I dont know how many of you are familiar with the Barbers Motorsports track that was built last year. From everything I've heard on Speed Channel and from the Grand Am racers I've talked to in the pit area its supposed to be THE nicest track in the country if not the world. Here is some info on the track if your not familiar....

http://www.barbermotorsports.com/trackfacts.html

Me and and Herblenny are considering renting this track for a 2 day drivers event with instructors and everything. No one would have to work corners as the track provides them....thats a BIG plus in my book cause you can enjoy the day when you dont have to work the course.

We are trying to gauge interest because we would have to cough up an obscene amount of our own money to book a date. Then gamble that enough people would show to get our money back. This would have to be a very large event. I would need about 100 cars and it would cost around $300-$350 per car.

You would end up with 2 hours of track time on a extremely technical high speed track, in all honesty thats about all the abuse your car is going to take anyway on a track like this. In addition to that you would also have a VERY good instructor in the car with you until they are comforable with your ability to not wreck you car, or they can stay with you the entire time if youd like. There would be no speed limits like some drivers school event mandate and from what I gather a strong bolt on FD would be able to hit around 140-150mph or so on this track, maybe more depending on your skills, setup, and power.

Again we are just trying to gauge interest. If you want more info post up.

This event would be in Birmingham, Al where the track is located

Thanks,
STEPHEN and PHIL

 

I'd be interested, depending on the date chosen. I have relatives near B'ham - good excuse to drive up for a visit!

 

Autoweek featured the track upon it's recent completion. i was so impressed i clipped the article with the intent of getting on the track at some point.

anytime someone spends $50 MILLION on a new road racing track it gets my attention.

if the date works i will make the trip from wisconsin.

howard coleman

 

the track is amazing. it's like buttah.

I thought we'd gone through this before, though, Stephen. In the SE section (you know the thread, i think.) Did you get more concrete numbers?

...100 people x $350...interesting. Lot of money.

If my car is ready, i would probably fork out the money.

 

Yea, its a lot of money for sure. The track is VERY expensive and it would be impossible on a small scale. After going to Rotary Revolution and seeing how many people showed up I think with a similar type of event here in the south east we could swing enough people to make it happen. If we didnt get enough people I'd just have to fall back on the BMW and Porsche clubs to make up the difference, they all have money to blow and would jump at the chance to drive Barbers.

I've been making a lot of phone calls and me and Phillip are REALLY looking VERY deep in hopes of making this happen. My only concern of course is turn out. Its just so hard to gauge how many people would actually turn out. In addition this thread in particular kinda puts a damper on it for me cause out of the 3 people that posted $150FC is local to the track and I PMed Howard for some expert advice. If this is the type of response that the Barbers track can draw it will prob never happen

Maybe I need to dig up some good video or pictures of the track to post up, that way people can see just what type of event this would be.

STEPHEN

 

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is date pending of course would you guys drive to Birmingham and pay $350 to do a 2 day high speed drivers school at the Barbers track. In addition how far would you drive?

I mean hell, us Alabama guys just made a 11hr trip (one way) to basicaly hang out with people at the Rotary Revolution. And I had a good time meeting people, it was a lot of fun

If you would do it, PLEASE speak up

STEPHEN

 

Wow, those track rental rates must be obscenely high. Even Sears Point and Laguna Seca are cheaper than that with fewer cars.

I also read about the track and it looks fantastic. Have fun guys, too far for me!

 

Well, I'll let you off the hook since your all the way out in Cali haha.

Yea, the track is very expensive but its more of a professional track, to be honest they dont really do club races and stuff like that. They are also very particular about who they let rent the track, you can just walk up in there and throw down the money but I've be in touch with some race organizers that have me on the right path to pull this off. They run a track thats second to none and expect all events to be extremely professional. As an example if you want to jack up your car you have to put these plates under the jack and jackstand so it wont dimple the ground LOL

Also, some ideas I have is maybe contact some high profile rotary racers and see if I can get them to make exibition runs during lunch.

