Twin Fountains 4/14/12:

The racing was great saturday at Twin Fountains. The weather was perfect and I would estimate there were about 45-50 karts there – about 10 shifter karts, about 10 TAG & Rotax’s, I think 3 kid karts, and 20 or so oval/4 cycle karts.

Being a road course guy, I particularly enjoyed the TAG/Rotax & Shifter races. The shifter feature race was a highlight for me – at 52 years old, I now have won a kart race!! (I did only start running them at all in 2007). I think the oval guys had a good time – it looked like close racing there too – some of them had mainly run on dirt tracks, so for some this was their first time on a paved oval.
The shifter races were some of the best racing I have had. The first heat had 4 of us battling for first – I made up up there on lap 5, but had a spin and ended up 4th once I got back on track.

The next race is May 5 – show up and see what it is all about.
Matt Skaggs may have more info on the SEKAracing.com site about all the results from yesterday.

Kart Race April 14

The first SEKA kart race for 2012 will be held at Twin Fountains Raceway, Shelbyville, TN on saturday April 14, 2012.  Come out to race or spectate and learn more about karting.  Hope to see you there!

I may have an extra shifter kart available – if you are interested, send me an email.  It was not running right the last time I had it out, but I may have it fixed by april 14. 

 

Location: Twin Fountains Raceway
3225 Highway 231 N
Shelbyville, TN 37160

Schedule: 

8:00am  ——– Registration and Safety Tech
8:30am  ——– Drivers Meeting
9:00am  ——– Practice by Class
11:00am  ——– 30 Minute Break
11:30am  ——– Heat Races
1:30pm  ——–   Feature Races

Jan 2012 Update…

Aside

Jan 2012 Update:

We are now at about 25 members and $450,000 committed to the track development.  Last fall was slow, but we are hoping for more activity this spring, especially since Nashville Superspeedway has closed.  If I can get to 40 members and $600,000 or more, we can move ahead with the track.  If the kart track can get built, there would be one form of road racing in middle Tennessee.

I also talked to Matt Skaggs with SEKA today, and he is hoping to have kart races at Twin Fountains in Shelbyville, TN again in 2012.  He has a meeting with the landowner this coming week to hopefully get this worked out.  If you google SEKA Karting, it will take you to their latest info.

And for those closer to Chattanooga or Knoxville, Mike Taylor is developing I-75 Motorsports Park.  He has grading done for a paved oval, a pavilion built,  and hopes to get the oval paving down this spring.  He has plans to expand to a road course if things go well.

As always, call me if you have any questions or suggestions – Preston Quirk – 615-568-0343.

Track Meeting 9/13/11

Go Kart Track Meeting 
The progress on our track is moving along well and we have about 2/3 of the funding committed.  We really need your help to push our final funding effort.  We hope to break ground soon and have the track ready in spring 2012.  The only way we can make this happen is with your collective effort. 
In order to update all of you and set our final strategy for completion we request your attendance to a meeting: 
Date:  tuesday Sept. 13, 2011
Time:  6:00 pm
Location: Blackstone Restaurant & Brewery
1918 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN  37203
We know you are busy, but we must have your input and help to make this track a reality.  It is critical that we get significant attendance, as we have to make decisions that affect zoning deadlines since our approval would require renewal in December 2011. 
Finally, we are really encouraged by your commitments to date.  This last leg to raise our final amount really needs all of our effort to build the track we will all enjoy.  
Please RSVP by friday Sept. 9, 2011 – let us know if you can or cannot be there. 

Track Update – June 2011

A group met on 5/31/11 to review the status of membership commitments to date, and to discuss future plans to make the track a reality.

Several people have offered a contribution range they have committed to the track. Taking the high side of the commitments since Feb. 1, 2011 gives us $443,000 available.
We have 26 people committed as members to date. 19 of these are at the $10,000 level. 7 of them are at more than $10,000.

  • We have a number of prospects/potential members of who have said “build it and I will come”.
  • We think there will be a wave of new members once the track opens.
  • We need about 20 more people committed before we are willing to sign the final lease and begin final plans & permitting. The approval we got from Smyrna Zoning in late 2010 is good until about Dec 15, 2011 without seeking re-approval.
  • Track costs are best estimated at this time at about $250-275,000.
  • Costs for the building are estimated at about $200-250,000.
  • I feel strongly that we need a rental kart fleet of at least 10 karts – $70,000 +/-.
  • I will not sign the lease unless we have some amount to cover lease payments for about 5 years – $100,000
  • Based on the numbers above, we need to get to about $650-700,000 in commitments by early September 2011 so we would be able to prepare plans & work on permits before the expiration of the zoning approval in mid-December 2011.
  • We have tried for press & TV publicity but have been told we need a “groundbreaking/dirt moving” photo to get any real press.
  • I was able to meet and talk to Dario Franchitti briefly on 6/4/11 about the track – we are working to see if he will support us by lending his name to the effort and thus helping to get local media coverage.

Things that need to happen:

  • Reach out to all car & racing people in middle Tennessee in about a 2 hour radius from Nashville.
  • We are working to arrange a “kart test day” for people to try a kart that have never had the chance – may arrange it at the Nashville Superspeedway parking lot.
  • Need to get the word out to music business “car people” and people involved with the Fairgrounds track.
  • Steve Long’s son may be willing to help recruit members this summer on a commission basis.
  • We have hand-out brochures available for anyone that wants them to hand out to prospects – call Preston at 615-568-0343 if you want some.
  • We are working on an agreement to go with membership payments and may start collecting on commitments before Sept. 2011 with the funds going into an escrow account.

If anyone has any suggestions on people to contact, please let us know.

We also now have a Facebook page at Performance Motorsports – please “friend” this page to help get the word around and post something about karting on the page. If you Google “Performance Motorsports Nashville Facebook” it should come up at the top of the list.

Preston Quirk – 615-568-0343/quirkdesigns@comcast.net
Patrick Hardie – 615-646-9906/hardie.patrick@yahoo.com

March 7, 2011

We have been working on obtaining membership commitments during the last 6 weeks. Right now we have commitments for about $250,000 of the funding, with about $750,000 more to go. We are working making calls to potential members, and we should have a press release out in the next two weeks. To make this track a reality, we need karting enthusiasts in all of middle Tennessee to become members and help spread the word to others. How great would it be to be able to go to a kart track once a week or even more often if you want!

Earlier News:

The karting facility site was approved on December 16, 2010. Thanks to everyone that took time out to come to the meeting to support this effort. The location of the site is on the north end of the Smyrna Airport property – near the north end of runway 19. It is surrounded by the airport on the south and over 1600 feet of Corps of Engineers property to the east, north and west.

Email me with any questions or suggestions you have, or if you might be a potential investor.