Let's set a financial goal of just keeping your head above water and not trying to make a bunch of money. What, if any, racing seems to be surviving? I'm not aware of any that are thriving. What's economically viable?
What would you do? Pavement oval with a dragstrip? Karting track on steroids? Facility for track days/grudge racing? Dirt oval?
The new one in our area is Dominion, in Stafford, Va. It replaces the "old" Old Dominion which was an 1/8 mile dragstrip and a small paved circle track with not much else there. It existed for decades before it kind of got surrounded by suburbia and that probably created issues.
So the owners opened a new one, which has a full road course (2 miles), as well as a 4/10th mile oval course. It also has a drag strip, but that uses the main straight of the road course. It seems to be pretty popular so far - they definitely have a good number of oval track events. I've also seen drift, super karts, and of course track days, etc. The other thing is they built a really nice and big building right there at the grandstand, where they seem to host music concerts, business gatherings, and stuff like that. Basically, they built a race facility with the flexibility to do other things, and in this area I think that's a financial winner.
So yeah, I think the key is to make it both for racing and for other activities that can take place outside of racing. Anyhow, worth checking out their site to see all the stuff they have there.
The only thing they DON'T have is rallycross :( They have big fields, but apparently part of the deal for them to get the land right next to I-95 was that a certain percentage of the property had to remain "natural/green area" and could not be used for motorsports. So no rallycross.....
That's gonna be one bigass piece of paper.
The one by me that's doing well financially is like a karting track on steroids in size, but now has very fancy facilities. The track directly offers karting, dirt track buggy racing, and track days in a Swift spec racer or Radical SR3, and is a local dealer for Birel and Radical. They host non-auto-racing events there too, like concerts, a defensive driving school, sometimes "bicycle track days." However most tracks don't have such a concentrated population of wealthy people close by with a shortage of other options.
In the last 10 or so years maybe 15 there have been two attempts to open high level tracks in the area. One was a Formula 1 facility the other was a NASCAR facility. The local entertainment magnate had a big campaign and blocked them both through voter referendum. I would have loved to enjoy either one of those facilities.
On the kart side, pretty much like Gopro in mooresville but I'll would add an smal paved oval and a flatter paved space for Auto-X and other events.
The new track in Bowling Green Kentucky seems to be doing well. Of course it’s the home track for Corvette so that helps. But it does pretty much anything and everything to make money.
Dominion's big building has been a great addition. Can see whole oval track and a large amount of the road course from it. SWMBO and other spectators can hang out in there enjoying the AC during track days.
The garage journal forums have featured a few “luxury” car storage/garage/condo parks. Whatever we build, let’s put a few dozen of those peppered around the facility. Bigger ones for businesses/clubs and smaller ones for individuals. Like these https://www.irongatemotorcondos.com/
Crxpilot said:
It's a cool idea, but keep in mind that IRL this idea has been a failure virtually everywhere it's been tried. The same track by me has a toy barn style trackside duplex, AFAIK it's never been rented and has only come in handy as a celebrity powder room.
stroker said:Let's set a financial goal of just keeping your head above water and not trying to make a bunch of money. What, if any, racing seems to be surviving? I'm not aware of any that are thriving. What's economically viable?
Oval dirt tracks around here are thriving. The stands are full every race night and most of them have some sort of kart thing going on midweek.
The local dragstrip, (Toronto motorsports park) also has a small road course for lapping days and tried to build a 'motocross' track a few years ago but it was a disaster. They otherwise appear to be doing well.
There is a 5/8 mile paved track close by that was once a big deal with many well known NASCAR drivers racing there in the 70's and 80's. It closed for about 10 years but is repaved and opened again for large races and concerts. My guess is that it will closed again in a few years.
If it were me I would build a dirt oval with a rallycross course and motocross/woods course for alternating weekends. I bet the tracks around here don't do it because there's no need to. They make more than enough with weekly racing.
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