Barber Motorsports Park

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The Barber Motorsports Park is a large racing complex in Leeds featuring a 2.38 mile world-class race course in a 740 acre wooded park with a museum of vintage motorcycles and race cars and other facilities.

George Barber opened the Park in 2003 with the inaugural Barber 250 sports car race. The museum opened shortly after.

Race course

The Barber race course is 2.38 miles long by 45 feet wide with 16 turns and a total elevation change of just over 80 feet. The course is designed and engineered to the highest standards of international racing and is set in landscaped grounds arrayed so that from most vantage points a large percentage of the course is visible despite the hills and turns.

The grandstands are surmounted by a large pressbox and information board. In front of the grandstand is the race control area, paddocks, and pit lane.

Records

  • Fastest lap (car): 20.613s (avg. speed 102.713 mph) by Max Papis (October 2004)
  • Fastest lap (motorcycle): 25.047s (avg. speed 97.358 mph) by Mat Mladin (April 2005)

Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

The museum building displays Barber's collection of more than 1000 motorcycles, the largest in the world, along with a smaller collection of Lotus and other race cars and memorabilia. The museum operates as a non-profit foundation and was open between 1995 and 2002 in a building on 5th Avenue South before moving to a new building in the Barber Motorsports Park in 2003.

The museum occupies 141,000 square feet on five floors and itself has views over part of the course. Besides the 80,000 square feet of exhibition space, it also houses offices, workshop space, a 5000-volume research library and gift shop.

Many of the pieces in the collection are maintained in racing shape and used on Vintage racing circuits by the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Team.

Porsche Driving Experience

Barber Motorsports Park also hosts the "Porsche Driving Experience," an opportunity to lean how to handle a high-performance vehicle in a race course environment.

Races

The Barber Motorsports Park has hosted the following races:

  • Porsche 250 (2003-)
    • Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series
    • Grand-AM Cup
    • Stock Car Championship Series
    • Fran-Am 2000
  • Honda Superbike Classic (2003-)
    • AMA Chevy Trucks U.S. Superbike Championship (2 races) (100 km/60 laps)
    • AMA Genuine Suzuki Accessories Superstock Race (60 km/17 laps)
    • MBNA 250 Grand Prix (60 km/17 laps)
    • AMA Pro Honda Oils U.S. Supersport Championship (60 km/17 laps)
    • Lockhart Phillips USA Formula Xtreme (60 km/17 laps)
  • Sportscar Vintage Racing Association
  • WERA Sportsman/Vintage Series
  • CCS Championship Series
  • World Karting Nationals

Park

In addition to motor racing and museum facilities, the park has abundant parking and landscaped areas for spectators and camping during race weekends.

External links

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