New Track

[3ZHP]

When I was at the Old Hickory Chapter BMWCCA post holiday party today, I found out that the National Corvette Museum is building a road course accross from the museum and factory in Bowling Green, KT. Should be open by September and there's already a BMWCCA HPDE scheduled for the weekend of October 5, 2014. Time to start saving and prepping. And definitely cool, being on a brand new track in its first month of operation.

http://www.motorsportspark.org/track/

[Hermes]

Looks like a fun track!

[brettbimmer]

Very cool! I hope that it proves to be a successful track in a successful location.

[QC_ZHP]

I'm sure it will. It'll make a nice weekend getaway for the corvette guys it sounds

[M0nk3y]

Personally, I wouldn't want to be on a track the first week.

Remember Austin COTA? Covered in dust, no rubber...just a slippery mess

I'll head out probably in 2015, but will be excited to see how it turns out and the overall response.

[Hermes]

Agreed, I definitely wouldn't want to be on it before a decent layer of rubber is put down

[stephenkirsh]

Why don't they make tracks on the west coast :(

[Hermes]

Because of

a) cost of land

b) permits required

c) homeowners nearby that prevent it

Hell, there used to be a 2.7 mile 12 turn track 10 minutes from where I live. Last race was in 1956.

http://www.thechicaneblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/torrey-map.jpg

It now looks like this
http://www.lodgetorreypines.com/images/golf_courses.jpg

[M0nk3y]

Sound it a biggie.

Mid-Ohio is in the middle of no where...you go through a neighborhood...drive a couple miles and it is literally located between farms.

http://matchbin-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/public/sites/647/assets/JOR_aerial_fall.jpg

[stephenkirsh]

that's a gorgeous looking track.

[Hermes]

Sound is a biggie.

Yup, exactly what I meant about nearby homeowners.

Laguna Seca was initially built in the middle of nowhere (on Fort Ord/Laguna Seca Ranch), but nowadays there are multimillion dollar homes in the area and they require a 92db sound limit. Certain race days are given exception to this rule as they bring a lot of money into the town, but that doesn't happen often.

Basically for us there are 3 in NorCal (Mazda Raceway, Infineon, Thunderhill), and 4 in SoCal (Auto Club, Buttonwillow, Chuckwalla, and Willow Springs). Technically there are 5 in SoCal but Thermal is a members only track. If Nevada isn't too far for you there are 3 tracks as well (Spring Mountain, Las Vegas Intl, Reno-Fernley). You can also do Utah, Arizona, etc...

I want this one, but since I haven't heard anything in 2 years I doubt it's happening:
http://jalopnik.com/5891398/man-wants-to-build-exact-copy-of-nurburgring-in-nevada

[stephenkirsh]

Probably cuz a 20+ mile track is expensive to make. And who likes copy cats, anyway?

[Hermes]

16 mile ;)