Los Angeles planning officials have set September 2 as the date for a public hearing on a proposed new racetrack complex in northwest Los Angeles County, near Willow Springs International Raceway. In brief, the new facility is designed to be an upscale club-racing complex, suitable for corporate use, and is designed to be motorcycle road racing friendly. If it is approved and built, the new Alan Wilson-designed track will be 3.6 miles in overall length and is designed so it can operate as two different road courses, one entirely on flat desert land and one edging up into hills on the property. Of most concern to motorcycle road racers, of course, is safety and run-off room, both of which Wilson says he had firmly in mind as he drew the courses. “The flat track the desert circuit is wide-open, and it will absolutely be suitable for motorcycles,” Wilson said in a telephone interview. “The other circuit will present challenges, due to the topography, but it is our intention that it be as safe as possible for motorcycles.” Fairmont Butte Motorsports Park is the idea of Tom Malloy and Malloy Family Partners. The proposed track would be situated about 20 miles northwest of Lancaster, California, on about 140 acres of a 320-acre parcel. Financing is in place, and tentative plans call for starting construction early next year. Malloy is an enthusiastic vintage car collector and enthusiast he owns the 1981 Indy 500 winning car, a McLaren Can-Am sports car and an IMSA Toyota GTP Eagle, one of the most awesome road racing machines ever built. His family has been in the construction and contracting industry, both private and public sector, for decades, and has been heavily involved in auto racing since the 1940s. In a telephone interview, Malloy said the idea came about simply because there were no tracks in Los Angeles that met his idea of what a track experience should be. “I kept hearing from people that weekends and dates were hard to get, and I’d hear from the tracks that almost every day is booked up,” Malloy said. “And I’m no genius, but I know what I’d like to see at a track, what my wife would like and what my daughter would like. This is going to be a more upscale experience than what is available.” The proposal splits the difference between the relatively rustic facilities of tracks like Willow Springs and Buttonwillow Raceway Park and the country-club condo-timeshare concept currently under way in other parts of the country. Fairmont Butte centers around a three-level, 30,000-square-foot clubhouse in the center of the paddock, something that is appropriate for major auto manufacturers to host multi-media new vehicle introductions. It will be clean, comfortable, “a place for refuge” from the wind, heat and cold of the high desert, Malloy says. In addition to the garage facilities, modern bathroom facilities and showers, the plan also calls for 27 garage/apartment units; above a garage space designed to hold four cars will be two-bedroom apartment-like facilities. These units will not be for sale, but will be rented so the racer and his or her family can stay comfortably at the track during an event. “I don’t understand why anyone would want to live at a racetrack,” Malloy said, shaking his head at the timeshare/condo-at-the-track business model. In terms of safety, current plans call for groomed, manicured natural run-off in the corners, although Wilson says that paved run-off areas also will be considered. It’s not just for the sake of motorcycle racers. Wilson points out that the track frequently would be used by vintage racers, people who have extremely valuable cars that they would not like to see shattered against a concrete wall or steel barrier. The track is not designed for national, international or major professional racing; “It’s a club track. You’ll see stands like you’d see at a little league park,” Malloy says. Concerns about noise and other environmental impacts are among the reasons the track is designed for club use, he says. Malloy says his complex will offer creature comforts and world-class road courses a combination simply not found anywhere else in Southern California. “I thought I could build a nice place for the customer,” Malloy says. “It’s not just a track that your girlfriend will come to, but a track that your wife would like to come to after you’re married. It’s going to be friendly to the client the racers and their families.” The public hearing is set for September 2 at 9:00 a.m. at the Los Angeles County Hall of Records Room 150, 320 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, CA. Copies of the draft environmental impact report and other documents associated with the project are available online at: ~http://planning.lacounty.gov/case/view/tentative_parcel_map_no_26805_project_no_02_176_fairmont_butte_motorsports/~