It will cost at least $7 million to build a standard race track in the United States. It generally costs around $100,000 per mile for two-lane pavement. But two lanes aren’t nearly wide enough for a racetrack. Therefore, envisage a $200,000 per mile minimum in order to build a racetrack four lanes wide. You would want your drivers to drift sideways without going off the road; you would want a safe track and other amenities that will attract your target market.
For a 1⁄4 mile race track, the land cost is at least $400k on average. This is based on the average price per acre of land in the United States in 2021 and the estimate of using 120 acres to build the track.
To build an outdoor RC track using artificial turf for the public, it would cost anywhere from $20,000 – $26,000. An indoor RC track built for profit would be a little cheaper, but it would still cost you at least $15,000 to get the business up and running.
You can estimate that building a curved race track can cost more than $1 million with all these basic calculations. This is the cost without calculating the expenses of buying land and maintenance costs for the pavements. Maintenance is one of the most important factors in determining because race tracks can’t have potholes.
A four-mile paved racing track can easily exceed $1,000,000 with the cost of land. Adding up the cost of buying land and pavement maintenance, the price can go much higher.
Full-fledged 3.5-mile tracks usually cost $200–500 million.
Racetracks make money when people bet on horses, naturally, and they offer purses to attract trainers and owners to run their horses there since tracks do not own any horses of their own.
We invest in key areas: sanctioning fees to host league races, marketing, track infrastructure. Whereas drivers earn based on skills, wins, longevity. Top NASCAR drivers pocket good cash yearly, especially winners. First, teams pay $50,000-$10 million salaries. Second, race winnings.
I once built a financial model to construct a private facility. Even the simplest configuration was in the millions, a big chunk of it land costs. The revenue payback came nowhere enough to support the initial investment.
Aside from admissions sales, broadcasting revenue is one of the prime ways for NASCAR track owners to bring in revenue. Broadcasting revenue includes radio and television transmission of the races from any tracks owned.
Understanding the steps to opening a go-kart business is key to future success. The average length for a serious racing track for karts is around 1,100 – 1,200 meters, 7 to 9 meters in width. An investment to create a karting center is remarkably high. However, the ROI is high. A project that has invested over $1,500,000 could receive the ROI in 1-2 years.
Critics suggest manipulated caution flags create closer races, not improved safety as claimed.
THE MINIMUM acreage required for building a race track:
- Half-mile track: 17.5 acres
- Five-eighths-mile track: 27 acres
- Mile track: 55 acres
In the case of Alan Wilzig, he decided to build a Formula One racetrack in his backyard. Sitting behind his 150-year-old Dutch Colonial-style home in Taghkanic, According to Wilzig, the course is the only personal-use, professional-quality private racetrack in the world.
This fee can range from $50 to $150 per day, depending on the trainer and the amount of the purses at each track. For a 1⁄4 mile race track, the land cost is at least $400k on average. This is based on the average price per acre of land in the United States in 2021 and the estimate of using 120 acres to build the track.