Nearly 800 acres. Three road courses. Beautiful Tennessee scenery. A facility geared toward racers. And, most importantly, a mission to promote racing. Flatrock Motorsports Park in Tennessee officially broke ground this morning on their project that’s set to open in early 2023.
Founding partner and president Rusty Bittle, a latecomer to getting behind the wheel of a race car, hopes …
This is amazing! It is excellent! I hope it stays on track (punny?) through all of the potential economic goofballs that may come.
This is going to be an epic facility that will immediately be a top 10 within the lower 48.
Nice to see some positive news in the Motorsports arena, instead of another track shutting down.
Bring all your horsepowers. BTW, this is the result of Oak Ridge TN NIMBYs not letting the track go through there, so they picked up and found a nearby community that welcomed the economic development. Glad to see this going in. I've gotten a sneak peak at some grading thats going on now, and the scale is impressive.
Seems a little backwards making the club track nearly a mile longer then the Grand Prix track.
Club Motorsport in NH had planning pains but it was built and it is fantastic.
This track is very exciting and will be a bout 2 hours from where I will retire.
Oooooo nice. That'll be within weekend TT event driving distance!
Flatrock? Do you mean Flatrock, MI? Home of the Ford Mustang factory?
Ya know, like how Bowling Green, KY has the Corvette track next to the Corvette factory?
Sadly, no.
Website makes it seem pretty exclusive...
Apply for membership,
Do you have private air transportation?
Are you referred by a current member?
Do you have a comp license?
Is it a secret where this is located? Is it close to any cities or out in BFE?
stroker said:Is it a secret where this is located? Is it close to any cities or out in BFE?
20 min from Knoxville, an hour from Chattanooga. All these motorsports country clubs cost a bit of money to join and attract some pretty wealthy members, but they pay their bills leasing the track to track day operators and racing series, so there's plenty of access for non-members too. In light of what's been happening to tracks like PBIR I think it's a great model. I spend a good amount of time hanging around AMP and the rich guys are cool too. Car people love cars and other car people.
Akbarratt said:Website makes it seem pretty exclusive...
Apply for membership,
Do you have private air transportation?
Are you referred by a current member?
Do you have a comp license?
It's like the difference between being a member of a country club and playing the course. The previous development plan when it was going to be in OR called included an adjacent jet port if I recall correctly. Big money, big plans.
It seems like all the retail and campgrounds and condos get scaled back by the time a track project actually gets built and operational.
I camped in the parking lot at AMP before an HPDE when it first opened. 9 years later and they're still upgrading the facility and adding on stuff that was probably in the initial development renderings. :)
What city will it be in (or closest to)? Like Preach, TN is on our list of retirement states. Might as well live near a track too!
dyintorace said:What city will it be in (or closest to)? Like Preach, TN is on our list of retirement states. Might as well live near a track too!
It's right off of I-40, between Crossville and Knoxville.
In reply to Tyler H :
AMP spent a TON of money for over 5 years in legal costs (sound control) which forced it to seriously cut back on all planned expenditures to the point where SCCA could not approve the track for the higher speed RR classes, thus, there have been no SCCA racing there . . . . . sigh.
JimMurphy said:In reply to Tyler H :
AMP spent a TON of money for over 5 years in legal costs (sound control) which forced it to seriously cut back on all planned expenditures to the point where SCCA could not approve the track for the higher speed RR classes, thus, there have been no SCCA racing there . . . . . sigh.
Wow, didn't know that. Ironic, given that it's in the middle of nowhere.
As far as Flatrock, from the slew of local politicians attending the groundbreaking, I feel it has a good shot to be completed as planned. Of course, a few angry locals could sway their government, but it's a big deal for area, which many people seem to recognize. It was often compared to another recent addition to the Crossville area - Buc-ees.
Yeah, Crossville has long had the only functioning 1/8 mi drag strip in the area. They should embrace this.
As a resident of Oak Ridge, it is disappointing our town wouldn't try to move forward. Ho hum.
Tyler H said:JimMurphy said:In reply to Tyler H :
AMP spent a TON of money for over 5 years in legal costs (sound control) which forced it to seriously cut back on all planned expenditures to the point where SCCA could not approve the track for the higher speed RR classes, thus, there have been no SCCA racing there . . . . . sigh.
Wow, didn't know that. Ironic, given that it's in the middle of nowhere.
From whay I can tellthere are at least 2 AMP tracks. Jim Murphy is probably referring to Arizona Motorsports Park. There is also an Atlanta Motorsports Park https://www.atlantamotorsportspark.com/
In reply to J.A. Ackley :
A lot of tire manufacturers are in the area, and Nissan USA isn't too far away either, the local government and other big companies in the area welcome it and embrace the opportunity that it will provide the region.
It looks similar in layout to the one in the Ozarks, which I have driven and OMG is it fun! Tons of crazy corners, blind crests, elevation changes and so on. Fun, fun, fun!!!!!
MiniDave said:It looks similar in layout to the one in the Ozarks, which I have driven and OMG is it fun! Tons of crazy corners, blind crests, elevation changes and so on. Fun, fun, fun!!!!!
Agreed! The Midwest is representing!
wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:Yeah, Crossville has long had the only functioning 1/8 mi drag strip in the area. They should embrace this.
As a resident of Oak Ridge, it is disappointing our town wouldn't try to move forward. Ho hum.
I lived in Crossville from 2011-2015. Huge retirement community and at the time at least, those in government were actively keeping it a low income community in order to keep it cheap to live there. (they were actively refusing companies to build there if they were going to have a higher than average wage level). Where the track is being built is barely a dot on the map and far enough away from anything that it should be safe from complaints for a few decades minimum and will be the primary reason to visit that area. There's a cool waterfall nearby too. Going to this track will be on my list just for the ability/excuse to go visit old coworkers and friends.
Also the Crossville drag strip ( I40 Raceway?) is the sketchiest track I've ever been too. Short, Narrow, simple guard rail and small space to the bleachers (REAL close to the action). Track prep was draging an old tractor tire around behind an ATV... I don't know how things are now but I recall hearing somebody died there in a crash recently.
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