"A crisis linked with the closure of both routes which are accessible today - at Myachkovo and in St. Petersburg - threatens Russian auto sport, and in this situation it is absolutely necessary to have a stably operating stationary autodrome to which spectators from Moscow and the Region could come," head of the project Dmitry Korolev told RIA Novosti.
In the middle of this summer, after the completion of the topographic study of the land plot, it is planned to approve the outline of the future track. The discussion and agreement upon it will take another 8-12 months. Then Russian road-building specialists will start drawing up a detailed plan so as to start doing earth-moving work on the land plot in 2006.
"The choice of the place for the autodrome is very successful," Tilke Gmbh expert Ralf van Wersch believes. "The locality's relief makes it possible to make the route very comfortable for spectators."
The investor considers this project to be non-commercial, since the profit of the owner of the track from holding competitions in Russia does not exceed $50,000-60,000 a year, which is several times below the expenditures on the construction. "Our prime aim is to create conditions for the development of Russian motor racing sport," Mr. Korolev stressed. While throughout the world first of all the state is interested in the development of sport, in our country all the hope is pinned on private entrepreneurs who are not indifferent to the fate of the national championships in which they would like to participate.
If the project is implemented this will become a real breakthrough in the vicious circle of the solution of the question of building an up-to-date motor racing track in Russia. For instance, in the recent past the efforts to start practically building a Formula-1 track failed, though many high-sounding statements on that score were made.
