Nothing’s nailed down for sure, but there’s a plan to build a new roadracing track in Ontario—and people from the world-famous Goodwood Circuit are helping its development.
For a while now, there’s been talk of a new automotive mega-facility coming to Ontario, called Oro Station. Based next to the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, about an hour north of Toronto, this 320-acre complex would house a roadracing track, R&D centres, training programs and workshops for vintage vehicles. The website for Oro Station lists Georgian College, the Bexley Motor Club, Oakleigh Developments, and several other companies as partners.
The track will be 4.1-kilometers long, with 16 corners. Oro Station’s website says the layout will be homologated by the FIA, “with run-off areas and barriers designed in line with FIA grade 3 guidelines.” That doesn’t mean they’ll be safe for motorcycles, mind you. The track layout was designed by Driven International.
Now, there’s a new player on the scene. As per the Goodwood website, “Kinrara Consulting, the business development division of Goodwood, has been appointed to advise on the creation of a purpose-built, motor circuit and automotive innovation campus one hour north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.“
This might be good news for motorcyclists for three reasons. First, if Goodwood is involved, chances are this isn’t just a fly-by-night scheme; hopefully this is a serious attempt to build a world-class facility here in Canada. The money, as always, is the big question, but hopefully this shows Oro Station has the funding it needs.
Second, Goodwood Circuit is one of the UK’s most prestigious racing facilities, with more than 70 years of racing at the track. If anyone understands how to make a track successful, Goodwood should know how. As per Goodwood’s website, Kinrara will advice on “day-to-day circuit management, the organisation of high profile events with a potential global digital audience and attracting and retaining high net worth individuals to a membership model.” In other words, they’re going to show them how to pay the bills.
Third, Goodwood is definitely a car-centric track, and it looks like Oro Station is leaning that way as well. However, motorcycles still feature prominently at Goodwood’s various events, and hopefully that will carry over to Oro Station.
Again—none of the news we’ve heard so far is any guarantee Oro Station will be built, or that it will be motorcycle-friendly. However, with Goodwood’s involvement, we’re feeling a bit more hopeful than before.
Well, we’ll see if this gets off the ground. Fingers crossed.
However, I’m always disappointed that motorsports in N.A. is always divided into tribes.
Does no one there realize that we’re all in this together? Kids start on minibikes, ride MX, move to street bikes or karts, get cars etc. Car racing needs feeder systems. If you’re starting from scratch, build in extra place for all of us.