2007 AX?DE dates

[kurquhart]

I have never been to Coors Amphitheatre. Do they have large open lots, are they filled with trees/curbs?

[ttweed]

I have never been to Coors Amphitheatre. Do they have large open lots, are they filled with trees/curbs?

I ran a couple of times at Soak City down there with SCCA years ago. No, they are not huge, and yes, the lots have planters in them that make safe course layout more difficult. Almost any parking lot built under the newer guidelines for landscaping will have these problems.

One of the problems with Coors would be scheduling--their events are held mostly on the weekends, too. Soak City was closed in the winter, so their lot was available from Nov. until about May, I think.

[harnishclan]

Maybe we just have to go smaller. The AX that is put in at Orange Show fairgrounds is much smaller than the space (about a 1/4) we use. If that is an option, it opens up many more options like parts of mall parking lots. At Parkway plaza, we have met there in the past to start the Father's day drive to Julian. Why not use that same area for an AX? Minimal obstructions, no planters, and a curb around that entire section. Other options then could become college parking lots other mall lots, military base lots on the weekends, even possibly the outlying lot at Sea World or Viejas. If we downsize our vision of what our needs are to do an AX, more venues will be possible.

[ronaldtrotter]

We finally have the 2007 dates for AX
7 AX events
2 DE events
plus Driving School and Parade AX

All dates are AX unless marked
Jan 27 West Lot
Mar 11 West Lot
Apr 29 Southeast Lot
May 26 Southeast Lot
Jun 23 West Lot
Jul 7 West Lot
Jul 22 West Lot


Apr 21-22 West Lot Porsche Driving School
May 12 West Lot Drivers Education
Jul 4 West Lot Parade AX
Jul 21 West Lot Drivers Education

[ronaldtrotter]

The above post has been edited to reflect the following changes;

The April 28 AX will now be Arpil 29.
The May 19 Ax will now be May 26.

Unfortunately these were unavoidable changes. Other then these two dates the Calendar for the first half of the year stays the same.

[seguina]

hmmm... from my post in November 2005 -

Ok - different approach. Build it and they will come.

Even if the Chargers stay and the Stadium remains, the parking lot will continue to deteriorate. Aren't we all getting a bit tired of trying to avoid decomposing pavement, swales, drains, nails, light poles, and broken glass?

Why not begin to do something proactive?

There must be locations that are feasible to build a modest motorsports facility (the Miramar landfill? under the Miramar approach/flight path? up by Ramona?).

Possible plan:

1. Form a small committee to investigate
2. Get participation from other interested groups (BMWCCA, SCCA, British Car Clubs, karting, motorcycles, ???)
3. Find some candidate locations within the County (maybe set a limit of 1/2 the distance to Holtville from the Stadium?)
4. Determine the cost to construct a decent road course (maybe include a drag strip for the Race Legal guys if they are interested?) - don't forget enough paved area for parking and our Performance Driving School
... yes, I know we are talking at least 7 figures here - rural road construction costs can exceed $1M per mile ...
(of course, we can skip the curbs! )
5. Work out different options for the facility - lighting? plumbing or just port-a-potties? bleachers? trailer storage? etc.
6. Work out the operating costs (leasing, insurance, debt service, taxes, maintenance, fees, services, etc.)
7. Identify possible sources of capital funding - be creative (PCNA, BMW, dealers, celebrities/companies [name the track? "Jay Leno Motorsports Park"], individual contributions, financing, etc. (can it be non-profit and get tax-deductable donations - especially if we get Race Legal involved?)
8. Treat this as a business operation and put together a business plan and prospectus - heck, maybe one of our members would like to own it!
9. Go for it!

I am willing to help with this if there are some other motivated individuals who will get involved. (We need at least one person with some legal background, one with some construction experience [preferably highway/road experience], and someone who has done a business plan before [preferably successful].)

Any takers??? Any reasons to NOT do this? (Other than inertia, of course. )

I could be very wrong, but my guess is that the local motorsports community currently pays at least $200K-$300K/year to rent space at the Q, and I am pretty sure PCA-SDR would rent more time if it were available - I have to believe the others would as well. If annual operating expenses could be kept to a minimum, a project like this might be financeable to a pretty large number.

This in my opinion is the approach to take. As for funding, add Government (land or cash),without it and a lot of political help it will not get built. A piece of government property with regional politial help might get the ball rolling. It's amazing how many people are against any kind of motorsport facility. Usually protecting ther pocket books. Move your geographicl area north to service a bigger area. Oceanside is 30 min. from South Orange County.

Just a thought. Without regional government help I don't see it going forward. Have Fun! Steve