Not sure how many of you have seen thsi but it really describes the unique for the US design of Bluegrass Motorsports Club and Road Course
You should arrange a visit to the site with Brad Poppell. Sorry if it is redundant.
From: Taylor, Kent [mailto:ktaylor@...]
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2008 10:27 PM
To: Brad.Poppell@...
Subject: FW: Taylor's 10
Brad,
I thought you might enjoy reading my column for a weekly paper in Louisville. Let me know if want to get on any radio shows to promote the track, I’m pretty good friends with a couple of guys who have shows here.
Thanks,
Kent Taylor
ktaylor@...
Taylor's 10
Derek Daly is a former Formula One driver and the designer of the Bluegrass Motorsports Club and Road Course in Sparta, Kentucky. It's a country club for car enthusiasts with a 3.54 mile main track and nine tracks with 22 different configurations. The track is being constructed on 515 acres in Gallatin County that were purchased from former Kentucky Governor Brereton Jones. I talked with Daly, who drove in the Indianapolis 500 six times, during the groundbreaking ceremony for the facility. It is expected to open sometime in the Spring of 2009. You can find more information on the track at their website: DriveBluegrass.com.
K.T.: Who do think this facility will cater to?
D.D.: It's designed for the enthusiast, essentially, to have some place that's very unique, very different. There are lots of motorsports country clubs, but this one, because of the management team, location, and because of the elevation changes and the topography of the land, is going to make it very unique, very different, very challenging. Everybody who drives here, I want them to call their buddies or their family and say, 'Wow, you've got to go see this place.'
K.T.: What are the things that the topography of the land makes possible?
D.D.: So many race tracks are flat, simple, relatively easy. This is going to have blind brows, it's going to have drops and climbs, unlike any that I've seen in America, really, other than Laguna Seca in California. The ability to have such a wide variety of corners and a long straight to go very fast, is a mix that is very unusual to find in a race facility.
K.T.: Can you tell when you're designing a race facility how fast cars will be able go on the straightaway?
D.D.: Well, the speed will be relative to the type of car that you're in, but the straight that will be here can accommodate 200 miles an hour quite easily. We want to make sure that you're very safe as you do that, so we are also going to build in some very unique safety features as a sort of protector around the drivers.
K.T.: How many courses have you designed?
D.D.: This will be the first road course. My partnership, I've been brought in to the partnership because I've been lucky enough to drive Formula One cars all over the world. Paxton Waters is the partnership element, that's designed facilities like California Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway, some of the greatest facilities in America and indeed the world. So, with my experience, of seat of the pants, driving through these great corners around the world and on all these Formula One tracks, and his architectural ability, those skill sets, are what we bring together.
K.T.: Are there specific turns from tracks around the world, that you want to put here?
D.D.: There are specific corners around the world that people still talk about, years and years after they drive around them. We have an opportunity to bring a Kentucky version of those corners here, absolutely.
K.T.: What is the fastest you have ever driven a car?
D.D.: The fastest I've ever driven would be the Le Mans 24 hour race in France, 1988, in the Jaguar, we did 248 miles an hour down the straight in the daytime, at nighttime, we were even faster, 250 miles an hour in the dead of night. You weren't even going fast enough for top gear until you got above 237 miles an hour.
K.T.: What does that feel like, is it even possible to describe it?
D.D.: Speed is very relative, like at the Indy 500, if you're doing 220 miles an hour and somebody is doing 222, you don't feel that fast, but if you get in trouble, you're going really, really fast. It's so relative. The interesting thing about speed on a race track like Bluegrass, if you're doing 150 miles an hour, there's no one going to drive out from the local grocery store in front of you. There's nobody going the opposite way, so you're all going the same direction, that alone takes this scary factor and anticipation of watching everybody else, out of the equation.
K.T.: You've driven all over the world, where does the Indy 500 rank?
D.D.: The Indy 500 is the ultimate because it's so fast, you have to be so disciplined. You race between these concrete walls and a small mistake can have dire consequences, and you have 300,000 watching what you do. So, as an event, it is the ultimate. When you go road racing, particularly with Formula One, now you have the pinnacle of motor racing because it's so difficult. It's technically so advanced, you are against the finest road racing drivers in the world, you are against teams who are spending $300 million dollars trying to beat you. We here at Bluegrass, have the opportunity to mix the two, high speed, road racing, in an environment where people will want to come here just to even watch the cars, never mind drive around.
K.T.: What kind of cars do you have in your garage?
D.D.: I'm a car guy, I bought a Ferrari in 1980, a 246 Dino, and I still have it. I built a Cobra with a 427 side oiler in it, just like Carroll Shelby raced on the race track. I tool around in a nice S500 Mercedes, but I don't tell too many people that.
K.T.: You can bring all three here, right?
D.D.: You can bring any high performance car here and enjoy the thrill. Not many people get to wear the shoes of a Mario Andretti, they always wonder, what's it like to go through these fast corners. It's now going to be on the doorstep of so many people in this area, they can come and watch it, or they can come and participate.
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