http://www.raceinmason.com/home.html

I got the news from Alfa track day yesterday, apparently the track will be developed by 2 local conference racers and the track will model after Thunderhill, giving ORP the run of its money... Need I say more??

They do need us to show the support so the county and others will be able to "see the money".

I just update it on my facebook, but I don't know too many people, thinking this will be the good place to spread the words around as many of us belongs to our car clubs and forums; and i had met a few of you who are die-hard track lapping dogs .

 

I am on the mailing list and have emailed county commissioners my thoughts when prodded by the people that are more involved... actually got a response from one of the government folks and did a little back and forth and volunteered to be the voice of the local sport driver if they ever wanted to ask any questions or needed additional perspective...

ORP is pretty damn good but a better "more" local option would be great as well.

 

PJS, that's cool, now are you going to show up on Oct. 5th? When they talked about this in the driver's meeting, they urge us to just show up with our cars, friends and families. Maybe we should just organize a multi forum cruise there??

Oh, don't know if you remember, i met you at PR like 2 yrs ago in one of those pouring rain track day. I'm "Slowv6" the red nsx.

 

PJS, thanks for the support

SlowV6, if you were at the Alfa day, you may have seen at lunch time a Maroon Nissan Murano running around the track. That was me and the planning director from Mason County (Shelton).

Truth is, we have not reached out to the general market yet with advertising because we had no assurance that we would get approval.

Well, now we are getting pretty damn close.

Your support on October 5 would be greatly appreciated. You may not be able to speak (there will be a large crowd) but numbers count when it comes to the County Commissioners vote.

BTW, I began as an HPDE participant as well, moved on to racing, and then found the shortcomings of our tracks as compared to Thunderhill.

I really think we can build a safe, multi use facility in the PNW and have it be succesful.

If you could, please cross post this to any forum you deem appropriate.

Thanks,

Rod Powell
Partner, The Ridge Motorsports Group

 

I'm with PJ a ORP close to home would make my day. Pac Raceways and PIR just don't cut it. We need real pavement here in our area with a safe place for people to learn. Pacific Raceways has neither. I have no need to ever run that track again so I'll limit myself to a few times a year at ORP until something better happens.

 

+1 Couldn't agree more.

 

It is basically undeniable that we need a local alternative...

I like PR but it is clear that it will just continue on as is... making patchy repairs but no real improvements... for the record, I am not counting metal grandstands as a real improvment...

ORP is awesome, but 5 hours from me... which means that it is not a one day deal... which is fine because we are pulling multi day trips there and it is working fine.

But a local option for a day trip would be great.

 

As an ORP owner/investor, I can say with experience that tracks are harder to get developed and operated without overwhelming support from the community (the gov't officials locally and at the county/state level, as well as the neighbors and affected businesses/landowners). And it doesn't end with the approval process, it is an ongoing political exercise, all the time. I hope the investor group and the supporters are able to pull this off, as it looks like a very nice plan....especially if the funds are already available to build it. The location is less than an hour from where I live, so I would be a supporter as a participant in whatever track events I would qualify for.

I'd love to see more specs on the track layout itself. At the end of the day, as you all know, the track is the "show", and that is what drives interest. This is how ORP has been able to develop itself organically: people love the track and plan to come back, even though it's literally in the middle of nowhere and with very little amenities currently. From the diagram on the website, it looks like a cool layout, and different enough from PIR and PR to create a lot of interest in driving it.

To all involved, good luck with this!

 

GH1 you aren't kidding. ORP is a fricking BLAST!

 

Roman,

I had no idea that you were one of the owners/investors! That explains why you're always there! How long have you been involved? Sorry to get off topic.

I agree with Mark too.. ORP is easily my favorite track up here in the NW now. I can't wait to see how the new one pans out too.

 

I'm very happy to hear this news about the possible new track. Other options would be nice.

 

Jason, yes this explains why I am there a lot! I have been an investor since 2008. I will go down and help host events when being put on by people I know.....and get a little track time in as well

 

it's tomorrow, anyone's going to support The Ridge Motorsports Park??

http://raceinmason.wordpress.com/

 

Glad to see this turn out so well.

T

 

What happened at the meeting on the 12th? Any positive news?