The cost of renting race tracks around the world

What goes into the cost of organizing an HPDE meet, track day, or race event on a road course?

The largest fee is the track surface itself. It requires many experts to prepare, lay, and maintain the specially formulated asphalt that resists high lateral G forces and somebody has to shell out the dough for it. That person paying is the event organizer, and by proxy, their participants.

Today we’re going to peek behind the curtain at the cost of road course rentals around the world.

Unless otherwise noted, these fees are only for booking the asphalt and do not include additional (typically, required) services like marshals, ambulance, emergency and rescue, radios, etc. These services can typically add another $3,000-10,000 per day to the cost of the facility.

*Data was collected in 2017.

Corner workers tend to cost $150-200/day/each in North America.

*Rental fee data provided by event organizers who use MotorsportReg.com for online registration at these venues.

In contrast to North American venues, most European circuits include a basic safety package in the price (corner workers, ambulance and doctor).

*European rental fee data provided by RSRNurburg who organizes track days at the above circuits with a huge array of rental track cars. Watch the blog for an upcoming story on their Spa+Nürburgring bucket list tour. UK rental fee data provided by an anonymous source.

There’s not a lot of options on the African continent for motorsport but the former Formula 1 circuit at Kyalami was recently purchased by Porsche South Africa boss Toby Venter for R205,000,000 (~$13MM USD) and is undergoing major upgrades.

*Rental fee data provided by Kyalami circuit staff.

Asia is a bourgeoning market for motorsport with a massive expanding middle class. Major long-term bets are being made such as the purchase of Miller Motorsports Park in Utah by Chinese car manfacturer Mitime. They will build five circuits in China and use the rebranded Utah Motorsports Campus to train people from China on how to run a successful racetrack. Fuji Speedway, former host of Formula One races in Japan, has an interesting option that allows exclusive booking of the main circuit on an hourly basis.

*Rental fee data acquired from circuits directly.

There you have it—a buffet menu of road courses from around the world. Which prices surprised you the most? Is the price of a “bucket list” track worth it compared to a “club track”?

Have you ever considered running your own track event? Turns out we wrote the book on it (and the software to manage it). Click below for a free download that takes you from blog reader to event organizer anywhere in the world:

Also, if you manage a circuit and would like a custom-branded copy of the above eBook to give away to potential customers, drop us a line. We sent more than 100 rental leads to one partner last year helping them book a record number of days.