Interesting provincial announcement

Canada Nissan Automotive
1

Too bad there is no road course…

Province provides $430,000 for Central Alberta Raceways expansion
Rimbey benefitting from Major Community Facilities Program

The Alberta government is contributing $430,000 to the expansion of the Central Alberta Raceways at the Rimbey Kinsmen Motorsports Park.
Started in 2003, Central Alberta Raceways hosts a number of racing events each year and attracts over 15,000 racers and racing fans from across the province and Western Canada.

“Whether it’s on the snow or on the track, racing is a sport enjoyed by Albertans all year round,” said Hector Goudreau, Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture. “We are pleased to support a project that will provide thrills and excitement for local spectators and visitors from around the world.”

The $430,000 grant will go towards the expansion of the racing venue and construction of a new paved track. The total project cost is an estimated $869,000 and is part of a long range development plan to make the Rimbey Motorsports Park a premier multi-motor sport racing venue in Western Canada.

Funds for the expansion are being provided as part of the Alberta government’s Major Community Facilities Program. This two-year, $280-million lottery-funded program, helps municipalities, not-for-profit organizations and Aboriginal communities plan, upgrade or build major public-use facilities that enhance community life.

“This new track is estimated to be one of the longest paved drag racing tracks in Alberta,” said Ray Prins, MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka. “We hope this expansion will help draw more than double the number of people that come to the Raceways each year.”

Jeff Makofka, President of the Rimbey Kinsmen Club added, “Our community project has come a long way and we will now be able to get into the next gear. The community support has been outstanding and with these new funds we can proceed with the completion of a new drag strip for Alberta.”

Supporting community organizations and investing in infrastructure are part of Premier Ed Stelmach’s plan to secure Alberta’s future by building communities, greening our growth and creating opportunity.

2

I guess living in a province filled with rednecks that would rather drive in a straight line is more of a thrill than “technical” driving skills…

(not hating on drag racing but come on, let’s have some variety not all of us enjoy driving in a straight line all the time…if it was all about top speed all the time I would rather be strapped to a rocket sled for g-load testing)

3

thats cause they cant drive a “technical” course

4

Thats good news for us central albertans. It would be way better with a road course though. I heard they had plans for a road course.

5

Isn’t there a road course in calgary? And if i’m not mistaken Castrol Raceway has a road course project in the works…

6

Calgarys road course is falling apart. Maintained like shit.
Castrols road course was also in the works in 1995. Not much as changed since then.

7

Really? How bad is it? not worth using at all? That sucks, so basicaly if you wanna turn in alberta then auto x is the only option?

8

Most of you won’t know much about the old Edmonton Speedway which is about where Skyview is now. They used to have some very high level racing there (e.g., CanAm) with some big names in racing in the day. It was closed mostly because the home owners that bought around that area at that time, started to complain about the noise even though the track was there first. bla, bla, bla…and racing in northern alberta pretty much has been dead since with everyone having to drive to Calgary to race.

Fast track (pun intended) to 2009…The sad thing about Race City in Calgary is that it is one of the best tracks in all of north america (layout) as told to me by a professional driver and it is falling to pieces and is very likely to be closed.

What bothers me is that in Canada it is extremely difficult to get into racing…it is almost like a secret society. In the US there are all sorts of programs to help noobs get into racing in a progressive and cost effective method. The best we have in this part of the country is a once a year, one day crash course offered by ARCA and good luck to you buddy…go race.

I think the WCMA has done a shit job of advocating on a high level for funding from, in this case, the Province’s Community Facility Enhancement Program which has been around for years. And from what I have seen they haven’t engaged the corporate community either at all. There are two very large police services in Alberta that would be interested in partnering with a ‘keep it on the track’ type of program but I don’t see any results there either.

I think there is plenty of interest in western canada to have a vibrant organized racing community but of course the tracks are a major necessity.

The WCMA also sucks at providing accessable learn to race programs which would generate the racers in numbers sufficient to make a business case for building the facilities.

…fuck, do I have to do everything?!

9

BMW club has race programs :slight_smile:

10

So my options are move to the US or Qubec…if i’m not mistaken there’s a ton of racing and a few decent tracks there…sigh, any thoughts on what a small few could do?

11

Actually the race track in BC is an option. The closing of Race City leaves Gimli Manitoba and Mission BC as the only tracks for road courses in western canada.

12

I have a hard time believing that personally. I’ve been on the roadcourse in Calgary, and I’ve seen numerous other track layouts in the US that look MUCH better.

At Race City turns 1-2-3 really disrupt the flow and the front straight is TOO long, IMO. Oh and there’s very little elevation change as well.

13

Ontario has some really nice tracks as well …
Or you could sign the pettition found here: http://n-e-c-c.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12038 showing the Calgary city council that there is alot of interest in Calgary having a racing facility. (Race City’s lease was shortened by 15yrs and will now close at the end of next year to make way for expansion of the land fill)
There is enough $$$ in Calgary to build a new updated facility, but not enough to buy land as well.

14

Having “seen” track layouts isn’t really a comparison to a professional driver who has actually driven on them. No offense. Maybe it is just hard to believe because the track is in your own backyard.

Oh and the disrupted flow you speak of is because people carry too much speed into turn 1 so they screw themselves (and the flow) into 2 and 3.

Anyway this isn’t the point of this thread.

15

ARGGG i have so much to say but i’m just annoyed, so i won’t.

“Whether it’s on the snow or on the track, racing is a sport enjoyed by Albertans all year round,” said Hector Goudreau, Minister of Tourism, Parks, Recreation and Culture. “We are pleased to support a project that will provide thrills and excitement for local spectators and visitors from around the world.”

“racing is a sport enjoyed…”

oh yeah? i love that racing sport, on the snow. on the snow its enjoyed by albertans year round. they enjoy that new racing sport, where the cars like, go.

k i vented.

16

What are you talking about?

Track = summer. Snow = winter. Summer plus winter = year 'round.

Oh, and what is wrong with calling racing a sport???

17

looks like you guys better pick up drag racing pretty quick :stuck_out_tongue:

18

Nevahhhhhhhh!

19

They actually do race in the snow in calgary?? so i dunno what your so angry about?? looks like fun too i would take my winter beater out for a little rally session in the snow it would be a blast

20

you think its all bad there…try living in the crappy country, for me i dont know were any of the tracks are, drift days or even the auto cross events. It would be good to get some listing of the tracks in town, I heard from some guys that the porsche club meets at some track and they do a speed course hitting 120mph… most of my drift practice is on big shopping store lots at 2am… So if you guys know of any track days for anything try to post them. Just my rant for living in the woods…