STEPHEN

 

$3500 is not expensive for 2 days of track rental especially since we are not even being asked to provide corner workers as i understand.

elkhart lake rented for 4500 a day in '89.

two days at that track for 350 is a steal.

actually i hope we do have some porch-es, ferraris a few vipers and corvettes to blow away.

howard coleman

 

you need to add a 0 to that Howard hehe

Its 100 people at $350 a pop......$35,000. for 2 days, that includes the track rental, 20 professional corner workers that are trained by the track, ambulance, tow truck there all day, over night secutiry gaurd since its 2 days and people will need to leave stuff overnight, and a property insurance coverage policy. This is all mandatory from the track, no if's and's or but's about it. It all adds up to be a big *** pile of money.

Its an expensive track for sure, but you have to realize from what I've been told by the Grand Am racers it is THE nicest track in the country if not the world, its also extremely technical and exciting to drive on.

You guys should hear the stories. People say he scalped the entire track surface and repaved it cause there was one seem on the track and he wanted it totally seamless. The track is absolutly perfect in every way. Its crazy, if you guys could see it in person you'd understand why it's SOOO expensive. You have to remember your renting a $50,000,000+ facility for 2 full days haha

STEPHEN

 

so much for my math. maybe elkhart is a bargain. bottom line is if you get it done i will be there.

howard coleman

 

haha, its ok man. I'd love for you to attend if we can get it together. It'll definatly be a class act event thats for sure.

BTW - I wish I'd talked to you more about your set up. Phillip told me you were running custom twins, like some T04's or something along that line.

STEPHEN

 

depending on when it is if I have my car running better i would definately be there.

Clark

Also I got a friend with apr stage 3 tt that would come as well.

 

Strong possibility I would make it...more depends on the dates, but with enough notice any date would be possible.

 

Getting together 100 cars will be tough. They'd have to come from all over the entire country, spend $350 just for the entry fee (+ their travel expenses) and then only get 2 hours of track time; don't see it happening.

Don't for a minute spend your own money until the full sum were collected from the drivers though; no sense in you going broke for trying to put an event together.

 

Yea, I dont know if I can get 100 rx7's but we'd also pitch it to the RX8 guys and if we didnt get enough people around 2 months from the date I'd open it up to the BMW and Porsche club. Then it should fill up pretty fast, those guys are always ready to jump on the Barbers track

 

yeah i think combining with BMW and Porsche club would be the most realistic approach. Set aside a set number of slots for each make, and at the 2 weeks til track day mark, open up reserved slots so whichever make has waitlist drivers can fill the spots.

the Mazda Sportscar Club of Washington (DC area Mazda club) does something similar. Instead of limiting to allow ONLY Mazdas to attend, they basically allow ALL makes and models to register and attend. And they usually fill out all the spots about a month in advance of the track days.

 

btw shouldn't this be in the SE section or motorsports section??

 

Possibally, but I'm not trying to make this a SE only event and I dont know where the "motorsports section" is located. I realize I'll need to pull people from all over so I'm trying to reach the target audience. A lot of the road racers hang out in here so I thought this would be a decent place to try and get some attention.

In addition I tried to make the title failry descriptive so someone would know what its about without having to enter and waste thier time.

If the mods have a problem with it they can move it but I figured it would be ok.


STEPHEN

 

i don't think this thread should be in the southeast exclusively as the opportunity to run at Barber will draw from everywhere. almost

howard coleman

 

I'd go in a heartbeat if I lived within a couple of states.

 

Like someone mentioned above, your best bet would be to have a co-organizer. Get in touch with the Mazdadrivers.com group. I've been with them for several years and they easily get a 100 per event. If you do this for Spring of 2005 I bet they would do this.

BTW, $350 per weekend per person is a real good price. However, I bet this would be for a non-weekend event, which may be problematic for some.

Ramon

 

GREAT, thanks for the tip. I'll check out Mazdadrivers.com

Its a weekend event. You cant rent it during the week cause they have the Porsche driving school there during the week. Which btw, cost about $1500 a day to go to the Porsche school but I hear it rocks

STEPHEN

 

Great Thread Stephen!!!

 

Stephen, some of the locals here in Kansas City were talking about a similar type of event at Heartland Park in Topeka. my car isn't running right now, but i'm pretty confident it will be with the advance needed to put an event like this together. but count me as interested, and i'm pretty sure there are a couple of other local guys here who would be interested as well. i'll link this in our local club. good idea and i hope we can make it happen.
israel