Re: The Abandoned Detroit VELODROME
Hey folks, I'm one of the organizers behind The Thunderdrome and wanted to provide everyone with a little insight into what we're doing.
The Dorais Velodrome was abandoned by the city in the '80s. It fell to disrepair and was in rough shape. One of the guys who found it and started bringing it back's name is Tom Nardone, he runs a group called The Mower Gang which mows parks because the city doesn't. He did the initial clean up in August but there was a lot of work left. The video posted on Jockey Journal was actually put together by one of my neighbors and fellow motorcycle head.
About a month ago we decided to move ahead with a race as a way to a raise funds to replace some of the seriously screwed up pads, and to just have some fun. We took over renovations with a generous sponsorship from Kilburns Equipment rental and we're bringing it back to somewhat race-ready.
We've put hundreds of man hours into hacking back the overgrowth, removing trees and garbage, mowing and cleaning and it's ready for a race. We're putting one on October 16th.
There are classes for geared road bike, fixie, mountain bike, moped, scooter, and pit bike and prizes handed out for each. Spectating is free or $5 for a VIP pass, entry for racers is $20 and 50% of proceeds go to Detroit Parks and Rec, the other 50% goes to a fund for ongoing repair and upkeep of the velodrome.
Great progress has been made on the velodrome, the upper and lower skirts are nearly completely uncovered, all the cracks have been cleared of grassy build up, the lawn has been mowed, all of the offending trees growing in the track have been cut down and chipped. Tomorrow we'll be finishing landscaping (hopefully) and preparing for some new cement to improve the safety of the track for road bike riders.
As to the limitations, this was never designed for motorcycles to begin with and at a quarter mile with 45 degree banks, big cracks and no rail, it's too dangerous for amateurs to take motorcycles on. We limited it to 70cc mopeds and 50cc scooter because we don't want anyone to get hurt. In any case, we're adding a pit bike class so that should be a little more satisfying to the jockeys out there.
If you have October 16th free, you should come out and watch, it should be a ton of fun.
.