lewis Hamilton. Every weekend they would pack up their kart into a trailer, hop into mum or dad’s car and spend hours and hours shaving seconds off their lap times and fine-tuning their competitive edge.

The Lewis Hamilton factor

“There’s no getting away from it – the Lewis factor is massive for us,” says Sam. “Even though Max Verstappen has won the last two seasons, Lewis is still there and he’s still the kids’ favourite. The desire to have his iconic #44 on their karts is something they will always fight over. In fact, it got to the point recently where we thought we should have 44 as our club number, so when you win you get given that number.

“Lewis is such a fantastic role model. Everything he does on and off the track is done well and his support for minority groups really helps the youngsters, especially young girls, believe that they can make it and be as successful as him.”

Futureproofing by making more of your land

You'd be forgiven for thinking that a business based on a fairly niche and, let’s be honest, expensive pastime is not particularly well protected from the economic winds that are battering businesses across the UK.

It’s a point that’s not lost on the management team at Rye House. While the karting facilities are the main draw, there are also sideline attractions to pull in the crowds.

In recent years, they’ve added Rye-Assic Park, which is a dinosaur-themed adventure playground featuring a life-size T-Rex and a Stegosaurus, ten-pin bowling, slides, swings and a soft play area.

There are also zones for laser combat and Nerf wars – all geared to bringing customers through the doors for birthday parties and days out during the school holidays.

Balancing the books with a balance beam and a pommel horse

There’s more in the pipeline too. “In 2020 we purchased the Rye House Stadium, which is close to the karting track and used to be home to the Rye House Rockets speedway team,” says Sam.

Speedway, for the uninitiated, is basically bike racing on a dirt track, where the riders go round and round, mostly sideways.

“Unfortunately, they went out of business and as much as we are all motorsport fans and wanted speedway to return, we needed to make it work financially,” he adds. “We looked at the site and thought we could do something with the buildings. So, in 2020, we repurposed them into an indoor gymnastics centre. We also have plans to turn the dirt track into something else for the community, maybe Astro-turf pitches as it’s big enough for 11-a-side football and good quality pitches of this size are in short supply.”

Serving the community with pride and passion

Rye House is a family business and the owners are passionate about supporting local families. In the two years since lockdown, more youth groups than ever are using the track and the coaching team are supporting several drivers with Special Education Needs (SEN), giving them a chance to enjoy the thrills of motorsport.

“These kids in particular thrive on the freedom and exhilaration that karting can offer,” adds Sam. “We also have a two-seater kart here, so the coaches can go out with the children and show them the racing lines – and what the kart can really do. They love that and it’s great to see their reactions.”

Charging ahead to an electric future?

“We’re very conscious of our energy consumption,” says Sam, “since we are burning petrol for fun and there’s no getting away from that. Electric karts are starting to become available, but for us to adopt them we would have to completely change our business model.

“The reason is simple,” he adds. “We run lots of different races throughout the year – everything from 15-minute sprints to one-hour grands prix and 12-hour endurance races. Our twin-engine karts can easily run for 90 minutes on one tank, but if we ran electric karts we’d have to stop several times to charge up. To make that work we would have to either reduce the number of karts on the track or buy more karts.

“Quite a lot of indoor venues run electric karts because they are emissions-free, but they tend to run shorter sessions. I’m sure in time the technology will improve but right now petrol-powered karts are the only viable solution for us.”

PROFILE: Robert ‘Robbie’ Sullivan

At the tender age of 63, Robert is one of the longest-serving employees at Rye House.

“I came here straight out of school and that was 47 years ago,” says Robbie. “My first job was for a company called Deavinsons Sprint Karts and the factory was based on this site. I was welding, cutting, fabricating… and when it closed I started working here.

“I currently work three days a week and my main job is to service the karts,” he adds. “They are used all the time, so they need constant maintenance. We can spend up to three hours on one kart if it needs new sprockets, chain and clutch.