Lets put pressure on politicians: GTA 1/4 mile Track
 

A 1/4 mile track in the immediate GTA.

I have heard it brought up many times on many automotive forums; the need for a track in the immediate GTA to allow for a safe, controlled environment for automotive enthusiasts to gather and test there cars without endangering the public.

With the masses of automotive enthusiasts out there I am very surprised that I have not seen a movement in order to pressure the government into creating a track locally to move the racing from the streets to a controlled environment.

I ask everyone here for any suggestions in order to make this happen. I see the media has jumped all over the recent accidents involving alleged street racing, perhaps we can use this to our advantage in order to have a place to enjoy a sport that has been active for decades.

What do you think?

There gonna have to learn the hard way sadly....

The best idea I could suggest would be to attract some media attention to your track idea. Anything is possible, but to be honnest....... This is gonna be like trying to legalize marijuana.

I thought marijuana was legalized?
http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/2958.html

Just goes to show anything is possible.

If gays can marry, pot smokers can smoke up, then there is no reason why I should not be able to test my car at a local track.

Never going to happen.
1. Costs would be ridiculously high, including land and insurance.
2. Area residents and politicians will object to the traffic and noise and pollution.
3. Police will say it promotes the racing lifestyle.

I guess if the 3 reasons you listed are too difficult to overcome for the politicians and area leaders then the lives of the general public really aren't that important after all.

Nothing comes without sacrifice. Everything costs money these days, the hockey arena's that are being built around Oshawa, the skate parks, or the actual laws that are being proposed and legislated all costs huge amounts of money.

A track can be possible if all automotive enthusiasts gear together and push for it.

If all of us simply say "nahhh it will never happen" and let all this b.s. go and let ourselves be targetted simply because we enjoy our vehicles... then the general population, the media and politicians will have no problem using us for their political gain.

Getting a track isn't the impossible as you might think.

You have 4 tracks within 20 minutes of Oshawa on Mosport's property. You have another track 90 minutes away in Shannonville.

Use them.

No government is going to put up the money for a race track. Unlike an arena, the range of uses and possible users for such a facility are too small to justify the massive expense and land allocation required, never mind the outrage over noise issues that is sure to erupt from the taxpayers who would end up being neighbours to such a newly-built facility.

Exactly why not open a 1/4 mile track at mosport, the facilities are already there.

People don't road race or do circles on the street, they do the 1/4 mile.

To drive 3 hours roundtrip to make 2 passes on a 1/4 mile strip definetly isn't a reasonable solution. I'd sooner go to a service road and do the rip.

If the general population wants to save lives, they need to have a place for people to run their vehicles. Simple as that.

Apparently thats what this is all about right? Street racing kills innocent lives.
So the solution would be to create more facilities to illeviate the racing which may or may not harm people.

Shooting people takes innocent lives too. The solution for that is not to create more shooting ranges, but to severely prosecute people who shoot outside of them.

Ditto people who race their cars on the street. There are facilities available for people who want to race their cars. If you find them too inconvenient to use, then clearly you are not serious enough about your hobby. Try another past-time instead where the necessary facilities are more readily available to your liking.

Mosport has been denied zoning for a drag-racing facility repeatedly, as well it is not open during the hours that these 'kids' want to race.

Furthermore, your suggestion of Shannonville clearly indicates that you've never taken a pass down their drag strip. I'd argue that it is LESS SAFE than any street in the province. The staging lanes are gravel which tracks sand and pebbles onto the strip causing extremely unsafe conditions. Combine that with an unlit pass through the 'bush' as a return road, and it's a miracle that fatalities are a rarity there (there was one earlier this year on the road course involving a motorcycle though...)

That leaves us with TMP, which we all know is a joke to be running on ANYTIME during open test and tunes. Sorry, $25 to 'maybe' make one pass the whole night is bullshit.

While I realize that there will never be a track in the GTA, the alternatives that everyone seems to suggest are simply ridiculous.

Again it's gonna be like trying to legalize marijuana.
Marijuana is not legal.


To be fair.. Cayuga isn't that far. It takes roughly an hour to an hour and a half to get there. I usualy make it there on fridays after work.
And I don't really feel an urge to race after or anything like that.. I go back to my 6 day work week and wait for friday to just let loose... I have friends who smoke pot or drink, and thats fine.. but I enjoy trying to receive a timeslip that I'd be happy with that night. :smokin:

I appreciate hearing both sides of the story, and the arguements on both sides.

Shooting someone and engaging in a street race is somewhat of an unfair picture to paint, but I do catch your drift.


un4givn - I agree with you 100%, been to shannonville once, and will never go back, safer racing through a school zone then goin to that poor excuse for a track.


gldwngr - you hit the nail on the head, the tracks are an inconvience due to distance, practicality etc. Which is exactly why people will take any race they can get on the street.

Im just saying that if Street racing really is as big of a problem as the media and politicians and general public are making it out to be, then creating a facility to house the LEGAL act of racing automobiles shouldn't be unheard of.

Hey, hey... come on now. I'm not racing a Bluebird from a roll.

:lol_hitti

The stakes just got higher, didn't they?

So what's more inconvenient? Having to travel to Cayuga? Or getting caught racing on the street and then having to sit in a cell, pay thousands in fines, and figure out whether to buy a replacement for a seized car now, or later when you finally get your license back again?

You make your choices. Your choice if you get burned as a result. It's not like you don't know what the potential consequences can be.

Personally I don't race on the street, and my arguements and concerns are on behalf of automotive enthusiasts that have been lobying for a local track for ages.

By creating higher stakes, and knowing full well you will be sitting in a cell, I can see racers simply making a run for it. Because hell if you are going to do time regardless may as well try to make a run for it.

Which again creates an even more dangerous environment.

or... give them a place to race... and avoid a and b.

There has to be a conviction, and it seems to sieze the car under the 'Civic Remedies Act' (it's actually called The Remedies for Organized Crime and Other Unlawful Activities Act, 2001) Clicky that certain criteria need to be met:

Note the highlighted section.... That would require (so it seems) a conviction of Section 172 of the Highway Traffic Act (the 'wager' portion satisfies the 'resulted in the acquisition of other property' criteria) while a conviction of Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle (citing the racing as evidence) would satisfy the criteria of an "unlawful act" (crime).

Seems pretty far-fetched that the cops would actually get somebody on this.