HPR News
January 2, 2008
HPR What's Happening!
Happy New Year! I am excited about 2008, as this is the year when all the dreams
and hard work come to fruition with the opening of High Plains Raceway. Hard to
believe it has been four years since the clubs created CAMA!
We have what we hope to be our final public hearing scheduled for late January
with the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners. If our Use by Special
Review (USR) receives approval in that meeting, get ready for a busy year. We
have tentatively scheduled the land closing for two days after the Commissioners
meeting. The design & construction team is working hard to have the construction
permits ready to submit at the same time.
December was an
exceptionally busy month for the design team. Track designs and grading/drainage
plans were sent to Alan Wilson for his oversight. A conference call was held
amongst Wilson Motorsport; RG Consulting and Plan West Inc with primary emphasis
on turn and run-off area configurations. Then on December 16th this team spent
the
day walking the land and driving the track layout. A couple inches of snow
packed into a natural road base to give us a great feel of the track features.
Oh, by the way the track features are awesome! The results of the safety review
will soon be available, however the most notable change appears to be a possible
repositioning of the front straightaway farther east to provide additional
run-off at the end of the straight. The new email news service on the web site
has been quite successful, so sign up soon so you don't miss any updates
on our progress. Site tours are also available through the Contact Us page at
www.HighPlainsRaceway.com .
Fundraising has slowed through the holidays and we are currently at the $430,000
level. The thermometer has also been adjusted for the current construction loan
availability from CAMLC of $350,000. Thanks to all who have contributed. The
rest of you please quit
procrastinating (especially with the pending USR approval & land purchase soon
to be completed) and write those checks. Once the USR is approved and we have
closed on the land, we will have everything in place except the funding, so we
need everyone to do their part NOW!
At this point we have accumulated $1,663,000, 59%, of our construction budget of
$2,800,000. A few more contributions and increases in loan availability will
easily bring us to this level, but what will it buy? The construction budget was
based on a usable
track with some paddock improvements, basically the minimum to get us started
racing. That minimum requirement will probably increase slightly as safety
concerns are requiring more grading and barriers than planned. Also, the current
paddock design is larger than originally planned. While these base construction
costs are not yet detailed, it is anticipated that the three million dollar
thermometer will fund just the `basic' facility we have planned as a minimum.
The clubs have all worked too hard to settle for a bunch of rented
blue buildings. So please, help us through your generosity to build more of the
facility now!
With a successful completion of the County Permit process, we are finally going
to be able to claim, that our clubs will have an exciting track design, permit
approval, a construction plan and land under CAMA ownership. All that remains is
for you to help us complete the fundraising campaign. Why settle for the
minimum? Let's build a real restroom and support buildings too! Keep the
contributions coming and tell your friends you are a `founding
contributor'.
Sincerely,
Charlie Thompson
CAMA Manager