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July 13, 2007
In an effort to ensure the future of Lime Rock Park, President Skip Barber has created The Club at Lime Rock Park, which offers 60 guaranteed track dates a year for 50 years.
Membership in the club costs $100,000 and can be passed down in the family or resold through the club.
Barber said the club is designed to achieve two goals. One is to raise money to invest in the track, particularly in resurfacing the track as well as upgrading such facilities as the press area and the entrance as well as planting trees in the unusually bucolic setting.
The second goal is to create a 50-year obligation for the track to service accommodate the members of its club with time on the track.
Rising land values in the area combined with the modest profit the track makes each year are at the heart of the initiative.
“It’s a gorgeous piece of property that used to be a gravel pit,” Barber said in an interview from the track, adding, “The value of land in the area has gone nuts.”
He said the property includes the hills surrounding the track, which are ideal for condo development, adding that developers are constantly inquiring about a possible sale.
In a prepared news statement, Barber said: “My biggest fear is that, if the business and finances of Lime Rock Park are not sufficiently strong, the value of this beautiful piece of property could exceed its value as a racetrack and that when I am no longer around, a future owner will be tempted to convert it to a golf course … like what happened at Bridgehampton."
“The membership dollars will be used to improve the entire park,” he said in his statement. “This is a way to guarantee that all improvements on the ‘wish list’ will happen - — everything from repaving the track to new bathrooms, an updated Media Center/Clubhouse and a larger and more efficient entrance, to name a few.”
“The economics of a road racing track by itself won’t pay for this magnitude of improvements,” Barber said. He said the club, which already has 10 members, will create viability for the track by paying for its upgrade and an obligation to remain open as a track for at least 50 years.
The club’s first full season will be 2008. However, there are four dates reserved this fall for qualified applicants to sample the facilities.
Lime Rock Park, near Lakeville in the northwest corner of Connecticut, is an historic road race track. It is host to such draws as the American Le Mans series, Vintage Labor Day Weekend and the famed Skip Barber Racing School (which Barber no longer owns) as well as numerous sport-car and amateur races.
- Peter C. T. Elsworth
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