Laguna Seca under attack

I'm waiting for Champcar to confirm a date for this year to go race there for the first time.  Hope I get that chance...

Stories like this are why I hate everyone. 

Build home next to race track. Be warned loud race track is loud. 

Complain loud, historical race track is loud. Ask for it to be removed because berkeley everyone but you. 

This is happening locally with the freedom factory. 

Nothing new really.

What sucks in this is the neighbors "win" for successive legal challenges that drain the tracks resources to nothing and they are forced to cease operations or raise prices to where no financially reasonable/responsible person can afford to race at the track.

In reply to Mndsm :

You would think that if it were just one or two houses, the track and a relatively small group of enthusiasts could buy the offending homes and turn them into trackside urinals. 

It's not one or two houses though.  It's two gated community country clubs.

Get some decent electric go karts and helmets and bring those complainer's to the track and make them do 5 laps. 

After they get out of the kart with a smile explain (lie a little) that this technology is the future and ask if they had fun?  Then tell them we just need a few years to get there......

Laguna Seca has been under attack for decades. 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

In reply to Mndsm :

You would think that if it were just one or two houses, the track and a relatively small group of enthusiasts could buy the offending homes and turn them into trackside urinals. 

The homes next to the track:

In reply to STM317 :

And that's where the real issue lies...  it is far more valuable to a developer as property to build on than it is as a racetrack...

Ironically I joke with the wife that if anything happens to her I might move to Elkhart Lake so I can hear the cars racing all weekend. 

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Ironically I joke with the wife that if anything happens to her I might move to Elkhart Lake so I can hear the cars racing all weekend. 

Sebring for me. I wanna be warm.

In reply to bobzilla :

You will definitely hear cars all year long at Sebring , sometimes every day of the week during testing season.

bobzilla said:

Laguna Seca has been under attack for decades. 

And IIRC, the track has had some management issues, too.  Meaning they have weakened their position.

But they also have some of the strictest sound regs in the country as well. 90dB is the limit there. That's what an normal hairdryer makes. Now, the closest house is 2400ft from T1 at Laguna and there is a large hill seperating them. These people are just bitching to bitch at this point so berkeley them . 

EDIT: Even without the physical land masses in the way to attentuate the sound, distance also comes into play. The limit of 90 is at 10ft. Sound drops approximately 6dB everytime the distance doubles. While they CAN hear it, it's not loud and disruptive. 

bobzilla said:

But they also have some of the strictest sound regs in the country as well. 90dB is the limit there. That's what an normal hairdryer makes. Now, the closest house is 2400ft from T1 at Laguna and there is a large hill seperating them. These people are just bitching to bitch at this point so berkeley them . 

EDIT: Even without the physical land masses in the way to attentuate the sound, distance also comes into play. The limit of 90 is at 10ft. Sound drops approximately 6dB everytime the distance doubles. While they CAN hear it, it's not loud and disruptive. 

Additionally, from what I can tell online, 95 dB is California's limit for exhaust.

Datsun240ZGuy said:

Ironically I joke with the wife that if anything happens to her I might move to Elkhart Lake so I can hear the cars racing all weekend. 

People spaz when I say I WANT to live next to an airport.

racerfink said:

In reply to STM317 :

And that's where the real issue lies...  it is far more valuable to a developer as property to build on than it is as a racetrack...

That's not going to happen, it's a state park. Which also includes a rifle range.

Laguna Seca has been under attack before. This time it's because there has been an increase in activity over the past few years. Not that Laguna Seca is getting more use, but that it was very quiet for a couple of years due to covid. There has also been a change in management, and that's being used as a lever. The Drive has a good article along with a copy of the complaint. The group that's behind the lawsuit exists simply to create lawsuits to stop things from happening, basically because underemployed lawyers are effectively playground bullies.

Can we hire some of those slideshow kids to perform by the gates of the gated community and they could see / hear how bad it could be? Closing down tracks is just going to generate more illegal shenanigans like that and they do not / will not care to adhere to a 90db exhaust limit...

In reply to DjGreggieP :

They won't make any connection  whatsoever between the two happenings.  It's all just awful car people to them.

What's going to happen to Monterey Car Week without the vintage race? Will it survive on just car shows and car auctions?

Making Laguna Seca into yet another gated golf community is just one more reason for leaving California.

Let them have their real estate investors paradise.

Idea: sell the track to developers, with the conditions that the original layout of the pavement be retained (as public roads) and that a minimum of 10 weekends per year are reserved for street course wheel to wheel racing and/or time trails and/or rally stages.

Everybody's happy!

COB@co.monterey.ca.us

Monterey County Board of Supervisors general email address. You can also find the contact for each one here. They voted 5-0 in June for the new Management contract, so I believe they are all aware of the benefits the track provides to the County as a whole. This lawsuit is maliciously timed to upset that transition. 

I'm going to write to them in favor of the track regardless. Considering it's construction prior to CEQA it should be exempt. If anything I dare say it should be preseved through use as historicly significant. I already believe that the restrictions the County has levied upon itself are too stringent, and anything further would lead to eventual failure. If the track did have SIGNIFICANT environmental impact, I believe it wouldve been discovered in its last 70 years of operation. 

I imagine that with the advent of telework the hwy 68 coalition all moved from the bay area, where they lived within ear shot of heavy highway&freeway traffic well over 90 decibels. 

bobzilla said:

But they also have some of the strictest sound regs in the country as well. 90dB is the limit there. That's what an normal hairdryer makes. Now, the closest house is 2400ft from T1 at Laguna and there is a large hill seperating them. These people are just bitching to bitch at this point so berkeley them . 

EDIT: Even without the physical land masses in the way to attentuate the sound, distance also comes into play. The limit of 90 is at 10ft. Sound drops approximately 6dB everytime the distance doubles. While they CAN hear it, it's not loud and disruptive. 

Which mean that the attack is about money and not sound. Making management missteps even worse. 

It used to be called Ford Ord and it was an Army Base with a field artillery target range. I think that might have actually been louder than the race track.