Ridge Motorsport Park – THE ROAD IS IN!

SHELTON, WA – TAKE A LAP ON THE WORLD’S NEWEST AUTO ROAD RACING COURSE

For those motorheads who are following the building of Ridge Motorsport Park, the road is in.  The world newest purpose-built road race course is now in asphalt.  Take a ride on this YouTube video.

I have a question to those sport car fans – you know who you are.  The question: What kind of a car was used to take this video?  My guess: an Austin Healey Sprite or maybe a TR-6.

For those old enough to remember, this is history repeating itself.  Fifty years ago, before there was a Pacific Raceway or a Portland International Raceway, Shelton Washington was the northwest center for auto racing. Famous drivers, such as Lotus team member and F1 driver Pete Lovely, drove race cars like Lotus 11s and Ferraris between the hay bales at the Shelton Airport for little more than the sport of racing.

Recently, a group of autosport enthusiasts have been trying to return this tradition to Mason County with the creation of The Ridge Motorsports Park. It’s been a long and winding road but the Shelton City Council approved a “special use permit” to operate a race park. Located on the back side of the Shelton Airport, the park will include a 2.5 mile road course and 4-lane quarter mile drag strip.

The road course is now a road. About halfway through the course, there is even a corner reminiscent of the Cork Screw at Laguna Seca – should be thrilling to drive.  Now comes the task of building the world-class facilities to make it truly a destination race track for sports car, motorcycle and drag racers to enjoy. You can view how the course was built at their website at www.ridgemotorsportspark.com.

The South Sounder would like to thank everyone for their supportive comments and enthusiasm for this project and facility. Although there is a huge amount of work yet to do to get this project done in time for 2012 events, we are thrilled to welcome The Ridge to Shelton.