Membership Option(s)
As many of you know, the goal of the Bergrennenring has always been to deliver the firstáfamily motorsport resort that caters to the discriminating motorsport enthusiast. This includes professionally master planned, designed, and constructed road courses, clubhouse, and other amenities.
Feedback in early 2007 from a few car club members was to offer an entry-level membership option for those without the financial resources to otherwise join. After initially developing a membership product to respond to this request, MRI has subsequently determined that we cannot accommodate such an approach without negatively impacting ourámaster plan and daily operations to manage two different membership levels.
As a result, we are pleased to announce that all members will receive the same level of privileges, amenities, and service excellence through a single membership option.
Patrick Long: Makin’ us all Proud
Kuddo’s to Patrick Long for winning the GT2 class at the 24 Hours of LeMans last week and then finding time to honor Glen Gatlin’s request to drop by Motorsport Ranch/Cresson next week for a driving clinic. We’re talking with Patrick’s agent regarding design input to the Bergrennenring, as I had the pleasure of having him as a drive instructor in my Porsche GT3 Cup back in 2004 at Road America.
We like Patrick and believe he’s a great prospective talent for project input. Krohn Racing’s Colin Braun has already emailed us with interest in providing clinics/etc. once the intial track facilities are in place. With Colin’s new contract to move to Roush/Fenway Racing after this season, looks like Tracy Krohn will be searching for a new Daytona Prototype driver.
Service Firms Reach Out to Bergrennenring Team
Multiple meetings were held this month with San Antonio-based PR and architectural firms who are interested in becoming involved in the Bergrennenring development, as a result of the San Antonio Business Journal article that ran on May 25. MRI will review proposals from these firms — including strategic relationships that they can bring.
The Austin Business Journal ran a story on Bergrennenring last week that was a variation of the story that the San Antonio Business Journal ran last month.?
Latest News - Word is Getting Out
Unsolicited, Steve was recently contacted and completed an interview with the Crittenden Resort Report - a research company that compiles and delivers information on real estate and resort development.
The article is available for reading in our News & Press section of the website. Special thanks to the Crittenden Research Company for reaching out to Motorsport Resorts International and reporting on our project to a larger audience.
Dream Drives - An Article from United Airlines Magazine
So, some people are skeptical about the rise of motorsports in the US.á I contend the rise began long ago.á Now, it is continuing and the peak is not yet reached.á On a flight this week, I ran across an article contained in this post.á Great article and great affirmation of the need for a motorsports destination.á It is a bit long, so I have posted highlights here and provided the URL in case one wants to bookmark it and read later….enjoy.
http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/may07/cars.html
Dream Drives
Ferrari and Lamborghini are legendary automotive names that caress the tongue like the finest cuisine on an Italian menu. Four-wheeled fantasies, the best of Italian style and engineering, the cars are blazingly fast, frighteningly expensive, utterly impractical-and hardly common. áMost appreciate their cars’ performance ability, even if they can’t use it all legally.
Let’s be honest. Many people are thoroughly intimidated by cars that cost more than $200,000, accelerate to 60 mph in four seconds or less, and are capable of truly obscene speeds that top out well north of 190 mph.á
Joining members of the Lamborghini Club at the Hotel Healdsburg in California’s Sonoma wine country, I note that all but one car, a vintage Diablo, are new models. All three of “our” cars could exceed posted speed limits in first gear, or just after a shift to second, with four gears to go.
Most of the male club members are the open silk shirt- and gold chain-wearing types you might spot in South Beach or Palm Springs. The women are Pucci-ed, Gucci-ed, Missoni-ed, and Armani-ed to the nines. Lamborghini S.p.A.’s striking CEO, Stefan Winkelmann, a convincingly romantic German (who has spent his life in Italy), encouraged us to drive with brio. You just know he’ll set the best example.
A few simple rules about driving exotic cars: (1) Forget what the car is worth. It’s a car; it can be repaired. (2) Don’t baby it; don’t abuse it; just drive it. (3) Repeat No. 1.
Thankfully, the LP640 sticks to curves like Super Glue. I blast merrily through linked turns, gently kissing the Brembo brakes, then get on the throttle firmly, when the planets align, and flat hammer it. There’s no fishtailing; despite nearly 600 horses, the all-wheel-drive grips like a demented leech. I just point and shoot; the LP640 does all the hard work.
Let’s move now to the next fantasy come true. You wouldn’t think of taking a really long drive in a Ferrari. “Prancing Horses” are strictly high-strung thoroughbreds, good for short sprints, not long hauls-right?
And besides, they might break.
To disabuse you of this notion, Ferrari organized a 75-day “World Tour in 1997.” And in 2005, 51 journalists drove a pair of Ferrari 612 Scaglietti2+2s some 15,000 miles across China, from Beijing to Shanghai.
Fast-forward 55 years. Beginning this past August, in a pair of new 599 GTB Fiorano berlinettas, 51 journalists took turns driving 20,000 miles in 15 stages through 16 countries, from Belo Horizonte, on Brazil’s east coast, across South America into Argentina, Chile, and Peru. They wove through Central America up to Baja. Then they hurtled across the U.S., stopping at Miami and Savannah, Georgia, dashing to DC, beating the winter to Toronto, and finishing in New York City. The journey took 84 days.
We have to ensure that both 599s complete their journey rubber side down, but the temptation to sprint a bit is hard to resist. I drive with Ferrari’s director of communications, Davide Kluzer. In the other 599 is Zheng Menghui, AKA “Tony,” a TV producer from Beijing. Tony hits triple-digit speeds a few times until Davide points out via telephone that if he is stopped, he will go to jail-”and we can do nothing, nothing at all, to help you.”
Fortunately, Ferrari and Lamborghini offer racing programs, so you can put your car on a track and experience its full potential. You needn’t ever risk license or limb on the open road.
Could you drive any of these exotics all the time, assuming you have the means? The answer is a resounding “yes.” But if you have to ask, “Are they worth it?” you can’t afford them. The price of Ferrari and Lamborghini ownership can’t be measured the way you’d calculate your cost per mile for a sedan. Very simply, they’re the best of their kind in the world. For a few, works of art like these are worth much more than their price tags.
Texas Race Driver Support
One of the medium-rangeáobjectives for the Bergrennenring is to host some professional series races.á Obtaining pro driver input and involvementáis key.áá Our first meeting is witháaáformer NASCAR driver (and Texas resident)áare happening.
Separately, we’re pursuing botháALMS and Grand Am driversáwho we expect to follow up with after the LeMans race this coming weekend.á Interestingly, my brother was in the Charlotte airport on Tuesday and pitched the concept to Mario Andretti who said he actually evaluated getting involved with a Texas track opportunity years ago that ran into environmental issues — however, he believes the location/timing is right.
B-Ring Press: San Antonio Business Journal Article
With the Johnson City city council proclamation in April 2007ásupporting the Bergrennenring being located inside their ETJ (subject to final master plan), we felt the time was right to begin sharing the vision via publications in the south Texas area.á
Scott Bailey was the first to jump on the opportunity by interviewing us in the 5/25 edition of the San Antonio Business Journal (copy on the Bergrennenring website), and he connected us to the Austin Business Journal who ran a variation of the story last week.áá
Separately,áwe took a call from The Robb Report on Tuesday of this week, while en route to a meeting in San Antonio with a PR firm who is interested in potentially helping us with other press connections.á The word is beginning to spread.