High Plains Raceway Information meeting

[Built-By-Bones]

The CO SCCA Board is going to be holding a meeting to provide information regarding the new track that will be built near Byers

please see this thread for information.

http://www.coloradoscca.org/msg/viewtopic.php?t=2177

There are plans to hold further meetings later in the year too, so those of you at Nationals will be able to attend then

Grant Barclay

[GingerGSR]

There are plans to hold further meetings later in the year too, so those of you at Nationals will be able to attend then

Grant Barclay

Grant,
Any idea when the other meetings might be? I'm going to attend the RR-PCA School/X-Cross in Farmington the weekend of Sept. 21-23 so I'm going to miss this one.

[Built-By-Bones]

Grant,
Any idea when the other meetings might be? I'm going to attend the RR-PCA School/X-Cross in Farmington the weekend of Sept. 21-23 so I'm going to miss this one.

No date decide upon yet, and of course the later in the season we get the more weather becomes an issue. I will post as soon as a date has been decided upon, but expect late Oct or early Nov

Do not use this as an excuse to hold off on your donations to HPR, donate early and often

Grant

[GingerGSR]

Thanks Grant.
I hope they don't have it over the Veterans Day weekend. I'll be in Vegas for a two day event out there that weekend. ("It's always something.")
I do plan on making a donation, but I wanted to get a feel from some of the long-time members about doing so first.
Another thing I wanted to ask "them" about was whether or not us SOLO'ers would get to use the track itself to run SOLO events on until the AX Pad was constructed. I've seen a few videos from events where they used tracks and just put speed limiting features on the straights and such to keep speeds down to AX appropriate levels.
Mark

[Built-By-Bones]

Mark,

nothing from an official perspective here but,

I doubt that running an Auto-x on the track will be feasible financially. Safety standards and practicality aside.

With a serious lack of tracks available in Colorado, you can bet that any new track within an hours drive of Denver will be booked almost every weekend. I know that SCR was utilized over 40 weekends a year, I think Pueblo is booked for more than that this year.

One would expect the owners of a new track to charge a market appropriate rate for track rental, and that would be far more than we could afford for a RMSolo event.

My opinion is that the auto-x community needs to support this track 100%. This is the only track that has a viable auto-x pad planned (not just using paddock parking, thus precluding any other simultaneous event), which means that we could actively raise funds towards a pad that the RMSolo community would own.

Lots of money needs to be raised for the track to be built, and more money would need to be raised for an auto-x pad (which would cost as much as paving the entire track, maybe more depending on site work). But if this track does not get built, there is zero chance of a custom auto-x pad in the Denver area. If the track does get built, there is a small chance we could have our own pad.

I will take a small chance over zero chance anyday.

just my opinion. please donate early and often. There will be information packages available at the Coors event on Sunday, or visit www.highplainsraceway.com for more info

Grant

[lundgren]

I'll play an objective skeptic here.

The autocross pad at HPR is not a part of their phase 1 plans according to their website:

The large rectangular area shown above the paddock is a future autocross/skid pad area which is not part of Phase I.

In my mind, the road racers and time trial drivers should be the ones who should be putting money into the phase 1 development funds, not the autocrossers, because the money won't be used for a solo pad, (but to be fair, it would be for the underlining facility).

Currently there are no plans or schedules around developing the solo pad (not sure when eventually is).

While the terrain is rolling, there are adequate flat areas for a large paddock and, eventually, an autocross/skid pad.

Even if the solo community donated, none of it will be used for the solo pad. On their website it also says:

This is a one-time contribution - you're helping to build a track we can be proud of and we're not going to hit you up again! Perhaps, if some specific special project (beyond the scope of Phase I) should arises which the regular cash flow couldn't afford, there could be another campaign.

I think I understand that to mean that the solo pad, if they decide to build an autocross pad, they'll ask for more donations, it's then IMO, the solo community should stand up.

Now I'm not saying you shouldn't donate now, everything helps, especially if you want to have a track, a facility or even the future hopes of an autocross pad, but I think if a solo pad a long way out on another campaign, donaters from the solo community should know what they are buying with their money.

[ianacole]

Additionally, there is always the opportunity for any RMSolo'er to come voice their opinion at the monthly membership meetings, held on the 3rd Tuesday of every month at the Breckenridge Brewery on Kalamath. So far, only one dedicated autocrosser attends, while there are ~3 multi-series attendees (autocross and another type of racing). The rest are road racers. Come out and have your voice heard!!

