Yahoo Autos One North Carolina County Has Two Racetrack Projects in the Works
Two separate projects are in the works to open road courses in a single county in North Carolina.
One is inspired by the Nürburgring and would be open to the public; the other is envisioned as a private haven with condos and a 1.7-mile track.
Both are facing at least some opposition from locals.
At Car and Driver, the announcement of any new road course project will always pique our track-happy interest. So imagine our delight to learn that Moore County, North Carolina, is the stage for an unprecedented situation: two road course projects unfolding independently.
There's no guarantee that either will come to fruition, but I certainly hope they do, because I happen to live in Moore County. What's the opposite of a NIMBY? Because that's where I stand on the topic of More Tracks. Or, as the case may be, Moore Tracks. Go ahead, county tourism board, you can use that. My treat.
Moore County is currently known as a golf destination; last month, more than 200,000 people showed up for the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. But if local enthusiasts are successful, it might become a driving destination too.
In the northern part of the country, the proposed Uwharrie Motorsports Park could bring a 3.6-mile road course inspired by the Nürburgring and open to the public. On the other side of the county, near Route 1, another project is centered on a private 1.7-mile track with garage condos. Both face headwinds of local opposition but have garnered more enthusiasm than disdain.
Uwharrie Motorsports Park
Michael Morse, CEO of Autoport, the company behind Uwharrie Motorsports Park, chose a site that's in one of North Carolina's designated opportunity zones—areas where development is actively encouraged by the state because the economic situation is so grim. (A poverty rate higher than 20 percent or a median family income at 80 percent or lower than the median in the area.) The 400-acre site is owned by Jordan Timber, a lumber company that controls 83,000 acres of forest and harvests trees every 28 years. Morse says that local officials are generally in favor of the project, which would bring much-needed jobs to an area with a 40 percent unemployment rate, but there is opposition from neighboring landowners.
"At the community meeting, we had 150 people there, and I think 17 of them were against it," Morse says. One point he hoped to make is that the land in question would eventually be populated by skidders, logging trucks, and chainsaws, clear-cut down to a sea of stumps, while the track would leave a buffer of trees to grow in perpetuity. The track would have no lights and thus no night driving, and no races. It would also be open to the public, including the on-site clubhouse and restaurant (members would have a clubhouse and there are plans for condos, of course).
Driven International, track architects based in England, have proposed several layouts for the track and facilities. The longest version serves up 33 turns over 3.6 miles, with alternate layouts to run as two shorter tracks, similar to VIR's various options to divvy up the circuit into shorter segments. Each potential layout also includes a kart track and condos.
Cameron Motor Club
The other potential course, tentatively named Cameron Motor Club, is being spearheaded by Charles Gregg, CEO of the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic. Gregg has been pursuing a road course project for several years—in fact, in 2019 he showed me a potential site in Moore County that seemed remote enough but turned out to have plenty of local detractors. "I heard from all the neighbors who were against it so I said, fine, I'm not trying to force anything on you," Gregg says. Instead he began looking for another site, and the new one is much less remote, just to the east of Route 1—which, right there, is a four-lane highway with a 60-mph speed limit. Not far from the other side of the potential track is an active mile-long gravel pit.
So you'd think that pushback about noise would be nil, but Cameron attendees still raised that issue in the first public meeting on the subject earlier this week. Gregg proposed noise meters that would assure that track noise didn't exceed the ambient noise of neighboring Route 1, with fines payable to the town of Cameron if it did. But he's pretty sure it won't. "Our track design will be tight, less than two miles, and will barely have a straightaway," he says. "So there's nowhere anyone could go full throttle for very long."
Plans also include fly fishing, a dirt course for safari cars, a barbecue pavilion, 60 to 80 condos, and sporting clays. About 10,000 square feet of space will be occupied by Innovation Performance Technologies, which builds new restro-rod Mustangs and Camaros. While the facility will be private and relatively low-profile, the business plan includes community events for locals to use the track and facility.
As opposed to the previous site, this time Gregg says the abutting neighbors are in favor of the project. Even so, he's planning further outreach. "We're meeting with them and bringing Innovation Performance Camaros and Mustangs this weekend so they can see what'll be built there and hear what they sound like. I'm hopeful they'll see that this is the kind of project that fits right in with the community."
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