Local MLA Linda Larson was all smiles as Canadian racing legend Jacques Villeneuve brought her and many other race car enthusiasts on an extended tour of the proposed site of the Area 27 Motorsports Park in Oliver this past Saturday. (Photo supplied)
Area 27’s progression thus far could somewhat be compared to games young boys play during that anything-automotive-related phase.
You know those days when you spent a lot of time watching your kid digging a trail in the dirt with a grader, getting out the hot wheels race cars, and ripping around the newly built track on hands and knees.
At this point, Area 27, located on a bench on Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) land in the hills east of Oliver, off Black Sage Road, is just an old pasture, with outlines of a racetrack carved into the dirt and red stakes lining the area which will eventually sport an asphalt base suitable for racing.
In the not-too-distant future, Area 27 will become a playground – a playground for men and women, who will have the ability to race their finely-tuned machines around a 4.9-kilometre track with turns taking into account the contours of this land which previously grew corn, but may soon be the breeding ground for the next Jacques Villeneuve, one of Canada’s most decorated race car drivers.
In fact, the track is the vision of the legendary Villeneuve, one of the most accomplished and versatile figures in motorsports history, and Bill Drossos, a Penticton entrepreneur and president of Area 27.
Villeneuve is the Formula One World Championship and IndyCar Driver champion who is the only Canadian to win the Indianapolis 500.
Villeneuve has accomplished a great deal as a professional race car driver and looks forward to adding track designer to his many accomplishments.
This is the opportunity for Villeneuve’s ‘inner spirit’ to come out. The accomplished racer, musician and artist, is now driven to create his own form of artistry in old corn fields located high in the hills around Oliver.
“I’ve always been a creator,” said Villeneuve. “I did music, I like writing. This is a little bit of the artist in me. Since I was five-years-old, I knew I would race cars. I would spend all day playing with little cars and drawing race tracks on the carpet.”
Villeneuve used a less primitive method to design the Area 27 track.
“We took the initial drawings, which were done by hand, and put them into a racing simulator. If you just have a 2-D picture of it, it just looks like a bunch of corners. That’s not very exciting. Somebody looks and says, ‘Why isn’t there a corner here, or there’s too many corners’. It’s built the digital way but it’s created by hand.”
The racer simulator took into account a topographical survey of the land, added Drossos
“Trevor Siebert will now have a 3-D model of the track, showing what it will be like when they cut here or fill there. It will show where to cut into the true contours of the land.”
This past Saturday, Villeneuve, who flew in from Switzerland, and Drossos, hosted a weekend for club members and took the media and those who have spent big bucks to play in the sandbox for a walk of the track.
The makeshift parking lot at the east end of the bench was filled with Lamborghini’s, Jaguar’s, Porsche’s and a few trucks lifted halfway to the moon.
The drivers of those expensive automobiles liked what they saw.
For Drossos and Villeneuve, it feels good to get to this point.
For the past year, the group has been working on layout models.
Recently, the track was pinned and staked, allowing club members to closely inspect every element of a lap during Saturday’s walk through.
“It doesn’t have everything I wanted, but it’s got more stuff that I didn’t think I wanted, and it turned out great,” said Villeneuve.
In a letter to prospective Club members on the Area 27 website, Villeneuve included the following statement: “Area 27 is for the passionate motorsport enthusiast like yourself, a place where you can safely find your limits, experience the Grand Prix lifestyle, and live your dream.”
Villeneuve was born in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec and is the son of famed racer Gilles Villeneuve.
He certainly has racing in his blood and was asked to explain that statement.
“There are so many people that want to drive to the limit and want to drive fast. They have amazing cars and there’s nowhere to drive them. You don’t do that on the roads. The roads aren’t made for that, and it’s dangerous. There’s a bit of frustration, and you don’t have the outlet. This is a good venue for that. You can actually spend your money on a good car, and have a reason for it, and go out there.”
There are still some loose ends to tie up, but Area 27 is expected to be fully operational by the summer of 2016.
“We are at the stage of getting the lease from the federal government – the nuts and bolts of everything behind the scenes that gets you on the land and able to start construction,” he said.
“If we started construction by June 1st and have a warm fall, there’s potential to put asphalt down in November. You could probably do some exhibition laps with street cars. It would be a soft opening and we could get back to work in the spring (of 2016) to do the curbing, fences and safety areas.”
Soon, Villeneuve, the artist, will provide Area 27 Motorsport Club members with a new playground in which to enjoy their passion. Construction is in the final lap.
For more information on Area 27, check out: www.area27.ca.
DALE CORY
Special to the Times
