New Drag Strip To Sri Lanka

[Mani]

Lol..true story!...also there were a thousand angels singing the theme from titanic while jesus played the banjo.

That wasn't Jesus. It was just a Mexican named Jesus

[jdnet]

Just curious, have you done a feasibility study? While it would be nice to see a drag strip here, it seems doubtful that the return on the investment would be great, if at all. Oh yeah and getting opinions of people on a forum is really not going to help you get an idea of the market here. The fact is that ylou are outside the country and you probably think it will work great but in the end it may end up as a disaster. Not trying to put you down, but you seriously need to look into these things before randomly thinking of opening a drag strip.

[Sylvi]

Members,

We members on this forum no point in posting posts leading to endless arguments. Let this person do this project successfully in Srilanka. We all should help him, advice him for his project to be a success. Help full for the Automobile users. I did telephone him to find out yesterday he is really interested doing this project. I found his telephone number on one of his posts. He informed me he has bought all equipment what is necessary and he will be here next month before that all equipment will be here he had got lot of necessary information for this project. He had not selected a land yet, he wants to see the land and satisfy himself before negotiating the land for a long lease.

Sylvi Wijesinghe.

[Supra_Natural]

Colour me skeptical about this for the moment. It sounds too good to be true to be honest.

Lets wait and see... All the best anyway.

[Watchman]

Colour me skeptical about this for the moment. It sounds too good to be true to be honest.

Lets wait and see... All the best anyway.

I kinda agree with you on that. Its a lot of cash to just spend buying all that fancy equipment (and to have shipped it already) without even checking for feasibility or even finding some land for that matter.

But hey, I'm enjoying the unkel flavor in this so going along with it

[Crosswind]

All this time I was just reading this thread with a lot of curiosity (and irritation).

Don't know how serious you are about the project. This sounds too damn good to be true. But if it happens, it's good for the Sri Lankan motoring community. Because of that reason, I'm posting this reply.

Purely from a businessman's point of view and assuming that u don't have unlimited cash to burn, these are some of the things I feel that you should do.

1. Sit down and create a income/expense projection. Make a note of how much cash you have. Think of your expected returns. Are you willing to go ahead with the project even if you stand to lose half a million pounds? You will not make a profit out of this venture for a fairly long time.

2. You started off right in posting your idea in Autolanka. This forum has more diversity in opinions than any other place I know. Please do the same with any auto racing clubs in Sri Lanka. Perhaps some of the members in this forum may help you to get contacts out there.

3. DO NOT go to look for lands or import equipments at the beginning. That's the wrong approach for the whole project. You will end up sitting on an empty land, waiting for pradeshiya sabha approval. Yes. you NEED pradeshiya sabha approval for any construction work on a land. You might even need approval from Central Environmental Authority and Ministry of Defence (because the damn thing can be used to launch small aircraft).

4. Get political backing (if you have contacts). Many poliiticians' sons love fast cars and if u know someone who know's a minister's son, get the contacts and talk to the guy. Be prepared to meet the necessary expenses of the process. This will also help you to cut many of the red tapes u will come across during the process.

5. You will face customs issues when you import your equipment and your bug can get impounded because there are no provisions under Sri Lankan law to import cars older than 10 years. You will have to get some backing to get the equipments released out of the customs.

6. Read the companies act or hire someone who has read it. Form a company, get BOI approval if you can. This seems to be a large enough project to go to the BOI. You will have significant benefits and tax breaks that way.

7. You need publicity... lots of it even before you start building your drag strip. Autolanka forum is a good start. Do a bit of targeted marketing and make the automobile enthusiasts aware of what you are planning.

8. Some guys in the forum mentioned about supporting businesses. That's the way to go. Find out what are the other businesses u can do in the same premises. Drag school doesn't sound so financially feasible.

9. Maintaining your track involves people. People need to be paid. This will not be a full time job for them, so how do you plan to optimize their working hours?

10. Based on your income projections, you will tend to overprice your product. However, you are not addressing a captive market here so u need to price it accordingly. your competitors will be marine drive and other roads. You need to get your political friends to ensure that laws are strictly enforced, so that customers will be driven to your drag strip.

Good luck with your project.

[shanX]

If you're really serious, if you can atleast show some proof of the equipment, machinery and stuff you have already purchased, then only you would expect members here to take this thread seriously. Atleast someone here should know you. Else sorry this would be considered BS till you start the project.

