Neighbors: Corvette Museum Motorsport Park is Too Damn Loud
On Monday, officials served the administrators of the Corvette Museum Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky with notice that the neighbors around the track think the fledgling raceway is too damn loud.
According to Bowling Green Daily News (via Hemmings), neighbors complained about the track’s noise, although no specific decibel limit was specifically outlined in the track’s permit to operate.
According to Mitch Wright, general manager for the motorsports park, track officials met with the city-county’s planning commission today. The track held a meeting Monday night with neighbors and local officials to discuss noise coming from the track.
“This is about us coming together and coming up with meaningful solutions,” Wright said.
The track has operated since last fall, although this is the first official violation they’ve received from neighbors. Wright said in the past neighbors would complain — or not complain — about noise from the track depending on the type of cars or wind conditions from the day. He also stated the motorsports park is building “significant” structures at the track to help mitigate sound escaping, including a 30-foot garage to shield neighbors from the noise.
The track, which is part of the National Corvette Museum complex is a significant tourism draw (read: free tax money.)
“Obviously there’s a number of businesses and industry in this area. From a tourism standpoint, we have a pretty serious effect,” Wright said.
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Is that the remote for the car? I've seen this guy referenced before, and just always assume it's a Corvette GM promo video from what - 1986?
What bugs me is that the people who complain about their neighbor's engine noise think nothing of letting their children run around the yard shrieking their heads off all afternoon or letting their dogs bark incessantly for hours.
NCM isn't set up for serious racing, so applying a decibel limit might not be all that hard, unlike Laguna Seca or Limerock. On the other hand most of the events there have been car clubs and other track day organizations, meaning a heavy proportion of street legal (more or less...) cars. I'm a bit surprised to hear about the complaints. The track layout is long and thin and hard up against the very busy multilane I-65 on one side. The other side of the track is bordered by a huge black-topped parking area with trees on its far side. From there the terrain drops away down to a county road. There's not a lot of housing around it, although there's one house just feet from the track — the people who just wouldn't sell? — although it can't possibly be occupied. Still, there's no doubt that the nearest houses must experience more noise than before, but I wouldn't have thought it to be especially loud. Neither Apple Maps nor Google Earth have aerial shots new enough to show the track, but I can see a subdivision with maybe 50 houses just to the east of where it is.
The Corvette "nose isn't so bad, but whats with the Harley Davidson motor cycles that seem to have straight through exhausts. Where I live they seem to come out in the Summertime(like mosquitos) and are a royal pain. The cops don't seem to bother giving tickets re exceeding decibel levels.