Well we gave it a solid effort. The petition and support from the automotive community shed light on the situation and helped elevate the discussion to the right levels. But despite a good amount of proposed compromise, the local group that formed the major opposition to the track won’t agree to anything.
In the end we’ve figured out what all this was really about; not noise and perceived danger, but simply that they don’t want anything in their town.
If you want to read the back story for those that don’t know what’s going on, Click HERE. I’m not going to elaborate on all the details / politics over again.
So what’s next?
A few things are in the works. One thing that we can “declassify” right now is the start of a small track in Edenvale, Ontario:
It’s a tad shorter than Dunnville (2.2km vs. 2.05km) but it’s much further away for us in NY - 3 hours away actually. That said, we realize that some people won’t be interested. So we’re going to offer track time at a discounted rate just to initially get some people out there - we haven’t sorted out a price yet, but think in the $50 range for a day.
We won’t be having a track day here until late June since it still needs some paving work, but we should start to think about what day we’d want. So if you’re interested in going, post up and suggest a date in late June. Whatever works for you guys, just keep into account that some people might want to spend the night out there due to the length of the drive.
Positives:
- Same “relaxed” atmosphere as Dunnville
- Low cost
- Grassy run-off and room for error
- Track allows bikes. Yes, I SAID BIKES.*
- Drifting allowed
Negatives:
- Distance / drive time
- Slightly shorter track
- Some people might want to stay the night after a long day
- If enough Bike guys here are interested, we should be able to fit some time in for you. :tup:
Same with Dunnville, Edenvale isn’t a serious track like Watkins Glen or Beaverun. But it’s going to be good for those who are not serious racers and just want to get out there and kick around their car a bit.
The track is actually close to Wasaga Beach (think Crystal Beach) and Collingwood (Blue Mountain Resort area) so there will be some good places to stay the night if people are interested. Maybe rent a beach house for a weekend?
So let me know what you think. Like I said, this is just one thing that we’re working on. But we need to know if anyone is interested in making a 3 hour drive for a discounted track day.