Eagle Karting

In Ruotsinpyhtää, in southern Finland, Eagle Karting has set up on a site steeped in history: the Strömfors ironworks village (Strömforsin ruukki), one of the oldest forges in the country. The track is indoors, runs to about three hundred metres and uses Sodikart machines. Being undercover, it can be driven all year round, sheltered from the cold and snow, which counts for a lot at these latitudes where winter drags on for months.

People come here both for a race with friends and for a family day out: the track welcomes children as well as adults, and the venue has a relaxation area with a sauna and somewhere to eat after the effort. No experience or kit of your own is needed: a helmet, a briefing, then lap after lap chasing a few tenths each time round. The length of the layout and its covered setting make it a good place to work on your lines in the dry.

Strömfors sits about twenty minutes from Kotka and less than an hour from Helsinki, which makes the track easy to reach from anywhere along the south coast. The old forge village, with its canal, water wheel and red wooden houses, is worth a wander before or after your session. The surrounding area, all rivers and forests, offers the quiet setting typical of the southern Finnish countryside, pleasant to explore through the seasons.