Other open track projects in the Northeast

[Patrick Olsen]

Following up on the Englishtown track news, here are a couple of other projects that look pretty promising. Both of these are located in Pennsylvania, well within range of dedicated track enthusiasts like myself.

www.rauschcreekracing.com - Rausch Creek Motorsports Park (RCMP), which is near Harrisburg, PA, was actually supposed to open in spring 2001, but they ran into construction delays last year. I think construction was further delayed this year by problems with the DEP about drainage/runoff from the newly constructed track. Now they say they'll open in spring 2002. The track is a pretty sweet looking 2.31mi course with 300' of elevation change (that's a lot!). http://www.rauschcreekracing.com/roa...cinglayout.php . For me, leaving from the southeastern corner of CT, it should be about a 4.5-5hr drive - a bit closer than Watkins Glen.

http://www.libertybellmp.com/index.html - Liberty Motorsports Park sound like it could be even cooler than RCMP, but I'm not even sure construction has begun yet (whereas RCMP is nearly complete). From the website it appears they're still in the planning stages. If it comes to fruition, the highlight will be a 2.73mi road course. Kind of a simple looking track (the green one here http://www.libertybellmp.com/HTML/trackmap.html ). Kind of a small Watkins Glen, only a couple spots where the corners flow together, for the most part it looks like straight, turn, straight, turn.... But that's still plenty o' fun, and this place will only be about 4hr away (near Reading, PA). Based on what is said here http://www.users.fast.net/~nescca/ it sounds like the facility stands a good chance of being completed, as the locals don't want another landfill.

Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan
Track whore