Can't believe I'm reading about Lakeland. I did two semesters there. Small town, orange groves and the best kept secret of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, especially Roux Library and Annie Pfieffer Chapel. The deal was he would design them but they would never be in published photos. Though the chapel was used as an under-ocean fortress in some old TV series, Deep Something or other? I only watched it to see the FSC building, surrounded by giant monsters...which is pretty much how I remembered it from the early 70s.
All salesmen and Jehovah's Witnesses must beat a :40 lap time before approaching his front door. Only then does the property owner give them the time of day to listen.
I know there's one of those somewhere in Michigan. Back in the day when I used to get Autoweek, the property was advertised in the back of the mag for quite a while. If I remember correctly it was more of a perimeter type thing around the property though.
@TheStig'sNJCousin_GitEmSteveDave: That sounds about right, he's a pilot and really into flying, he owns (and pilots) his own...707 I think it is. He happened to be in the Reno area during the air races one year and he apparently knows about the races, cause he asked for permission to do a couple of fly bys.
@layabout saaving Saab one caar at a time: Since I'm now in Alberta, which, aside from Saskatchewan is pretty much the armpit of Canada, you can buy acres and acres of land for really stupid cheap, especially if you're not trying to buy inside city limits.
Since I'm, uh, kinda not into farming, I'm thinking of buying a little hobby-farm somewhere out of town, and building a proper racetrack over the next 5-10 years.
I mean hell, I'm going to need to buy property at some point anyhow, why not do what I actually want?
If I do, I will offer to host LeMons: Strange Foreign Lands Edition.
@Deartháir: If we kill Auto Insider, can we have Murilee bac...: If you're going to take the 10 years or so to build the track you need to do what my grandfather did to build his second driveway. He got to know the concrete truck drivers, whenever the trucks had some concrete left over after a delivery he got them to stop by his house to dump it in his driveway forms. Otherwise the trucks usually just have to dump the stuff in a pile on the jobsite or back then just on the side of the road. He would give them a few bucks each time and he got a driveway real cheap.
Doesn't Autoweek usually have a place like this listed in the classifieds section?
@OldeEnglishD: Dude. I'm in Canada. I had two separate fridges and a cold-storage room in my last house, just to hold my various forms of booze. I'm in an apartment right now, and I've still got a second beer fridge, currently with about 45 bottles, of about 6 different kinds of beer.
I've had the same idea, with West Virginia as a site. Land is cheap, and the terrain is suited for a Nurburgring Jr. Add the fact that the entire state sits above one of the largest natural gas reserves in North American, and the idea could possibly pay for itself....or at least provide free fuel on my CNG powered Ariel Atom.
That would be an excellent idea to cheaply dump concrete as a base foundation of a race track. But an actual race track surface is paved with Asphalt. Since asphalt provides the best grip and traction for tires. Also if a section of the road need repairs. Laying a new layer of asphalt is the cheapest way to go. Kind of like what most public works roads are made and repaired.
@Chris Bautista: Concrete surfaces can make perfectly nice, grippy racetracks. NHRA prefers concrete. But they get rough as hell, and really can't be smoothed much.
@The Auto Insider: I have aquatic tigers on my side.: Oh come now. You're an anonymous mythical entity. We could kill Diddles, but people would notice. Well, maybe. Probably not... but still, there's only one Diddles.
I figure we kill you off, say by launching you off an aircraft carrier, and bring in a black Auto Insider, and nobody knows the difference.
@LucidRalphWiley: Can't mess with tradition! But a good track generally requires a very well prepared base and care application and finishing of the paving. You can try to patch on top of sloppy stuff and it will never last. Sebring was built in a hurry and only expected to last a few years, and here it is sixty years later, still putting on races. At least those airfield slabs are thick! You might be able to knock the tops off sone of it and not go too far wrong, but it would change the dynamics of the course entirely.
@eggwich del fiero: I may have to retract that, as it seems I'm the only one who gets the "Stig" connection. You know... Black Stig is back, White Stig's days are numbered, Auto Insider uses a White Stig avatar, time to kill off Auto Insider I and bring out Auto Insider II in a black avatar.
@Deartháir retracts his calls for AutoInsider's death: No, I get it, too. And it was funny. Auto Insider probably was feeling a bit threatened, but then again he probably knew his days were numbered after all the Stig talk from BBC started.
@engineerd: On the plus side, Lakeland is my favorite part of the state. I lived there when I was 4-7 years old and have been back a couple times. Definitely has a much different vibe than most of cheesy, overbuilt coastal Florida. It's more of a college town with a very old-school, early 20th century historical Art Deco air about it. Also, it's one of the only parts of Florida with terrain--some pretty big hills around there. Probably the only place in FL I'd consider living. If I had this in my front yard, definitely.
