Race City's lease extended

[burn_this_city]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Race+Ci...875/story.html

Nice work Rick McIver, saved the track and probably some lives in the process. Having the track open will keep a lot of people from street racing.

[Gozer]

Dave Rowe is pleased.

[jayswin]

That's great news.

[arsenal]

Good. Now they just need to do some upgrades.
Personally, I think they should move it else where, maybe around turner valley, or close to bragg creek. Get some elevation into play, nice corners, etc. It could almost be like Spa.
Then maybe we could get some serious motor sport drivers coming out of the west. Right now, it seems like unless you live in Toronto or Montreal, you get no serious exposure to motor sport.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by arsenal

Get some elevation into play, nice corners, etc. It could almost be like Spa.

Or Nurburgring! That would be awesome, freakin awesome!

[Traditional_Ale]

^ Um, maybe lets start with re-paving the oval and go from there?

[Mad Mel]

Sweet. One of the best days of my life was spending a track day on a bike at Race City. So much fun, I thought I was so fast... well, until the instructor passed me with a chick on the back of his bike, lol. It was ridiculously fun and a great learning experience. Highly recommend it for any motorcyclists out there.

Originally Posted by arsenal

Good. Now they just need to do some upgrades.
Personally, I think they should move it else where, maybe around turner valley, or close to bragg creek. Get some elevation into play, nice corners, etc. It could almost be like Spa.

And improve it from a safety standpoint. Too many things to run into at Race City. A buddy used to race CMA superbike, and being a noted crasher, he really didn't like racing in Calgary.

[BlackArcher101]

I thought it's not extended... but they are just allowing for talks to happen regarding an extension? It's still possible the city will demand too much and everything will fall apart.

[prarieboy]

This is great news purely from a spectator point of view. I take the family there a couple times a year. Pretty cheap entertainment.

This will likely result in better cars for next season.

I agree it should be moved else where but now they have the time to start looking for a better venue. Let's hope they start that process now.

[Resolute 14]

Good news, but the ###### who said that closing race city would force him and his friends onto the street to race needs to be permanently stripped of his license.

[DrJ]

Yes! Thank goodness! Only went once with my friends Dad's tuned Porsche Carrera 4. That was one adrenaline rush!

[ken0042]

I meant to email my alderman, but I hope the new lease comes with a reminder about our city's noise by-laws.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Mad Mel

And improve it from a safety standpoint. Too many things to run into at Race City. A buddy used to race CMA superbike, and being a noted crasher, he really didn't like racing in Calgary.

That last corner is a wall of concrete if you go down on a bike. Not pretty.

I was just there tonight as a passenger in a turboed NSX with racing slicks on. It was a great time.

[holden]

I'm not a race fan but its good to have Race City in Calgary for lots of reasons. But I was wondering about the illegal street racing argument:

Obviously if there is absolutely nowhere to race near Calgary lots of it is going to be done on the streets. However, does anybody actually use the track to facilitate racing that would otherwise be done on public streets? Meaning, do you guys know that street racing would be cut down considerably by the presence of Race City?

Just curious...

[flamesaresmokin]

Originally Posted by arsenal

Good. Now they just need to do some upgrades.
Personally, I think they should move it else where, maybe around turner valley, or close to bragg creek. Get some elevation into play, nice corners, etc. It could almost be like Spa.
Then maybe we could get some serious motor sport drivers coming out of the west. Right now, it seems like unless you live in Toronto or Montreal, you get no serious exposure to motor sport.

Meh....its a lack of decent ownership and marketing. The track has been so run down now it needs a complete overhaul to host major events but if it was promoted properly we could still be attracting top line events and maybe even the ihra drag series that edmonton hosts every year. Still pretty good racing.

[arsenal]

meh.. i dunno. There really isn't a track to speak of. The main track is basically an extension of the drag strip. And the other track is pretty meh. The oval is.. well an oval.
I think if they just left the current spot and started a new track at some other location (west), it could be a hell of a lot better.

Just my thoughts. I haven't driven on any track at race city. But just looking at it, being a spectator, to be a place where it could produce some world class racers it needs to move. And it needs some major funding.

Unfortunately.. I don't have the millions it will need.

[Mad Mel]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

That last corner is a wall of concrete if you go down on a bike. Not pretty.

I was just there tonight as a passenger in a turboed NSX with racing slicks on. It was a great time.

Man, that must have been fun. It's amazing how different a track is from the street.

I was grinding every bit of my old 1200 Bandit around that corner by the pits... peg, sidestand, centrestand... can't believe I didn't dump it. Turns out, the Bandit ain't a racebike. Who knew. During a superbike race a few years ago, I also remember watching that corner and noticing that gophers don't provide that much traction.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by holden

I'm not a race fan but its good to have Race City in Calgary for lots of reasons. But I was wondering about the illegal street racing argument:

Obviously if there is absolutely nowhere to race near Calgary lots of it is going to be done on the streets. However, does anybody actually use the track to facilitate racing that would otherwise be done on public streets? Meaning, do you guys know that street racing would be cut down considerably by the presence of Race City?

Just curious...

I would say absolutely it helps with street racing.

You go and pay $20 and drag race all night Friday. Especially for people that modify their cars, they want to see what improvements they've made. No better way than a drag strip with a timing system. If you don't have that, you race your buddies cars all the time and see how you compare.

Especially when you're getting to the higher powered cars that are hitting 180+km/h in the 1/4 mile, those guys are at a big risk of losing their license if they pull that on the street, so the $20 legal option might just be enough to steer them to the track instead of westbound crowchild.

[Ironhorse]

Sooooo, since the "sorry, we lost the lease agreement" trick didn't work, it looks like Bronco Dave and his merry band of men (and women) have resorted to other tactics to try and get rid of Race City:

CITY HALL TRIES TO IMPOSE 3,000% RENT INCREASE ON RACE CITY

Has City Hall declared war on Race City? Just when Calgary motorsport fans thought their race track was safe from the grasping claws of the waste and recycling department, Race City faces offensives on two new fronts. First, Corporate Properties has demanded $1,080,000 for annual lease payments, a 3,000 per cent increase from current rates. Second, at Monday’s Council meeting the administration tried to add the cost of building new storm water retention ponds onto Race City’s property taxes.

Race City owner Art Mackenzie was almost philosophical about City Hall’s latest shenanigans. He says this has gone on for so long now he expects it.

In September, Council passed a motion 8-7 to honour the City’s existing lease with Race City. That lease was in effect until 2025 and included annual payments of $37,000. City officials were instructed in the amended notice of motion to negotiate a new lease, lasting until 2015, based on the terms of the old one. Ald. McIver told SECN that if Mr. Mackenzie came to the bargaining table prepared to be reasonable, he believed the City would as well.

It appears he was mistaken.

http://www.secalgarynews.com/news/ca...ated-nonsense/

What a bunch of putzes.

[burn_this_city]

I'm really sick of the city council. They're desperate to close the budget gap so they resort to this. Since the footbridges are part of the critical infrastructure they need to find money in other places.