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The Ridge Motorsports Park is a motorsports racing facility located near Shelton, Washington, approximately 25 miles northwest of Olympia, Washington. Ground was broken on 26 April 2011, and the first event was a charity event benefitting local Mason County food banks, held at The Ridge on 10 & 11 December 2011. The first official race, a Washington Motorcycle Road Racing Association - WMRRA event, was held on 24 May 2012. Subsequent events include championship racing by regional car and motorcycle sanctioning bodies, lapping events by car clubs, motorcycle organizations, and other events. In the summer of 2014 a new ownership group was formed, consisting of the remaining original partner that has longstanding ties to the local community, now partnered with the owner of the construction company originally responsible for the construction and development of the project. A new management team was also formed. Following this comprehensive restructuring of the company the original road circuit configuration saw many new enhancements, including a redesign and reconfiguration of the turn 13 area by the original road circuit architect Steve Crawford to address and mitigate asphalt degradation from heavy braking and turning forces, degradation issues typical to these types of turns on motorsports circuits. Curbing was added in many places, to define the racing surface and to prevent edge failure from erosion undermining. The terrain surrounding the circuit underwent an enormous amount of grading and smoothing prior to the application of topsoil and hydro-seeding, to both enhance the appearance of the facility and to manage runoff. New poured in place concrete barrier walls were constructed to replace temporary barriers, and additional new paving has been completed. A large area was cleared on the upper area of the site for a new spectator viewing area. Additional plans for the 2015 season are said to include a permanent bathroom building and a pedestrian overpass footbridge to access the spectator area, these significant improvements of course being subject to the bureaucracy and timeline of the permitting office approval process. As part of the due diligence review following the formation of the new ownership and management team, it was discovered that the original project site area and topography didn't permit construction of the planned drag strip. There simply wasn't sufficient space to construct all of the necessary elements required to have a functional and safe drag strip operation facility on the existing development site. Reaction from the drag racing community to this news could be characterized as ranging from disappointment to outrage, despite the fact that the owners made it clear they remain committed to building a venue for drag racing at an alternate location. After careful consideration by the owners and management it was determined that the best business use of the available area on the existing development site was a scale replica kart track of the road circuit including elevation changes. The 2015 calendar at The Ridge shows bookings typical of prior years, and as the season approaches it is expected that the remaining open dates will be filled. Much work remains for the project to get fully back on track, but it is evident that the current owners and management are strongly committed to moving forward aggressively with sizeable investments into the facility and moving development along briskly. The first event under new ownership and management, and the Grand re-opening at The Ridge, was an Audi Club Northwest track day on 21 & 22 March 2015. The full road course is 2.47 miles long with 16 turns and a change in elevation of more than 300 feet from start to finish. The scale kart track is currently under development, data points will be provided at a later date. == Lap Records == 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Ridge Motorsports Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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