@Ash78: Lakeland has only small hills. The real Florida hill country runs from southeast of Lakeland near Lake Wales northward west of Orlando, up through Gainesville, and up to the state line with Georgia. Quite a few hills in the Panhandle too. You can find some pretty good driving roads in these hilly areas.
I like Florida and I've lived here most of my life. It's relatively inexpensive - no state income tax and moderate sales/property taxes. People tend to think that the state is nothing but theme parks and oceanside condos. The Miami/Lauderdale/Palm Beach metropolis is fairly nice as far as major cities go. Most of North Florida has kept a Deep South flavor. Orlando and the surrounding areas are dotted with thousands of lakes, and there are some beautiful areas once you get away from the Disney-influenced areas. My favorite part of the state is the east central coast from St. Augustine southward to Jupiter - very nice beaches, great sea-breeze in summer, and much of it (outside of Daytona and Melbourne) has not been over-built yet.
@tonyola: I'm actually a St. Augustinian by birth, with stints in Lakeland and Vero Beach for most of my youth. I'm about as native as you can get, apart from having left at age 15.
While I do enjoy the northeast part of the state, I still like Lakeland because it seems to have avoided all the beachy tourist crap that plagues a lot of the state. Quiet, but still close to Tampa and Orlando.
@Ash78: I live fairly close to Lakeland now. I bet this is a horse farm... I have to get a 5-point harness and take someone to sell girl scout cookies at this guy's house (or any other plausible excuse to check my skid g's) :)
Got money and land: orange groves and/or cattle ranch Got money and land, but don't like agriculture: Horse farm Got land, but need money: Sell land to phosphate mining company
@Jo Schmo, Pauljones evil and opposite twin: which brings up the follow up question of; what do you think his lap time around his driveway is w/ his DD? i mean just driving down that everyday has to improve his skills.
thats how takumi did it right? if only it was on top of a mountain...
02/20/09
02/20/09
/not guilty
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
Damn you Terl!
02/20/09
Plus its a driveway so if you wreck your insurance will cover it.+++
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
Since I'm, uh, kinda not into farming, I'm thinking of buying a little hobby-farm somewhere out of town, and building a proper racetrack over the next 5-10 years.
I mean hell, I'm going to need to buy property at some point anyhow, why not do what I actually want?
If I do, I will offer to host LeMons: Strange Foreign Lands Edition.
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
Doesn't Autoweek usually have a place like this listed in the classifieds section?
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
There's a lake of stew and of whiskey too,
you can paddle all around em in a big canoe,
in the Deathair Jalop Mountains.
02/20/09
I've had the same idea, with West Virginia as a site. Land is cheap, and the terrain is suited for a Nurburgring Jr. Add the fact that the entire state sits above one of the largest natural gas reserves in North American, and the idea could possibly pay for itself....or at least provide free fuel on my CNG powered Ariel Atom.
02/20/09
"Deathair"? A+ on typing and proofreading skills as usual, jackass.
Sorry Dearthair.
02/20/09
02/20/09
That would be an excellent idea to cheaply dump concrete as a base foundation of a race track. But an actual race track surface is paved with Asphalt. Since asphalt provides the best grip and traction for tires. Also if a section of the road need repairs. Laying a new layer of asphalt is the cheapest way to go. Kind of like what most public works roads are made and repaired.
02/20/09
02/20/09
There is a big part of the Depression era/country raising that just doesn't let ANNTHING go to waste.
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
I figure we kill you off, say by launching you off an aircraft carrier, and bring in a black Auto Insider, and nobody knows the difference.
02/20/09
02/20/09
It's worked before. Kind of.
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/21/09
02/21/09
Sometimes I'm only funny to myself. :(
02/21/09
02/21/09
02/20/09
Awesome driveway/raceway? Check
Close to the Tiger's spring practice facility? Check
Florida? Fail
02/20/09
02/20/09
I like Florida and I've lived here most of my life. It's relatively inexpensive - no state income tax and moderate sales/property taxes. People tend to think that the state is nothing but theme parks and oceanside condos. The Miami/Lauderdale/Palm Beach metropolis is fairly nice as far as major cities go. Most of North Florida has kept a Deep South flavor. Orlando and the surrounding areas are dotted with thousands of lakes, and there are some beautiful areas once you get away from the Disney-influenced areas. My favorite part of the state is the east central coast from St. Augustine southward to Jupiter - very nice beaches, great sea-breeze in summer, and much of it (outside of Daytona and Melbourne) has not been over-built yet.
02/20/09
While I do enjoy the northeast part of the state, I still like Lakeland because it seems to have avoided all the beachy tourist crap that plagues a lot of the state. Quiet, but still close to Tampa and Orlando.
02/20/09
02/20/09
Got money and land: orange groves and/or cattle ranch
Got money and land, but don't like agriculture: Horse farm
Got land, but need money: Sell land to phosphate mining company
I think that's the central FL formula ;)
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
02/20/09
thats how takumi did it right? if only it was on top of a mountain...
02/20/09
02/20/09