[jana]

Wow Great news!!! lets help him and make it happen..

[ShintaroX]

Don't worry Gihan, if it doesn't work out you can always make it into an airstrip.

[devilchild]

Thank you very much for all your concerns and advises, there really helpful for my project,

I have to get permission from those places mentioned and going to be a B.O.I project too, but depending on few things this might end up as a private business,

With the land wise I’m still looking for more lands as I’m planning on lease the land not to buy it out right, currently there are couple of bare lands in bopitiya, uswatakeiyawa area but there more likely to be soil, mud etc, so it’ll need to be filled and get it up to the standards, so I m still interested in looking more lands,

Im gonna need to be touch with the politics .but if there’s some one who can help with this out there it’s really great,

Once the permissions granted and after finding the land we re planning on approaching for the sponsors, and marketing the business

Planning on a restaurant and area where other supporting business to be market there products,

To get it done correctly and to let the people enjoy this facility there will be a charge,

Planning on

Rs 150 from spectators

Rs 300 for 2 runs on the strip

Rs 1500 for 3 hours on the strip, 10-12 runs and 2 free entrance for friends or crew

Rs 2500 for a full day unlimited runs and 2 free entrance for friends or crew

Like I have mentioned early posts, every racer will be given a printout of the timing etc, and a ambulance, recovery vehicle and a fire fighters will be there all the time

If I can get the permission, planning on doing some night racing at least till mid night

It will be a separate charge for night racing

Special discounted prices for car clubs providing certain number of cars etc,

Planning on doing car shows, etc

And I m hoping on at least 100-130 cars per full weekend,

And run the drag strip all year around, except rainy days,,,,

Planning on 15 part time employees and 5 full time employees to start with then to increase,

What you guy’s think about these???

Let me know

Thanks

Gihan J

[Mani]

Gihan,

What you list there is good and well but what guarantee or research have you done to see if those numbers will materialize, besides asking the question here?

I think you have to sit and do a serious business plan.

You need to know, based on credible evidence, what you can charge and if there will be a sustainable demand for it and for how long. You may get bunch of people at first then dwindle it downs to nothing few months later. How long will it take for your ROI [return on your investment]? What are the government requirements? i.e. do you need to have an ambulance there and what will it cost per day etc... If you don’t, what will happen if there is an accident and someone is hurt [this is guaranteed to happen sooner or later]? What is your liability if someone loses their life or gets hurt badly?

I don't think an auto forum is a good way to conduct your research. We can all just type here and say that we are for it but what guarantee do you have these numbers will materialize?

Most drag strips abroad are combined with many other track configurations so it's not the owner’s only source of income. Further, there are sanctioned events with major sponsors so the opportunity is there to bring in the money. The prices you have listed are higher than some of the fees charged in the US for a day of drag racing. Can SL enthusiast sustain those prices? After all, you must count on repeat business.

While this is a great idea, you need to do a lot more real research with factual data before dumping bunch of money into this project. My recommendation is to go and hire an actual firm who can outline all the details [cost, expenses, maintenance etc...] by analyzing proper data. Take a look at some of the details from India if they have one that is comparable.

Building this is about 20% of your work. The other 80% needs to be research. A car forum is definitely not the place for this research.

[Watchman]

@mani: I thought the prices seemed way below a sri lankan's (at least someone who's into racing) spending capacity. I mean say you go for an evening out with friends etc, you're likely to spend about 1000-1500 easily. So this doesnt sound too expensive.

As per comparison wiw the US, wow! how cheap is it to use a drag strip in the US? but spectator-wise i think there'll be a LOT more people coming to see these races as opposed to sri lanka, so they probably can afford to charge less per spectator.

But yeah, if this is a genuine case, wouldnt hurt to get some professional help on judging the feasibility and finances.

[Mani]

It's between $10-20 to run and $5 to watch. Sometimes watching is free. If you convert $$ to Rs. it may seem like a lot but when you look at an average salary in SL vs US it's much less than what's listed here, relatively speaking. You also can use the track all day long.

Another point is AFAIK there are couple of road race tracks in SL [maybe more]. To convert one of those straightaways to a drag strip is much much less expensive than having to build one from scratch. Assume for a minute Gihan opens this track and it takes off. What is to stop one of the owners of the road race tracks from converting a straightaway and undercut him given their initial cash outlay is far far less than what Gihan would have.

I think these are some of the factors that needs to be considered.

