I wasn't aware Hastings was available
I wasn't aware Hastings was available
What's a fair bid for something in Nebraska? $100?
Hmmm . . . looks like Lincoln is the closest major city and that is almost 100 miles away if google maps is to be believed. Seems like it might be a tough go as a commercial venture.
Pfffft I'd happily drive 100 miles for a road course, that's only a bit closer than Sebring so 2 tracks in that range would be great. As for real estate in Nebraska.... I got a $20 in my pocket if someone wants to go halfsies, maybe thirdsies.
Error404 said:Pfffft I'd happily drive 100 miles for a road course, that's only a bit closer than Sebring so 2 tracks in that range would be great. As for real estate in Nebraska.... I got a $20 in my pocket if someone wants to go halfsies, maybe thirdsies.
I just got a bonus at work. I got a solid be\ji to throw in.
It's fun to drive, but you'd have to buy it priced on revenue potential. If I spend $500k, I need to make 3-6% of that, or $15-30k a year after facility costs. Winter happens in that part of the world, so you've got what, 35 weekends? What does it cost to mow and maintain that facility? How much do you need to put away per year for maintenance/repaving?
My crazy plan is.....worm farming. You can't believe that number of worms that come out after a rain. Big worms. There's got to be money there, right?
For comparison, apparently Grattan in Michigan is for sale for something like $5M. Fun track in a pretty good location, but no idea what the economics look like.
One of my customers is part owner of Blackhawk in Beloit, IL. He was excited that all his future open weekends were booked when I brought lunch in December.
I think the world needs a GRM track. Maybe we all pool our money for a stake in the track and rename it!
You can go to the track's website to see how busy they've been. It looks like they do a lot of private and club events. Besides camping, they also have some on-site condos that can be rented for the weekend which is a nice touch.
In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :
Your worms are bigger than the snakes in my yard...
Northern Redbelly snakes live in the dirty south (4" to 12" length)...
Oh, we were talking about buying a track in Nebraska...I'm in for tree fiddy if I can get a weekend or two each year at a favorable rate... :)
In reply to secretariata :
That worm picture was taken at the track in question when OLOA visited this year. Not my worm, Hasting's worm. I did enjoy the track. It was for sale then.
No bids after the preview dates earlier this month, that's not a good sign.
It's Nebraska so we can put together a rallycross corn maze course around it right?
Well, the good part about it is that there is not much competition there with HPT on the outs and MAM is the only other quick tow from there. The bad news is you really only have half the year to make your $$$ unless you look at an Ice racing rink.
I don't see it having a lot of value honestly. Maybe $1-2M tops for the land with the track being almost worthless. It's a tough place to have a track and not really huge sportscar country.
mazdeuce - Seth said:In reply to secretariata :
That worm picture was taken at the track in question when OLOA visited this year. Not my worm, Hasting's worm. I did enjoy the track. It was for sale then.
Dang...I "ass"umed that was a Texas worm, 'cause...
Still in for tree fiddy if I can get favorable exchange rates from the east coast...
I always thought owning / managing a track would be the ultimate gig. If it was profitable of course.
CMP is for sale and better located. And probably a lot more $$$.
In reply to spitfirebill :
Hmmm, how far would that be from the GRM corporate offices. I’d be happy to move to the Carolinas and run the GRMCRT operation. Lol.
spitfirebill said:CMP is for sale and better located. And probably a lot more $$$.
Last I heard the CMP sale has gone through.
There are plans for the future. We shall see if they happen.
rustybugkiller said:I always thought owning / managing a track would be the ultimate gig. If it was profitable of course.
I have relatives who own a track. They enjoy it and do pretty well, but it's a ton of work and can be seven day a week job.
A couple of years ago, I listed a track event at Lime Rock on craiglist. Got the scammer reply "Is this still available? How much to ship it?" I quoted 8.1 million to ship a 1.5 mile road course to him. You might want to figure shipping into your bid, maybe got to $50 for thirdsies
Doubt it can be run 35 weekends a year, there's more weather there than that. Every single time I've gone to run Hastings its rained. That track is incredibly slippery when it's damp/wet.
I just stopped going because its not worth it to me to drive 6-7 hours to not have fun running in the rain. Hastings is also kinda in the middle of nowhere, there aren't any really large cities nearby.
It seems every time a track is sold it sells for 30% of whatever the previous person paid for it. Once it gets to the 3rd or 4th owners, then they can actually make money or at least break even on it.
mazdeuce - Seth said:It's fun to drive, but you'd have to buy it priced on revenue potential. If I spend $500k, I need to make 3-6% of that, or $15-30k a year after facility costs. Winter happens in that part of the world, so you've got what, 35 weekends? What does it cost to mow and maintain that facility? How much do you need to put away per year for maintenance/repaving?
My crazy plan is.....worm farming. You can't believe that number of worms that come out after a rain. Big worms. There's got to be money there, right?
Damn, that's a good worm. I could cut it up and catch 10 or 12 bluegills with it.
This would be a project where thinking somewhat outside the proverbial box would be useful.
Inside the box there are the typical road course usages. Someone brought up rally cross which brought up in my mind “stadium”-ish off road and mud bog (if that is still a thing). Those are somewhat dependant on the amount of open land there. I had also thought about a dirt oval but there is already one nearby.
Outside the box would be an automotive business park (manufacturing not retail), again depending on how much open land is part of the facility. The track could serve as “their” test track. The county would likely help, some, in attracting businesses there – tax “incentives”, zoning (keep residential far away) etc. Then there would be some jobs for locals.
Then attracting events and marketing, marketing, marketing
The track is located within an industrial area already. I'm not sure how much extra land comes with it. They have a few condos on site, which are cool on the surface, but they surrounding area is as bleak as I've ever seen around a race track (with the exception of Autobahn outside Chicago)
I've been to more than a few tracks where I thought "I'd love to own this" or "I could come here every day" but Hastings is not on that list.
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