Could a Goodwood-style festival be coming to North Carolina's Charlotte Motor Speedway? That’s what the track’s brass envisions for its Smith Heritage Invitational. It’s also the impetus behind their plans for a new road course across the street from the speedway.
Preliminary plans for the new road course during a presentation last Saturday.
“The Smith Heritage Invitational is our first step in creating an event that merges racing with ultimate car collections,” said Greg Walter, Executive Vice President & General Manager for the facility. “The next step for this segment of car enthusiasts is giving them an endemic racetrack.”
[Smith Heritage Invitational: An outstanding field of noteworthy cars]
Charlotte Motor Speedway Executive President & General Manager, Greg Walter
Walter believes Charlotte is the perfect place to create this type of event. It’s arguably the hub for motorsports–or at the very least one of them–in the U.S. The location provides other benefits as well.
“Geographically, it makes sense, with our proximity to the interstate,” Walter said. “We have one of the busiest airports in the world–you can get anywhere in the country quickly.”
Speedway Motorsports, LLC, the owners of Charlotte Motor Speedway, isn’t afraid to go outside the box to create events, either.
“Things like adding lights to a racetrack, having condominiums and restaurants at the track, creating a Roval, adding dirt to Bristol, we’re known for being constructively discontent,” said Walter. “Doing events that redefine something is where we specialize.”
But, wait, Charlotte Motor Speedway already has a road course, the Roval. Why not use it?
“The Roval is a very technical course,” Walter said. “The turns are tight. You miss a turn, it’s not very forgiving.”
Preliminary plans for the new road course during a presentation last Saturday.
Walter added that Charlotte Motor Speedway expects to break ground on the road course within 90 days and open for competition with a year after that.
For guys like noted car collector Ray Evernham, the prospect of a Goodwood-style of event on the East Coast excites him.
“I love cars–I love to look at them, but I love to hear them run even more and watch them on the racetrack,” said Evernham. “To see some cars not only displayed on the field, but actually run on the racetrack is special, because it’s a whole different dimension.”
Ray Evernham
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Comments
Everyone wants to be Goodwood all of a sudden, but Goodwood's events took many years to build their popularity, heritage and magic. It's hubris to think you're going to come along and do something similar in a short amout of time at a venue that lacks Goodwood's charm. The American Festival of Speed started up last year, using the same ambitions, at the M1 Concourse in metro Detroit. There were some neat cars and the event will eventually be interesting and fun to attend if it survives, but it's not even close to what Goodwood has and it never will.
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By J.A. Ackley
