Car hobbyists making tracks
New Hampshire club is planned
By Meg Villeneuve, Globe Correspondent, 9/14/2003
Dan Croteau loves to get his BMW M3 lightweight to 115 miles an hour or more, but he knows he can't do that on the highway. So the car enthusiast and lifelong resident of Salem, N.H., often drives his modified German-engineered automobile onto a trailer and heads south to the road courses in Lyme Rock, Conn., or Watkins Glen, N.Y.
But for the past two years, Croteau said, getting track time has been more difficult. ''Even when I get the time, I have to make the appointment months in advance,'' he said. For 30 minutes of track time, Croteau spends on average three to four hours driving one way.
His solution is to bring a bit of NASCAR to central New Hampshire.
With the creation of Club Motorsports Inc., Croteau, the club's founder, principal investor, and director of sales and marketing, hopes that he and many other car enthusiasts will no longer have to wait for track time. The private country club will soon begin construction of a 3.3-mile road course in Tamworth, N.H., and expects to draw car enthusiasts from around New England, especially the metro Boston area.
Croteau says it's not all about speed. The club will also offer training sessions to people who want to test their cars' handling capacity. Someone may commute with a BMW, but can't hit the gas and let it ride because of the speed limits. At Club Motorsports, drivers will be able to do just that, without the threat of flashing blue lights.
The track will also hold ''gentlemen's competitions,'' which will allow drivers to compete against another, minus the bumping and tapping of NASCAR. ''I saw a great deal of demand from drivers around the Boston area and New Hampshire who wanted a road course nearby, but couldn't find one,'' Croteau said.
The facility will be located about a two hour drive from Boston, and minutes from Lake Winnipesaukee and North Conway. ''We chose this location for its demographics. It's a good resort location and there is lots for family members to do,'' said Croteau.
For people looking for a place to run their car, their options are limited to a handful of sites in New England and around Montreal. Unlike other courses, Club Motorsports plans to operate more like a country club than a racetrack.
Phase one of construction, which is expected to begin next month, includes the road course, as well as garages, a locker room, a pro shop, and a food kiosk. Croteau hopes to have the track open about a year from now. Long-term plans include a clubhouse, a pool, and sleeping areas.
In the last month, Croteau and his associates began promoting memberships to their clubhouse-road course and, to date, have sold 40 memberships. The club's owners hope to get at least 1,500 members and see the typical member as someone who joins a country club to take advantage of all the amenities. There are no car requirements to join this club. However, all members will be evaluated on their driving skills before going on the track.
One of the memberships belongs to Newbury resident Mike Morris, who bought his wife a membership as well. The two enjoy racing and travel to Connecticut and Mont Tremblant, west of Montreal, to enjoy the sport. However, once Tamworth opens, the two won't have to drive as far.
''The road course won't be like your typical racetrack, the course will have significant corners and hills,'' Morris said.
The road course, as Croteau prefers to call it, will be a 40-foot-wide course with 21 turns and a 300-foot elevation change.
''With all the curves and elevation changes, this track is similar to the natural motion that a car was made to handle. It's a mentally challenging track,'' Croteau said.
Drivers will go between 40 and 100 miles per hour, depending on which part of the course they are on. At any given time, there won't be more than a handful of drivers on the course, Croteau said. While track owners hope no one crashes, they know accidents will happen and plan to employ their own rescue team.
The facility is selling three levels of memberships, which determine how many times the member can use the track each year, without having to pay extra. The gold level has a $25,000 initiation fee, with the first 50 members paying $15,000. The silver membership level costs $15,000, with the first 50 paying $10,000. Bronze memberships have a $5,000 initiation fee, with the first 50 people paying $2,500.
New Hampshire resident Patrick Kelly said he bought a gold membership for $15,000, which does not include monthly dues of $150. This level of membership allows him 40 road course sessions annually at peak times, and 40 off-peak sessions. Sessions do not exceed 30 minutes.
Kelly said he has been involved with car racing and high-speed driving since he graduated from college. The engineer owns a Mazda Miata and a 944 Porsche Turbo. ''I've been on many of the tracks in New England, and what attracted me to this track was the design. What they have planned appears to be a premier track,'' Kelly said.
Both Kelly and Morris have concerns that plans to build the $14 million facility may fall through. ''I am concerned that they will not be able to pull this off and before I bought my membership, I spent a lot of time talking to the investors,'' Kelly said.
Kelly felt better knowing that Club Motorsports had already purchased the 250-acre parcel in Tamworth and that the group had received site approval from the town.
Croteau admitted there have been a number of false starts, which has created some skepticism. But he said the group is well under way now that it has purchased the land, completed the design and engineering of the track, and received town approval.
The cost of constructing the road course is being funded by private investors and should be operating by next summer, according to Croteau. Construction of the clubhouse, which will be paid for with membership dues, is expected to start in the fall of 2004.
)
