RonCT

2 hours door to door - now that would be nice!

You have to imagine just how many days that place is going to sit idle. They say there are 200 days open and what does LRP Club have - 20 days (or is it you pick up to 20 out of 60 possible?). I can just imagine a typical week at Monticello - Monday, 1 Beginner, no novices, 1 intermediate, and 2 advanced drivers, Tuesday, nobody showed due to light rain in the early morning, Wednesday... I'd say adding PCA and other activities adds to the feel of the place - members can come in and check out the real action, 40 of us on a 4 mile track passing and being passed. It was pretty "dull" on 4/5 when we watched a total of 2 or 3 Club guys out there all alone (well, until the guy with the new GT3 let his buddy drive the car and crash it).

Let's keep the positive vibes going - it would be nice to do several 2-day events there next year (and maybe sneak one in this year to break the place in).

tx911sc

Can you post a link

Gary R.

Post #1

datax

How many private tracks are around NE, do you guys know? Just curious.

Gary R.

Two that I know of - Monticello, NY and Lime Rock, CT...

Antonio

I wonder whether the two NASA NE dates are actually open muffler events. Their LRP event is muffled and that keeps many racers away.

Geoffrey

NO ONE has any contracts for track days at Montecello yet and the track isn't finished. Any dates are tentative at this point and PCA will have the same option that NASA has for some dates. This is a 1 year option only. They have repeatedly said that they want to remain a private club track and renting to car clubs like PCA makes it harder for them to sign new members. By renting the track this year to car clubs, it raises their prospective members interest in the track, since at thie point, it is still mostly dirt.

They are having a get together in NYC in the comming months. They currently have somewhat less than 100 paid members, however, unlike LRP, they are fully funded for the $44m project and DO NOT require membership fees to complete the track. The track recently had some management changes and their initial budget of $22m was DOUBLED if that tells you anything about their committment to developing a very nice facility.

gums

Supposedly there's something going on up in New Hampshire, as well. Nothing to do with NHIS.

gums

Mufflers aren't the only thing that stifles that event. It's a short track and the big cars can't really stretch their legs. Further, it's a steep entry fee for, worst of all; only a two day event. With that in mind, I'm on my way up.

911GT3KNIGHT

I called the track up in Monticello to find out more. Some one explained that some clubs might have access to the south circuit only which is about 2+ miles but the club is really a private member-only club. The south circuit looks pretty amazing but I really want to drive the whole 4 mile course. Any one know any members to take us as a guest???

RonCT

Actually, limiting car clubs to a short course makes sense - get 120 people at a time to come check the place out while paying rent to do so. Sounds like a better business plan than LRP Club where they let you come to a Club day for free to see if you'll like the place. Imagine this for marketing - Charge PCA, BMWCCA, etc. market rate for track rental and get hundreds of prospects out to your facility. So you give up maybe 10 out of 200 days that the club is open - 99% of the time there's probably only 1 or 2 people driving around the place.

Land Jet

Used to live a few miles outside of Monticello and still have friends in the area. This will be a good reason to visit and kill 2 birds with one stone.

wanna911

Me too, I knew there couldnt be a track that looked that much like Barber.

What's up with that. But the info on the track lists two guys names one of which IS NOT Alan Wilson who did Barber and CMP.

amaist

Private club, yawn...

How do they expect to have 200 days a year that are not nearly deserted almost all the time other than some holiday weekends?
When I was driving in the beginner run groups I wished for empty track. Now I just wish to drive with people who are similar or better than me on the track. Having an empty track is fun once in a while but then it gets boring. Even if I am not really racing having other cars there makes it so much better.

How many people are there who enjoy a track just to themselves?

I understand the concern of many who don't want to risk their fancy exotic cars being hit by yahoos in rust buckets. But if the only qualification is the ability to put down large sums of money then they are likely to get hit by yahoos in expensive exotic cars. Other than the fact that the rich yahoo will be able to pay to fix your car how is it better?

This is why I like Calabogie so much. The track is rented to any organization willing to put up the money. And the owner has his own lapping days where the main qualification is not the ability to pay ridiculous amounts of money but the ability to consistently avoid crashing while still keeping a decent pace. If I had a track I'd run it that way, too.