A country club for race cars emerges
in Miami. By Jaclyn TropIn the
Driver’s
Seat
70
I’m strapped into a BMW M2 coupe, my harness bolted to
the roll cage, as Rod MacLeod, a professional driver, rips
around the track at the Concours Club outside Miami. We’re
on our first lap, gathering speed as we head down the north
straight and into the track’s second turn. “From the pas-
senger seat, it can be quite violent,” MacLeod shouts from
beneath his helmet as the speedometer’s needle edges into
triple digits. “It feels like you’re on a thrill ride.”
The 75-acre campus, which opened to members in January,
is more like a five-star auto motive resort than the bare-bones
tracks elsewhere in the U.S. For $35,000 a year plus a $150,000
initiation fee, members get unlimited access to a level of lux-
ury unprecedented in racing.
Its main feature is a 2-mile tangle of 11 serpentine twists built
by racecourse designer Alan Wilson, whose credits include
the Thermal Club outside Palm Springs, Calif. But the club’s
amenities are a master class in attention to detail. More than
40 garages are available with additional storage options. It’s
slated to include an infinity pool and a restaurant by Miami
chef Brad Kilgore. There are chilled wheatgrass shots in the
paddock and helmet dryers in the locker room. A master som-
melier can recommend the ideal post-race pour.
But I suspect the bigger draw will be convenience. The
Concours Club is built across from the runways at the Miami-
Opa Locka Executive Airport, less than 15 minutes from the
Country Club of Miami and 20 minutes from South Beach.
Other famed tracks such as the Monticello Motor Club in New PHOTOS:COURTESYTHECONCOURSCLUB(3)CRITIC Bloomberg Pursuits March 8, 2021York’s Catskills are hours away from a major urban hub—and
just as far from high-end entertainment and lodging.
Concours is the vision of Neil Gehani, an amateur racer
and founder and chief executive officer of the $1.7 billion
Trilogy Real Estate Group LLC in Chicago. After he began
splitting his time between Chicago and South Beach, the
developer wanted to create a driver’s paradise near the pri-
vate airport, where members could jet in and enjoy dinner or
a drive before flying back to their homes around the world.
He says he’s invested more than $90 million in cash to build
the site and estimates that figure could double by the time the
project is complete this year. He spent $500,000 just to refine
the track’s first turn after analyzing early performance data.
On the day of my visit I’m assisted by the nine- person team
dedicated to providing members with the glamour usually
reserved for Formula One drivers on race day. One lifts the
helmet’s neck support before I have a chance to do it myself;
another waits with a cold towel each time I climb out of the car.
MacLeod, who’s coached the likes of IndyCar champion
Josef Newgarden to victory, is my guide through eight laps
to get me acclimated. Wedged into a hot car under the South
Florida sun, I feel sweat pooling under my helmet and racing
suit, and the engine’s vibrations travel from the floorboard
under my feet to the top of my head.
When it’s my turn to sit in the driver’s seat, MacLeod
stands in the pit, wielding an
iPad that critiques my perfor-
mance in granular detail. After
a half-dozen laps, we evalu-
ate the data and discuss how
I can improve—namely, brake
earlier and more aggressively—
during the next round.
This feedback is a key selling
point, says Aaron Weiss, pres-
ident of the Concours Club.
“Putting a 175-pound coach in
the passenger seat changes the
weight, but we’ve completely
removed that guy from the car,”
he says. “Instead he’s in the pit
providing real-time coaching.
We can see to an embarrassing
level of detail exactly where
you are on the course.”
MacLeod’s voice pumps through the speakers into my car,
calmly dispensing directions in a way even a novice like me can
understand while also traveling at 114 mph. “As you saw earlier,
it can feel violent from the passenger seat,” he says. “But once
you’re sitting on this side, it becomes much more natural.”
As the sun begins to set on my 29th and final lap, the car
starts feeling smoother beneath my grasp, as if I’m riding a
bicycle full speed ahead as the training wheels fly off. Even
though the safety harness pins my neck and shoulders to the
seat, I experience a different sensation: It feels like freedom. <BW>A dish of dulce de leche panna
cotta, passion fruit, and toasted
coconut by chef KilgoreCars drive on the facility’s circuit
after competing in the Ferrari
Challenge North America seriesAerial view of
the Concours Club
in Miami