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Airstrip high-speed runs - how to set it up?


zeitgeist57

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I just had a great lunch conversation with a business partner - one of his clients owns a private airstrip near Washington C.H. As a fellow car-guy, he said he'd be happy to let us use it for private gatherings and high-speed runs.

 

I offered - knowing my CR and CC&C peeps :) - to vet the infrastructure needed to host an event like this.

 

Let's line a few things up:

- Assume it's a 3000-5000ft runway,

- there wouldn't be side-by-side racing allowed.

- There also wouldn't be any timing equipment unless someone brought it in.

- There would have to be some sort of CR committee to regulate who registers, or at least who participates. What would the fee be?

 

My head hurts thinking about all of the fun this could be - but also the responsibility to the strip owner and liability of things gone wrong. Anyone have experience with this? (Thinking also of Wilmington ECTA Mile volunteers/participants).

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If nothing goes wrong, this would be great. However, always plan for the worst, and the worst in this scenario is really, really bad. Without insurance, markers for beginning/end of the strip, tech inspection, an adequate shut down area, etc., this is a recipe for disaster IMO. Quarter mile track rentals are one thing, but it's a whole different animal to race half mile.
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We used to do this quite a bit back in the early days of CR.

 

Communications and site inspections prior to running cars is a must. The property owner should also have a waiver of liability prepared by an attorney and every person attending (not just racing) MUST sign it.

 

For starters :)

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I could see this being more of a hassle then its worth for you clay. Take him up on a offer for you and a few friends to go and mess around on it.

 

The liability sounds like a nightmare, for something that would be a casual thing and not an organization.

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Remind me I am over at your house to give you Keith Turk's contact info. He's the guy to talk to at the ECTA.

 

I'm with Benjamin on this, runway is too short to do a mile by far and maybe even a 1/2 mile. Doesn't mean you can't do something with it but LSR might not be it.

 

If it has a decent size ramp an auto-x might not be a bad thing. Is there an existing Pro-solo setup in town? because this might be a great use for that.

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As long as you keep it small you could do it fairly cheap. If you want to make it a big event is when things get hairy. The insurance is the killer. I can tell you when Texas expanded the city now requires a ridiculous amount of insurance at Beeville so it's driven prices up. If you can get away with $1-2M coverage it wouldn't be so bad. I looked into it a bunch when a friend was getting the Houston Mile started. The hardest part is securing the airfield, once you have that it just takes time and people setting everything else up.
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