By Tim Odell
Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman this is big. Certainly literally the physically largest and likely the most expensive thing we’ve ever featured, at least until the whole state of Rhode Island comes up for sale. Located just north of the failed master planned community and Hooniverse playground, California City, is Honda’s huge vehicle testing facility. The property features a 7.5 mile oval, “windy road” course, multiple dirt tracks, and other vehicle testing features. In addition to the paved features, there are a number of large buildings set up to be offices, warehouses, storage and garages. The facility’s fully wired with fiber optic and fully plumbed, with on-site wells supplying water.
Basically, it’s got everything to live out the rest of your days in total bliss. Now, let’s make this happen…
Unfortunately, the CB Richard Ellis listing lacks a key detail: price. Off-hand, we’d guess in the $50 million range, which is a humongous pile of money, but viewed as a business with a number of shareholders, not really that big. The good news is the place is already built and permitted, meaning you get to skip the years of studies and litigation required to get a place like this built. Operational costs scale with what you’re trying to get done, but are probably single-digit millions per year. Assuming a goal of paying off the initial investment in five years, you’d have to gross roughly $15 million per year. Think some combination of track days, OEM or media testing, fuel sales and building rentals could pay the bills? Maybe open up a membership option and have a motor club thing going on?
There’s obviously room for someone to be a live-in on-site manager, and plenty of potential to run both solar and wind farms on the facility. Personally, I’d quit the day job right now and hit the road (it’s a mere 2 hours north of El Lay) if I thought I could swing it.
CB Richard Ellis, via Bring a Trailer
Jeff Glucker
Hooniversal International Commune?
Hoonican City?
ITS SOLD A SOLAR POWER PLANT IS GOING TO BE BUILT THERE. I LIVE IN CAL. CITY.
Prime spot for a Hooniversalist Hoonitarian commune/cult compound if you ask me. I can just imagine Dearthair running around on the roof, keeping the ATF at bay…
We'll need some ATF. I'm sure few slush boxes are going to be there.
Hey, my car uses it for power steering fluid, too. Not that the pump isn't seized or anything.
Don't drink the Kool Aid.
We prefer to think of it as a "religious retreat", rather than a commune or cult compound.
It's all about marketing.
$50M/500 = $100,000 each. Not quite so incredibly affordable.
pshh… who invited the poor guy?
Commune? Cult compound? Sheesh, you guys got no monies, and we gots to pay for it somehow…
<img src="http://www.tanshanomi.com/temp/clubhoon.jpg">
"Good Morning, Mr. Millionaire, I'm Pedro. You're confirmed for a Pro Formula car on the Winding Road at nine, and for the Diesel School Bus Races on the Oval at four. I've taken the liberty of making lunch reservations for you at Jackie Stewart's Bar-B-Hoon Pit at noon…"
4 weekends / month = 8 weekend days/month (not including obvious holidays)
500 "members" / 8 track days = 63 participants / day
Going twice/month => 126 participants / day.
Do you pay $100 / track day to share the track with 125 other cars?
lol. Stumack wins.
It was a fantastic/dangerous idea until we learned we would have to share.
There are 5 tracks there, remember. So you'd only be sharing the track with 24 other cars.
And there would be some of us who work weekends, so we'd have to go during the week. That cuts it down significantly.
And knowing most of the hoons here, only a minority of the cars there will be in running condition at any given moment. I think perhaps we'd need to worry less about track congestion as much as pit & paddock congestion.
You scooped J'nik! Excellent reportage. Let me know if you need someone to keep dust from building up on the track, by driving around it all the time.
Wouldn't be the first time. I get endless amusement out of watching random things that show up here appear on [REDACTED] six to twelve hours later. 😀
Can I apply for the position of groundskeeper yet?
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_I3vy8a7Bfqw/S98h6aCtyXI/AAAAAAAACpM/PEJmR-yTeeY/s1600/tiktok1.JPG" width="600">
And really what isnt Jack Daniels good for?
whoever buys this* has got to run a LeMons race on the road course with top speed runs on the outisde ring after day two (of racing).
(I would do this next part to help fund improvements!)
bets should be accepted both on who will make it to the end of day two (of racing), as well as who will hit what speed (whole numbers only, no decimals and mph.. )
(*i want to buy this)
Buying Powerball and Megamillions in stupid amounts this evening.
I call dibs on the dirt portion of the track.
I got 5 on it.
OOPS! Who knew one little zero could mean so much!
*walks to corner wearing dunce cap*
I'll be over here if you need me 🙁
This fits in perfectly with my
ill-advisedfoolproof plan to launch a niche sports-car brand built around Honda powerplants. Now I just need to find somegullibleforward-thinking venture capitalists!I HAVE A BUTTON ON MY KEYBOARD THAT GIVES ME ALL THE CAPITALS I WANT.
Just don't hit the N button. Your keyboard will burst into flames.
mitch, get on this would ya?
How am I supposed to get on this? Talk to Glucker, he's the one with all the money!
Well, I've purchased a Powerball ticket. It it hits, you're all welcome to visit me at the Scroggsburgring, and watch me while I drive around and get super-jealous.
How many of us already drive Hondas? I'm wondering if we could try and go for a loyalty discount, get it pushed down to $45 million or so.
In addition, think we could land small aircraft on the oval's straightaways? If so, I'm absolutely in (once I win the lottery or something).
Just eyeballing them against the scale on Google Earth, the strights appear to be 7 or 8 thousand feet long. Nevermind small aircraft, you could very nearly fly widebodies out of there.
Knowing my luck, as soon as I hand over the required millions and relocated to CA to spend the rest of my days in sun-baked hi-octane heaven, Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire would come onto the market for a fraction of the cost.
Why drive on endless perfect blacktop under blue and sunny skies when you can do the same thing in persistent blustery English drizzle?
That's a lot of Google ad clicks.
Over on Automotive Traveler we were on this story back on Monday and posted our story on Tuesday. You can read the initialre port at http://bit.ly/eMXDps.
I called the broker and got some of the particulars. With far acreage in this part of California running about $1000 an acre, the unimproved value of the property is somewhere in the area of $4m. Then you have to add all the improvements that Honda has invested over the years and you have another $30-$40m.
From Honda's position, the facility has maximum value to another vehicle manufacturer, possibly a Chinese competitor like BYD. What's $40m to someone like Warren Buffet who is heavily invested in BYD? Would Honda be willing to sell to a competitor, or would they even care so long that they received the best return on its investment. From the perspective of BYD, they would obviously want to pay less than building a new facility from scratch as Hyundai-Kia did less than 20 miles away.
As auto buffs we'd like to see it end up in the hands of a group sympathetic to our passions, I think the chance of that happening are remote at best.
Richard Truesdell
Editorial Director, Automotive Traveler Magazine, automotivetraveler.com
I've been working hard at convincing Mrs. engineerd that we should cash in our 401(k)s to invest in buying this.
wat kind of COMPANY IS COMING ON THAT SITE THEN????????????