Racetrack for sale

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Reverend Hedgash
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Location: Hobart, Tasmania

Racetrack for sale

Post by Reverend Hedgash »

For interest sake; the Honda proving centre is for sale in California:

http://www.cbre.com/USA/US/CA/South+Bay ... m?pageid=0

I hope people don't mind me posting objects for sale of odd racing paraphernalia here... I know import rules etc limit the liklihood of genuine purchases of this stuff, but I would think it to be of interest to those to see what is out there, how much it is selling for and blah...

We don't seem to be inundated in the forum of stuff to sell...

dik
DLRA Member#412
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Lynchy
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by Lynchy »

Has Dave Leikvold won Lotto yet?

Dave - get a move on!
David Leikvold
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by David Leikvold »

Funny you should ask Paul! Sadly the answer is still no, just an ever increasing pile of tickets with "NotaWinner" printed on them, which for the Lotto company makes a lot more commercial sense than the far more realistic "You loser!"

For all those who won't understand Paul's joke, many years ago at one of Don's quarterly get togethers I mentioned in passing to Paul that what the DLRA really needed was a permanent facility somewhere in south east Queensland. Something like the Texas Mile or ECTA or even Loring AFB would have been good. I was just dreaming out loud of course, but I must have sounded serious enough for Paul to think I was probably insane! Anyway, the discussion evolved into us seriously looking at using country airstrips, none of which came to fruition, for any number of reasons. At least we had a go, and that's why I always contribute to threads like Longford or Lake Omeo.

But when the moon is high I still sometimes search Google for "rural real estate Queensland". Out west in the channel country properties are dead flat forever (hence the vast areas being flooded) and are all huge, i.e. miles in any direction and you can often buy land for less than $100 an acre. Closer in they get smaller and relatively more expensive and it gets hard to find anything that could have a 3 mile straight line anywhere on the property. I've found a few from time to time (there's a full moon every 4 weeks) mostly around the Dumaresq River which forms the eastern end of the border between Qld and NSW, anywhere between Goondiwindi and Mole River. That area is only a few hours from Brisbane and goes further south than Ballina so it would be easily accessable for our Mexicans friends too. And still being in Queensland the weather is much better :wink: .

I have always chosen to ignore the reality that I have less than no money and even if I was a few million up I wouldn't spend it on a racetrack. Most properties of an interesting size cost less than $5m (rolls off the tongue so easily!) especially the old farms that are run down and/or have little infrastructure, but the cost of building even just a straight line of bitumen would be prohibitive, especially as local people and probably the Flying Doctor would want to use it as an all-weather country airstrip. And having a proper race circuit there as well would really help the local economy, so the dream always finishes up bigger than Ben Hur...

Cheers
Dave :D
Good, Fast, Cheap, pick any two!
momec2
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by momec2 »

This country needs dreaming optimists Dave.

Chris
David Leikvold
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by David Leikvold »

You're right Chris, a man without dreams has nothing. And optimism is the sunny side of the street. My daughter, who is a champion gymnast and an outstanding student as well, likes to wear a T-shirt that reads "Dream, Dare, Do". She's certainly not lacking in imagination, initiative or achievements. She does all three very well. Even though my dreaming would be raising a few chuckles here and there, there probably wouldn't be a member of the club that hasn't at one time or another just quietly thought that having a permanent facility, or even just a place we can borrow a few times a year, wouldn't be a bad idea. Just look at the number of attempts that various members have made to run small meetings around the country. One week a year might be OK for some people but in the US they have LSR championships, not just one off events. If we had a quarterly race meeting at a permanent facility and then Speedweek in March at the lake there'd be very few people doing last minute builds in February.

Just think of some of the advantages that a permanent facility would offer us. Once the track was laid the timing system and marked out distances could be permanent, so we'd only ever pay surveyors once. The distances and timing system would be FIA approved and our records would be recognised worldwide. If the cars and bikes used Dorian timers the whole timing system would be automatic, a real one man operation. If you didn't want to buy a Dorian you could use your GPS. Signage would be permanent, mile markers and exit points wouldn't just be witches' hats. Return roads would be bitumen. Spectator facilities could be built, levelling and landscaping of runoff areas could be done. Permanent stations for ambulance and fire & rescue crews could be built. Drainage could be optimised to minimise down time in wet weather and help to minimise flood damage. The pits could be permanent with shade, power, lights, water, showers and toilets. Camping would be very civilised. The number of volunteers needed to run a meeting would be vastly less than at the lake. The organisation of a permanent facility would be so much easier than starting from scratch every March. More meetings means more money coming in, the club could run a canteen and those profits could also fund further improvements. The strip could also function as an airstrip that generated landing fees. Other motorsport facilities could be built on the farm to attract other users and even more profit generated. Those facilites might in time include a full race circuit which, with link roads, could be divided into a few smaller circuits for car club lap dashes and sprints, part of the strip could be a drag strip. The pits and scrutineering area could be used as a skid pan for driver training and motorkhanas, off road buggies could race on dirt tracks around the farm and use the pits and facilities as required. A day with a bulldozer and a big water pump would see a track cut and filled ready for V8 jet sprint boat racing. Motocross bikes would be just as easy. Part of the circuit could be a kart track with a bit more bitumen work. If there was a town nearby we could even build a footy field, some netball courts and a 50m swimming pool. If part of the farm was hilly or rocky we could have a dirt hillclimb, a bitumen hillclimb and places for the 4x4 rock crawlers to enjoy. A natural hollow or hillside could, with a stage built, become an outdoor concert venue.The list just goes on and on...

