8 replies to this topic

[404KF2]

http://www.islandmotorsportresort.com/

 

This is interesting (to me at least); since the disappearance of Westwood in the Vancouver area back about 25 years ago, there really hasn't been a proper road racing track anywhere in British Columbia.  The Mission dragstrip about 80 km east of Vancouver has a quarter mile strip connected by an S-shaped bit of asphalt to make it a track of sorts.  But it's not as good as Westwood was.  Also, the Boundary Bay airport where I used to do solo (slalom) events more than 35 years ago has been recommissioned as a busy airport, so it is not available either.

 

So into the void steps this group (German Auto Import Network), which I believe is owned by a surgeon based in southern Ontario, but who owns Oakville Autohaus (M-B), and a whole slew of dealerships on Vancouver Island: 2 Mercedes/smart dealers (Victoria/Nanaimo), 2 BMW/MINI dealers (Victoria/Nanaimo), a VW dealer, an Audi dealer, a Porsche dealer, as well as Subaru in Nanaimo.  They seem to have sufficient resources to pull this off and some of their clientele (me included) would be keep to use the facility.

 

Interestingly, the track and related facilities will be designed by Tilke.

 

The only uncertain thing at the moment is the exact location.  Speculation locally has included some First Nation lands, and a parcel in the municipality of North Cowichan.  The latter site is only 25 km from home!  Bonus! 

[ehagar]

I used to live out that way and I would think it would be great if it happened... but there will inevitably  be many obstructions ahead for them (environmental studies, municipal approvals/zoning, 1-2 million dollars per km to pave) before it becomes a reality.

 

Fingers crossed.

[desmo]

They don't have a site? Hmmm.

 

I remember doing a kart race at Westwood and spending as much of the weekend as possible watching the AMA motorcycle races instead.  The Superbikes in particular were mesmerizing going over/through Deer's Leap.

[404KF2]

Rumour has it that the municipality is already on board politically (if that is where the site is) and for First Nation lands, no local or Provincial approvals are required.  I will check with my contacts at MNC to see what I can find out.

 

Westwood was cool, though I never raced there, but it was fun to watch some of the regulars like Peter Koopmans in his wacky Abarth 600, Murray Horsburgh in his R8 Gordini and Randy Custer in his crazy Anglia...

Edited by 404KF2, 01 April 2015 - 05:15.

[FNG]

Wait till the enviros get onto this. We all know the green movement is strong in this area and in some cases completely out to lunch too. Would be great for Van Isl but I will believe it when cars are  racing.

[404KF2]

I found out where it is, Municipality of North Cowichan, and the land is already pre-zoned for this use. The municipality is well aware of this project and it has the required development permits for the preliminary earthworks, which have already been completed.

[desmo]

3985 Cowichan Valley Hwy, Duncan, BC, Canada, you can just enter that into Google Maps and see what looks like the site in context.  You can see a fuzzy copy of the Tilke plan here   I wonder if any design constraints were baked in the would preclude making the track F1 spec at some point in the future? A Western Canadian GP sounds good.

[404KF2]

I think the site is too small for that but it is still going to be a great facility!

[404KF2]

Latest rumour is the 18 hectare site originally imagined will be expanded to something larger than 40 hectares.  This seems to be borne out by what follows.

 

The German Auto Import Group have predicted lap times with a race driver on their Facebook page (Tilke Group must have built up a digital model):

 

90.31 seconds in a Mercedes SLS

83.21 seconds in a Porsche GT3 RS

92.48 seconds in a BMW M3

93.14 seconds in an Audi S5

104.75 seconds in a VW GTI