NY CC Race?

[NismoZ]

NY Daily News says Paul Newman was in contact with city officials recently to discuss a 3.5 mi (I like it already!) track at Floyd Bennett field for a race as early as Sept. '07! Gee, lots of opposition instantly as it is part of a national park and the whole concept is illegal. (?) Oh, well...Maybe that's why the whole thing is set up for charity, the 1st urban "Hole In The Wall Camp"? I recall a long time ago Gerald Forsythe talking about a "new American venue" that wasn't Philly. Maybe this was it?

[cameraman]

It is a national recreation area not a national park.

It is "illegal" in that the area has an single event limit of 10,000 people.
That particular point is full negotiable with the NPS.

The bird watchers are going nuts as we speak.

That makes two proposed east coast city circuits being fronted by the good Mr. Newman. :thumbup:

It would be a fantastic place to race if they can get it done.

[Easy]

NYC has been a street race pipe dream for years. Bernie couldn't even get it done.

[racer2c]

It'll never happen.

[dando]

http://speedgear.com/cw2/Assets/product_full/AW2920.jpg

[NismoZ]

A rec area not a park, eh? Will it be an airport circuit and not a race track then? :) Remember when PLN used to stay in the background and shun the limelight? Glad he is involved. NY has always seemed an unlikely CC race location, but...maybe contingent upon merger as much as politics? If any NY pols were told the merger is a done deal but to keep it secret we ought to read about in the morning papers! :D Plus, just promise to let the birders in free. The sound of a few Cossies at full song ought to scare up a few things for them to see!

[cameraman]

National Parks and National Recreation Areas have very different usage plans, goals and regulations.

Somebody better have a seriously huge pile o' cash if they want to race at Floyd Bennett. Several of those taxiways have not been maintained in over 30 years. Neither have the runway areas that were not being used by either the USCG or NYPD. They are trashed and the track map in the newspaper uses a runway section that no longer exists.

There is an "out" here but it is a very expensive one. Part of the NPS' mission is to preserve the historic airport nature of the area and to do that the tarmac needs to be preserved. In fact, it isn't being preserved, it is crumbling due to the total lack of maintenance over the last 35 years. So in theory you could propose an Adaptive Reuse project. It would repair and preserve the runaways in their original configuration and at the same time allow the race to be held.

That would get you past the vast majority of the historical and environmental obstacles and get the NPS on your side but it would cost tens of millions of dollars to renovate that mostly concrete tarmac.

[NismoZ]

I'd hate to think "WE" might be footing the bill for something like that, but then I'm in "the US Cellular Field" state, too. :shakehead

[devilmaster]

Somebody better have a seriously huge pile o' cash if they want to race at Floyd Bennett. Several of those taxiways have not been maintained in over 30 years. Neither have the runway areas that were not being used by either the USCG or NYPD. They are trashed and the track map in the newspaper uses a runway section that no longer exists.

That would get you past the vast majority of the historical and environmental obstacles and get the NPS on your side but it would cost tens of millions of dollars to renovate that mostly concrete tarmac.

Cman's got a point there.... Google Sat doesn't show it holding up too well.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=floyd+bennett+field&ll=40.594338,-73.890481&spn=0.022811,0.054245&t=k&om=1

[cameraman]

This is really strange. Zoom in on that google link and take a look. The tarmac at Floyd Bennett is in no condition to support a WRC race muchless a CCWS one. I don't know if they are working with some super-deep pocketed sponsor who could foot the bill for an Adaptive Reuse proposal to the NPS or if they are just blowing smoke. Even if they had the cash there is no way in hell they could get the resurfacing of those tarmacs through the planning process by 2007 muchless have any construction done.

Why the hell even bring up the concept? :shakehead

[devilmaster]

This is really strange. Zoom in on that google link and take a look. The tarmac at Floyd Bennett is in no condition to support a WRC race muchless a CCWS one. I don't know if they are working with some super-deep pocketed sponsor who could foot the bill for an Adaptive Reuse proposal to the NPS or if they are just blowing smoke. Even if they had the cash there is no way in hell they could get the resurfacing of those tarmacs through the planning process by 2007 muchless have any construction done.

Why the hell even bring up the concept? :shakehead

I suppose their idea would be just to blacktop the runway areas they show on the 'concept' track, and turn it into a concrete canyon with k rails..... just a guess.

[edit]
Or......

Perhaps Forsythe has a hand in this, and could try to pull off another Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.... The Mexico city track wasn't in the greatest of shape either when Gerry came along. It took them a while to bring it up to snuff, but they did it.....

[extramundane]

This is really strange. Zoom in on that google link and take a look. The tarmac at Floyd Bennett is in no condition to support a WRC race muchless a CCWS one.

I dunno...doesn't look much worse than San Jose to me. And it's wider :gomer:

http://www.uploadfile.info/uploads/79181af92e.jpg

[nrc]

The important thing is that they've got camping. :gomer:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Floyd_Bennett_Field.PNG/780px-Floyd_Bennett_Field.PNG

A quick Google finds some docs from the National Park Service on managing the site. Between the historical, wildlife and NIMBY hurdles it might be easier just to pave Belmart Park.

http://www.nps.gov/gate/pphtml/documents.html

[emjaya]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Floyd_Bennett_Field.PNG/780px-Floyd_Bennett_Field.PNG

look at the name of the bay at bottom of the map,very apt. :)

[Cam]

The important thing is that they've got camping. :gomer:
They've got a North Forty too!!!!!! :gomer: :D

[Steve99]

Didn't ALMS basically pave a race track in the stadium parking lot in Washington D.C.? I could see doing a similar thing here.

[Tifosi24]

Yep the ALMS did that at RFK and actually made one of the best concrete ever. Too bad the NIMBYs when ape and it only lasted for one year. So, you could do something like that there, and it doesn't mean it would be a bad circuit.

[cameraman]

Just pave it? This isn't a parking lot. It is a federally owned historical and environmental site. You can't fart in that place without a draft environmental impact assessment.

Put it this way, in 1979 they decided that it would be a good idea to convert the empty hangers to recreational facilities. Construction just started last year.

It took 25 years for them to determine how to do it.

[gjc2]

A motorsports venue in the five boroughs of New York will never happen. The discussion of any proposal will have little or nothing to do with reason or logic, just look at what happened in Staten Island.

http://www.offcamber.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10409

George