Maybe one day we will have some sort of permanent facility. But one thing's for sure, it won't happen without a lot of dreaming and planning first. I've considered many possibilities over the years, anything from borrowing a public road in outback Victoria for a weekend to the vague possibility that an old straight road might be bypassed by a flash new freeway somewhere and we could use the old road. There are any number of ideas out there. They aren't all good ideas or easy to achieve. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. Lots of farms have an unsealed airstrip long enough for light aircraft, if the right opportunity came along a good one of those could be extended a couple of miles and tar sealed as finances permitted and still be a useful farm. All they've done in the first place is clear some trees and some scrub so they can see the kangaroos on short final and hopefully not run into anything when they touch down. I have no idea of how this might be affordable, but you have to start somewhere. The DLRA could obviously never afford such a thing, it would have to be the sudden appearance of an extremely generous benefactor and as we all know, they aren't exactly thick on the ground. Who knows, maybe a member will buy a farm that he intends to run as a farm and then offers us the land to build a sealed track. You just never know.

Lotto is $20m next Saturday, I think it is the duty of every honourable DLRA member to get out there and buy tickets and then donate their first division winnings to the purchase of a suitable farm :shock: !
We could run it as a farm and plough the profits into the ever expanding motorplex I've already mentioned. I know I'll be doing my best to make it happen :wink:

Cheers
Dave :D
Good, Fast, Cheap, pick any two!
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Greg Watters
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by Greg Watters »

David Leikvold wrote:We could run it as a farm and plough the profits into the ever expanding motorplex Cheers
Dave :D
David , Farm and profit are not usually in the same sentence :lol:
Like the rest of the ideas :D
David Leikvold
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Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by David Leikvold »

Thanks for that dose of reality Greg, sometimes I get a bit too excited for my own good :wink:

Check this one out: http://www.elders.com.au/branch/listing ... nch_id=694

If this link doesn't work properly just go the elders website and look for "Kelso & Miamba".

This property would have been perfect. It's in what I think is the right place for an alternate venue and is big enough to easily meet our needs. 8909 acres is 13.92 square miles. Assuming that the property was perfectly square, which it wouldn't be, each side of the square would be 3.73 miles long. It wouldn't be hard to build a three and a half mile straight bitumen strip in there somewhere, it would just be really expensive. The track could easily be a couple of miles from the nearest neighbours and around Texas there aren't that many of them. Google the area, you'll see what I mean. I'm guessing the property is maybe somewhere near Bonshaw or Silver Spur. Best of all, check out the photos, the place has a huge area of mostly flat open land in a valley. No clearing of trees required, no major earthworks, with hills to stop a lot of the noise getting away.

in the meantime, I'll keep looking and keep giving my loose change to Tattersalls.

Cheers
Dave :D
Good, Fast, Cheap, pick any two!
David Leikvold
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Location: Brisbane

Re: Racetrack for sale

Post by David Leikvold »

I'm sitting here wasting my day when I really should be working. Good job I'm self employed so I only have the wife to nag me when she gets home tonight. One of the kids is home sick so I might just get away with it after all! The Kelso & Miamba property is right near Bonshaw, just on the Queensland side of the border. The property was originally listed at $3m but went to auction and was passed in at $1.2m after only one bid and a bit of discussion with the highest bidder. The final sale price was not revealed but I doubt it would have gone much higher with only one interested buyer. The seller must have been desperate to have given up and taken a $1.8m kick in the pants, maybe he'd heard Greg's news :lol:. The bloke who bought it was from Boggabilla and wanted it to expand his cattle empire so it won't be for sale again anytime soon.

Cheers
Dave :D
Good, Fast, Cheap, pick any two!
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