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      06-01-2008, 01:51 AM   #1
ihyln
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Good idea or bad idea

It's 3AM and a silly thought popped into my head. I figure I'd ask here since it's the most obvious place to start.

My wife's uncle is sitting on 30 some odd acres of land in upstate NY. A lot of it is grass and fairly even. As you can see where I am going with this, I'll cut to the chase, would it be viable to build a private track? He has construction equipment so it would be a matter of manpower and materials. Should I just go to bed?
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      06-01-2008, 06:53 AM   #2
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I would build it if I could, but it has to be a really great private track w/ lot of elevation changes, hairpins, stitch backs, and definitely a long straight or 2....after a while though I could see you getting bored of doing it over and over, thats why you have to make it really really interesting track, good thing about it though if you build it you could run it either way clockwise or counterclockwise to keep you intrigued but best of all its all yours and at your disposal at any given time....let me know when its built so I could go test it out w/ you
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      06-01-2008, 08:57 AM   #3
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If you build it, they will come...
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      06-01-2008, 09:22 AM   #4
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Your looking at about $200,000 to pour 1 mile of asphalt. This would include the smoothing process. Keep in mind that real road tracks like nurburgring etc, have tilted corners like nascar tracks (darlington /daytona/etc). Might be tougher than you think.

But I'm all for dreaming big! Go for it!
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      06-01-2008, 10:13 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ihyln View Post
He has construction equipment so it would be a matter of manpower and materials. Should I just go to bed?
You need about 3,000 to 5,000 acres to build a decent track. 30 acres is the size of a Walmart parking lot.

Go back to bed.
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      06-01-2008, 10:16 AM   #6
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I was doing a little math and I don't think 30 acres will be big enough. Each acre is 208x208ft roughly. So yeah, JM, I did go back to bed and maybe I'll build a drag strip instead.
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      06-01-2008, 10:20 AM   #7
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I would become your best friend in the world if you built it, but never call you once the townsfolk caught you doing construction and had it stopped. My friend's friend (there was an article, so this isn't just heresay) began to build a motorcycle track on his private estate, and I believe even got the proper permits to go ahead with it. He was about half way in to the building when the NIMBYs (Not In My BackYard) filed and got an injunction to halt construction due to "potential noise pollution" caused by such a facility. The bottom line is that it got very very very very very messy, even after he went through all of the proper channels and thought he was, and should have been, OK. I'm looking for the link to the story, but can't find it.

IF I were going to take the risk and try it, I'd build a karting track, save yourself some money, and have A LOT more fun. There's nothing like doing 120 mph in a Kart that is an inch off of the ground, and then turning on a dime. The famous quote is along the lines of "about as much fun as an F1 car, for a few million dollars less."
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      06-01-2008, 10:33 AM   #8
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Even if you could raise the money, no bank will loan a large percentage of it, your largest hurtles would be zoning (allowable land use), adjacent use compatibility, and environmental impact. Even though a track is potentially nothing more than a long parking lot that happends to be very very loud on the weekends it's not an easy path to hoe.
I agree that 30 acres isn't even close to being enough land, unless your just going to build a cart or AX course. A decent new road course is going to be no less than 1.5 miles, ideally it would be around 1.8 to 2.5 miles. Large enough to have lots of cars without crowding but small enough to safely manage an event and keep costs low.
These days developers sell condos and other facilities and amenities on-site to offset their costs, think country club/golf course/resort.
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      06-01-2008, 10:51 AM   #9
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High Rock Raceway (if it ever gets built) is on 200 acres:
http://www.racehighrock.com/
You need more land.
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      06-01-2008, 01:08 PM   #10
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High Rock is opening in the spring of next year....I can't wait. But back on topic; My cousin works for a grading contractor and I've talked to him about the cost of a track. It would easily be multi millions for a couple miles of track.
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      06-01-2008, 07:20 PM   #11
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that would be awesome if possible
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      06-01-2008, 10:58 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1234 View Post
You need about 3,000 to 5,000 acres to build a decent track. 30 acres is the size of a Walmart parking lot.

Go back to bed.





plus you will need at LEAST 1/2 million $$$. dont forget state, county and city permits, and environmental clearance, some endangered nat could be resting there.
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      06-02-2008, 08:13 AM   #13
ihyln
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well what about a 1/2 mile drag strip?
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      06-03-2008, 06:26 PM   #14
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rally dirt track---
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      06-18-2008, 08:04 PM   #15
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I believe Palmer Motorsports is somewhat mired in the permit process. It's supposed to be 2.14 miles in 500 acres. You don't have enough land to put distance between the actual track and residents.

http://www.palmermotorsportspark.com/
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