Da Groj

Just North of I4 and County route 557 in Polk City (bout 40 miles out of Tampa)

[img]http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9153/60377446.jpg[/img]

It's township owned so should be easy to get permission.

nice

That looks cool.

Good find, but... here's some scale.

The track itself fits in a 400x400 square. To put that in perspective, it's about 2/3 the size of SPC.

The tightest turn has a radius of 25'. (the red circle is a 50' diameter) That's an insanely tight hairpin.

The track itself is 20' wide, which would be adequate. But, being a fixed layout, and one that most people would not find "fun" in a car... I'm just not sure about this one.

Here's a link if anyone wants to look closer: Map

That's pretty awesome. I'd make the drive to run on it.

I wonder how hard of a time we'd have selling an autocross to our insurance company when it's so obviously a "track event?"

As a track event, though, I'd give it a try. Although I also wonder what the surface condition is...

Autocrosses on kart courses are old hat. I'm sure we would need to do about an hour of weedwhacking to get adequate grid set up but otherwise if someone is in the mood for a road trip I'll go. I've never run one under another clubs sanction however scca which is the strictest insurance o them all. Still runs on kart tracks.

Of course I remember when scca still ran "street solos" and "alacohol events" well they had the provisions in the rulebook, I don't know of a successful one being pulled off.

Didn't realize it's smaller than spc. That kind of sucks. I guess if you take out the distance from hard objects at spc it should be kind of close though, correct?

treekiller wrote:Of course I remember when scca still ran "street solos" and "alacohol events" well they had the provisions in the rulebook, I don't know of a successful one being pulled off.

I remember a few successful street solos when I was in San Francisco Region, but they required enough extra work that I think they just weren't cost and time-effective.

nc4me wrote:Didn't realize it's smaller than spc. That kind of sucks. I guess if you take out the distance from hard objects at spc it should be kind of close though, correct?

Probably, but the size is almost irrelevant -- you're constrained by the existing layout, so tight corners are tight corners no matter how much room.

Here's a comparison that I meant to do a while back. Just overlayed the kart course on top of SPC. Turns out that it is slightly larger than SPC, but it is still equivalent to a pretty tight SPC course. Lots of really tight turns.

I wouldn't want to do EVERY event there, but it would be doable for an event or two every year, though.

Based on this... if we can get it, why not give it a try?

Or at least, if we can get access to it for testing, let's start with that.

I was wondering about the access. I've spent a lot of time working with aerials, and if I was to guess based on the Google aerial view of this sight, getting in and out of there with anything less than a 4x4 may be tough. It also looks like the surface may be a bit shot. It looks like there is vegetation growing on the track in spots.

It's getting to be the time of year when I have a lot of holidays off. Maybe I'll make the run over and do some exploring one of these days. Who knows? Maybe with a little cleaning up, we might find a jewel in the grass.

It was an active go-kart track in it's day.. so I assume what your not seeing is the access roads and parking.

BigBlue.. I also need to talk to you about sanctioning an event in your municipality and to see if we can get some support from the "authoritah"

BigBlue wrote:I was wondering about the access. I've spent a lot of time working with aerials, and if I was to guess based on the Google aerial view of this sight, getting in and out of there with anything less than a 4x4 may be tough. It also looks like the surface may be a bit shot. It looks like there is vegetation growing on the track in spots.

It's getting to be the time of year when I have a lot of holidays off. Maybe I'll make the run over and do some exploring one of these days. Who knows? Maybe with a little cleaning up, we might find a jewel in the grass.

I will go with you if you want, we can take my truck. I can't see two fat guys in your Miata (eyes up and to the left, hand on chin, vision of a clown car in thought bubble....)

Drove by there today coming back from orlando, gate is locked, there is a sign in sheet at the gate where I saw 2 sign-ins for gokart in the last month.

The trail going to the track looks rough, dont think my neon lowered would make it. Grass was cut only by the gate, the trail was not cut.

Ed, catch me at the event this sunday and lets see if we can come up with a good day to head over for some exploration. I'm not opposed to a little hike back in to see what this place is like...

BigBlue wrote:Ed, catch me at the event this sunday and lets see if we can come up with a good day to head over for some exploration. I'm not opposed to a little hike back in to see what this place is like...

Sure, see you Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY....

I will be bringing your pop-up thingy with me also so allow space to get it home.

I am wondering whom to contact for another potential site. I have only done one auto x with FAST, but I may have a lead. Thanks, Dave

You figured it out. 8)