[Karl McColl]

Wow, there is a lot respond to on this thread. Perhaps I need to visit more often. Or lets schedule a Solo meeting to answer your questions and develop a plan for Our Solo pad.

Ian's right the general membership meeting has been the domain of Club Racing ... but for sure that's changing. Last night aside from HPR probably the 2 biggest topics were the most recent Solo event at Coors and the upcoming Street Survival event.
We always have great prize drawings ($1/ticket) and lots of fun. Solo probably represents 1/2 of Colorado Region. Get to this meeting and participate, ask questions, be heard, and most of all vote for Tom Hunsinger and get yourself represented on the Board of Directors. The meeting is always the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm at Breckenridge Brewery 471 Kalamath Denver.
The conundrum is this: To get to the Solo pad we need the track. You just want the Solo pad. I get that. The economic engine is the circuit and so for HPR to start making money asap we need to get the circuit open. I don't have an easy answer to this. I am willing to talk about it openly with you folks and see if we can get together to determine what the best way is to acheive all our wants and needs; A compete road racing circuit and Solo pad, usable simultaneously, where we as Colorado region have 1st choice of dates and reap the benefits of ownership.

Karl

[lundgren]

Karl, thanks for your hard work, it will help us all.

[Highlander]

Wow, there is a lot respond to on this thread. Perhaps I need to visit more often. Or lets schedule a Solo meeting to answer your questions and develop a plan for Our Solo pad.

Ian's right the general membership meeting has been the domain of Club Racing ... but for sure that's changing. Last night aside from HPR probably the 2 biggest topics were the most recent Solo event at Coors and the upcoming Street Survival event.
We always have great prize drawings ($1/ticket) and lots of fun. Solo probably represents 1/2 of Colorado Region. Get to this meeting and participate, ask questions, be heard, and most of all vote for Tom Hunsinger and get yourself represented on the Board of Directors. The meeting is always the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm at Breckenridge Brewery 471 Kalamath Denver.
The conundrum is this: To get to the Solo pad we need the track. You just want the Solo pad. I get that. The economic engine is the circuit and so for HPR to start making money asap we need to get the circuit open. I don't have an easy answer to this. I am willing to talk about it openly with you folks and see if we can get together to determine what the best way is to acheive all our wants and needs; A compete road racing circuit and Solo pad, usable simultaneously, where we as Colorado region have 1st choice of dates and reap the benefits of ownership.

Karl

Thanks for the info here Karl.
Has anyone actually scoped out and published exactly what it would take to get a Solo pad built after the track opens for business? I think it would help the overall cause if numbers were available to the Solo community that showed a pad is achievable. Right now I get the impression there is a general feeling of "Why should I contribute to a track? They'll never build a pad for us anyway". I personally believe that this attitude will result in a self fulfilling prophesy and as you stated above, without the track their is absolutely no chance of a pad. At least if the track exists and is bringing in revenue, there is at least an opportunity for a Solo pad.

[Karl McColl]

That is an excellent question. I have only heard generalizations such as "it will cost as much to pave as the track itself" and "it'll be at least a million five." Perhaps they are true, perhaps not. We should determine our needs and wants. "we want it this dimension ... we need it at least this dimension".
Does the pavement need to be the same grade as the track? Does it need to be the same thickness? etc. THen we ask the same folks who will do the circuit for a real estimate. Give me your dimensions and requirements and I'd be happy to make the inquires, and return here with the responses.

Karl

[Built-By-Bones]

Karl,

I have heard that 1000 feet x 1000 feet would allow the pad to be used for two courses at the same time, which means we could hold National level events. It would also allow for a full single course and all the paddock needed to support that course.

When I was researching this a few years ago (2004), I was given figures from $0.90 to $1.75 per sq foot, depending on the degree of surface preparation required. Given that HPR is on virgin ranch land, you would be looking at the higher end of the that estimate. The lower end of the estimate was for a repaving of an exisiting paved surface (like say a dog track parking lot).

I'd estimate we are looking at between $1.5 and $1.8 million for a pad capable of hosting SCCA Nationals.

A more accurate estimate for paving is going to require a soils test and engineering study. None of the above figures include any maintenance.

hope that helps

Grant Barclay