Edited September 13, 2011 by Mani

[Chooti Putha]

It's between $10-20 to run and $5 to watch. Sometimes watching is free. If you convert $$ to Rs. it may seem like a lot but when you look at an average salary in SL vs US it's much less than what's listed here, relatively speaking. You also can use the track all day long.

Another point is AFAIK there are couple of road race tracks in SL [maybe more]. To convert one of those straightaways to a drag strip is much much less expensive than having to build one from scratch. Assume for a minute Gihan opens this track and it takes off. What is to stop one of the owners of the road race tracks from converting a straightaway and undercut him given their initial cash outlay is far far less than what Gihan would have.

I think these are some of the factors that needs to be considered.

Mani just to keep you posted the only race track with the capability to do that is Katukurunda. But i doubt they will do it since its an air field. Just my two cents

[Watchman]

Mani just to keep you posted the only race track with the capability to do that is Katukurunda. But i doubt they will do it since its an air field. Just my two cents

yeah agree with you on that.

And the other 'roads' that are raced on that I can think of are the nuwara eliya road races. But I think they stopped it after the fatal accident; am I right?

And the public inconvenience caused by the road closures means the traffic police will never allow them to be regular events.

[Ripper]

Don't worry Gihan, if it doesn't work out you can always make it into an airstrip.

yeah...we badly need one for RC's since now it's legal to own and fly

[The Stig]

Mani just to keep you posted the only race track with the capability to do that is Katukurunda. But i doubt they will do it since its an air field. Just my two cents

True dat, but on a side note i am bit skeptical about this whole drag strip idea

I mean we have plenty of places like mirigama or pannala where we can pay a small fee (usually 1000Rs for a day) and race all you want, but i bet these places dont get more than 10-15 cars per a week. If you are a speed freak and if you want to race but dont want to do it on the streets these are ideal places to do it since we dont have a real drag strip. But judging by the amount of cars that show up i highly doubt if the that type of market exist in Sri Lanka yet, juts my 2 cents

[Watchman]

yeah...we badly need one for RC's since now it's legal to own and fly

Isnt there like a RC institute or something like that at the rathmalana Air Force runway? I remember seeing some photos of it some time back when the RC ban was lifted

[Ripper]

Isnt there like a RC institute or something like that at the rathmalana Air Force runway? I remember seeing some photos of it some time back when the RC ban was lifted

i think that's the af base in ekala machang...no idea about public accesss though...maybe ace can confirm

[Shehan_WCC]

http://www.slrcnetwork.com/news/sri_lankan_air_force_goes_rc/2011-02-23-6

http://www.airforce.lk/news.php?news=613

It is at ekala.Wonder if its happening though .

@ devilchild.

Good luck with your aim to built a drag strip. Hope it would come through soon .

Edited September 13, 2011 by Shehan_WCC

[shaanstop]

hoooooooooo la laaa..........

I got balls....... thats sounds really awesome..... go ahead big brother... the only thing which was lacking.. u do ya marketing properly.... u get it alll cuming ..u know wht i mean..

[Chooti Putha]

True dat, but on a side note i am bit skeptical about this whole drag strip idea

I mean we have plenty of places like mirigama or pannala where we can pay a small fee (usually 1000Rs for a day) and race all you want, but i bet these places dont get more than 10-15 cars per a week. If you are a speed freak and if you want to race but dont want to do it on the streets these are ideal places to do it since we dont have a real drag strip. But judging by the amount of cars that show up i highly doubt if the that type of market exist in Sri Lanka yet, juts my 2 cents

very true about the situation with the tracks....i doubt in some weeks they have even 5 cars....

[devilchild]

very true about the situation with the tracks....i doubt in some weeks they have even 5 cars....

so are there any drag strips in those places?

do they actualy give u a timing sliip with your highest speed, 1/4 mile time and your reaction time ?

i thought those places were tracks not a drag strip

[MasterDon]

so are there any drag strips in those places?

do they actualy give u a timing sliip with your highest speed, 1/4 mile time and your reaction time ?

i thought those places were tracks not a drag strip

It doesn't matter.You can expect about 10-15 cars on a good weekend.That's it.

[devilchild]

It doesn't matter.You can expect about 10-15 cars on a good weekend.That's it.

oh ok then,

but last time i saw street racing in sri lanka there were more than 15 cars , i thought if this was to do properly there will be more cars involved and people will happy to come and race ,,,,,,,,,,,

Edited September 13, 2011 by devilchild