2nd Canadian motorsports facility to be announced
In so doing, a second proposed race track – the Niagara Falls World of Motorsport, which has been rumored for several years – will become reality.
News media, including the Star, have reported previously on a proposal to build the Canadian Motor Speedway, a one-mile oval and a 2.5-mile road course near the QEW in Fort Erie that would have seating for 65,000 people and cost in the neighborhood of $200 million.
A formal announcement of that project a little more than a year ago identified the Kuwaiti company Bayt Al Mal Investments as the source of funding. The project, spearheaded by Niagara Falls businessman Jay Mason (his son Jesse, a racing driver of note, is also involved in the business), is being guided by Jim Thibert, who’s general manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corp.
When I talked to Jay Mason about his idea several years ago, he suggested the proposed Fort Erie speedway could be up and running by 2009. That hasn’t happened, but projects of this size are often difficult to get off the ground.
To keep the interest alive, a new Canadian Motor Speedway Webletter was emailed in recent days spelling out the plans for the racing circuits, a research and development project involving McMaster University and retail and other commercial operations that would be built in the immediate vicinity of the race track.
All very impressive.
Now, for the last couple of years, there has also been scuttlebutt about a second project in the area, closer to Niagara Falls. Nothing official, of course, but speculation has been out there all the same.
Wednesday, the second proposed track will officially become public when Abrahamson formally requests the Official Plan change that, if approved, will allow him to go ahead with plans for the Niagara Falls World of Motorsport, which would be within the city limits of what’s still nicknamed the Honeymoon Capital of the World.
"It’s a perfect location," Abrahamson told me during a quick phone call Tuesday night.
"It’s 10 minutes from Buffalo-Fort Erie by car and seven minutes from the Falls, where there are 16,000 hotel rooms. If mom and the daughters don’t like car racing, they can see the sights and go shopping while dad and the sons go watch the races. Then they can all be back together again in time for dinner. Everybody will be happy." More at Norris McDonald's Auto Racing Blog