How much land would you need to build your own race track 2-2.5m long?

[1Day]

I was wondering if anyone would be able to give a rough estimate on this as to how much land would you need to build a race track which houses personal garages and a building to hold events, no seats as it would not be meant for official racing..

That track should be modern with a long straight way to hold a drag along with a proper track event which challenges handling of the best cars out there..

What would be the best way to go about it and who do you think can be approached for partnership? TATA racing or may be even reliance as they are not in motor sports yet and might want to challenge TATA Motors in the near future?

So you think the govt would allow track specific cars to be brought in without duty for educational and promotional purposes?

Do you think all the manufacturers would be interested in renting the place out for development of their cars??

Just a hypothetical scenario!

[ananthkamath]

Its really easy, use Google Maps!!

From this map of waterford hills roadcourse,

Google Maps

I'd say a minimum of 45 acres including runoffs for all the corners. The infield can be used for all support purposes because you can reach all corners within a short & equal amount of time.

The straights on this track are about 1000 ft. max so this would fall short of the ~3000 ft you'd need for a proper dragway (1320 ft or 1/4 for racing, rest for braking & staging area) from this view of Lapeer Dragway:

Google Maps

So the 45 acre would hold but the track would be much narrower than Waterford.

If you want to benchmark a nice track go with the best in the business. I've heard Laguna Seca & Willow Springs are among the best in the US.

Originally Posted by 1Day

Do you think all the manufacturers would be interested in renting the place out for development of their cars??

Just a hypothetical scenario!

I dont think so. Car manufacturers have enough money to build their own. And if they need certification they go to VRDE pune.

[1Day]

hmm cool..

but how did you guess 45 acres? I would imagine that would be too little for a 2-2.5mile track..is there a way of calculating based on the google maps image?

Also sometime i read that building a 1m highway costs about a million bucks or was it 1km, how do i find that out?

Edit: I looked at the image and the scale, it seems to be something like 500m X 600m rectangle area where this track is built which makes it about 60(400*600)-90(500*700) acres according to google which is much smaller than i was expecting, i was thinking more like 200+ acres

Hmm now i want to find out how much does it cost to build a concrete track that big..

what all might be involved?? a pump as well?

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by ananthkamath

I dont think so. Car manufacturers have enough money to build their own. And if they need certification they go to VRDE pune.

VRDE is not in Pune but some place in Aurangabad or Ahmednagar. Not sure about which. Only ARAI is in Pune.

[spadival]

Originally Posted by 1Day

Hmm now i want to find out how much does it cost to build a concrete track that big..

I dont think concrete track will be a good idea. Its too hard and you get the "bump" in between slabs...

[Mayavi]

Originally Posted by 1Day

hmm cool..

but how did you guess 45 acres? ..is there a way of calculating based on the google maps image?

Google earth's measure feature and elementary math.

Also sometime i read that building a 1m highway costs about a million bucks or was it 1km, how do i find that out?

1 KM of Golden Quad costs 3 Cr - 5 Cr and includes lane marking ,service lanes, road dividers and barriers. International quality and international prices.

[tsk1979]

If you want to make a road as good as GQ, shave of 50% of the cost. The cost is always double because it also includes bribes and other "hidden expenditure".
AFAIK, there is a private track in delhi which is used by some private enthusiasts, including Rahul Gandhi(source TOI photo).
So lets say you find a 50 acre plot somewhere, barren worthless land.
Cost of plot : 50 lakhs
Cont of construction : 3-4 kms total roads = 1 cr
Additional infrastructure like garage etc = 1 cr.

So within 3 cr you have a track.
3cr rs will give you 40 lakhs return in a year.
So if you want to make money you have to have a profit of around 4 lakhs a month.

[black12rr]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

If you want to make a road as good as GQ, shave of 50% of the cost. The cost is always double because it also includes bribes and other "hidden expenditure".
AFAIK, there is a private track in delhi which is used by some private enthusiasts, including Rahul Gandhi(source TOI photo).
So lets say you find a 50 acre plot somewhere, barren worthless land.
Cost of plot : 50 lakhs
Cont of construction : 3-4 kms total roads = 1 cr
Additional infrastructure like garage etc = 1 cr.

So within 3 cr you have a track.
3cr rs will give you 40 lakhs return in a year.
So if you want to make money you have to have a profit of around 4 lakhs a month.

Out of 10000 members .... 300 members can come forward and invest 1 lakh each and can have a track of our own . Like those guys will have partnership and limetime access to track ..etc..etc .... Is it that simple or not ?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

So within 3 cr you have a track.

This is assuming you have a very flat land. The earth moving/leveling charges can be enormous depending on the terrain.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is assuming you have a very flat land. The earth moving/leveling charges can be enormous depending on the terrain.

No. You won't need to completely level all the land.
Ans since its India, labour is cheap. Earth leveling charges of very unflat land (20 acres) is about 60,000-100,000 provided you have a couple of tractors and 25 labourers. So you need to pay 80rs/day/person for unskilled labor and about 200/day for skilled labor.
I know these rates because we had to get our farm land leveled.

[Samurai]

What if the terrain is rocky and not loose soil?

My office plot was very hilly and rocky (latrite), couldn't use manual labour. The Hitachi earth mover rent is Rs.850 per hour, each tipper is Rs.300 per hour. The work involved depends very much on terrain. BTW, the unskilled labour cost is 150 bucks/day around here.

[suman]

Originally Posted by Samurai

What if the terrain is rocky and not loose soil?

Well, this discussion being purely hypothetical, I suppose one can assume that you would NOT acquire land for a track in a place that is rocky terrain & has loose soil ?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samurai

What if the terrain is rocky and not loose soil?

My office plot was very hilly and rocky (latrite), couldn't use manual labour. The Hitachi earth mover rent is Rs.850 per hour, each tipper is Rs.300 per day. The work involved depends very much on terrain. BTW, the unskilled labour cost is 150 bucks/day around here.

Originally Posted by suman

Well, this discussion being purely hypothetical, I suppose one can assume that you would NOT acquire land for a track in a place that is rocky terrain & has loose soil?

Exactly. Why chose such an area. Chose something in Rajasthan about 150-200kms from Delhi. Very plain area, no leveling needed. No trees either so no issues on ecology front too. but I don't know anything about govt. regulations regarding private roads. I think same regulations which apply for Go karts should apply here.

[noidaboy]

is permission granted to host such events on roads and all?? in the real world?
like how was the speed run hosted??

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This is assuming you have a very flat land. The earth moving/leveling charges can be enormous depending on the terrain.

If the terrain has gentle slopes and, its even better and makes the track more challenging due to the elevation changes.

Highways are more expensive because you need to build for heavy trucks that run day in day out. For lightweight race cars, it should'nt cost so much.