Just south of I-80 as suburban development begins to give way to wide open two lane country roads and rural farmland, the last thing one may expect to hear would be the roar of an Italian sports car hitting 150 mph on a straight-away as it shoots past Porches, Corvettes and BMWs.
However, at the Autobahn Country Club Joliet this would not be a rare site at all as the high-end, members-only club has become a destination for auto enthusiasts all across the world.
Established in October of 2004 on 350-acres, the ACCJ offers a 3.5-mile road course, which is the third largest in America. The clubs founders dreamed of establishing a country club style atmosphere for the auto world. In a sense, what they have created is a gearhead’s Augusta National.
The club is unique in the sense that it is members-only. There is only one other auto club like it in the United States. Because of its rarity it has members from Colorado, Florida and even as far away as Australia. Car racing is an expensive hobby, but club officials have found that if people have the money to do it, they will pay top dollar to travel and race on a high-quality track.
“I loved everything about the golf club idea except for the golf part,” said Mark Basso, founder and president of the ACCJ. “I have always been a car guy. I would go to events with my car clubs, but the courses were always horrible. I never understood why such an expensive hobby had such horrible amenities.”
In 1996 Basso began to formulate the business plan that would eventually become the ACCL. For the plan to work, Basso knew that the club would have to be within an hour-drive from Chicago. He initially looked to the far west suburbs before settling on Joliet.
“We eventually targeted Sugar Grove, but the citizens there were not happy about it,” said Basso. “They ran us out of there because they were concerned about the noise. It probably turned out to be a blessing. Joliet has worked out very well.”
While developing the business model for the club, Basso realized that it could not be completely in the same vain as a golf country club. He wanted his members to have exclusive use of the track, but he also wanted to formulate other ways to generate revenue besides membership dues.
Current membership fees are a $35,000 initiation cost and $3,000 annual dues. The club has around 350 members and is close to its cap limit, said Basso.
To help keep member costs down and to continue to improve club conditions, Basso has developed a creative mix of real estate ventures and corporate relationships to account for a significant portion of the club’s revenue.
The first idea he had was to make it so the large track could be broken down into two courses, a north circuit and a south circuit. This way, members would always have a track available, while the other could be rented out to car clubs, corporate outings or for product launches by major auto manufacturers.
“Every major auto manufacturer has come out here for a product launch,” said Basso. “GM launches a lot of their models here. We can close off a course so they can bring down their new SUV models and either test them out or display them to the media.”
Basso said that he has also had numerous local luxury sports car dealerships rent the course out for their customers. For corporate outings, it is typical to have a major company rent out the go-cart track and let important clients run the course for the day. The go-carts are high performance vehicles as well and are capable of reaching speeds of more than 60 mph on straight-aways.
The real estate ventures available on the course grounds have worked out well too. Basso began offering individual “team unit lots” to members. The lots occupy a third of an acre and house the prospective member’s cars and provide a loft area where they can lounge as they look over the track. These units cost $150,000 and so far Basso has sold 52 of them.
The club’s next real estate venture will be the 125,000-square-foot Autobahn Speed Pavilion, which will be a mix of private and public use. Basso wanted to provide his members with a high-end clubhouse of sorts, but he also wanted to make it a profit center, rather than just an expensive piece of property.
The public portion of the Speed Pavilion will have an auto museum and will have viewing areas of the track for non-members. It will also be an ideal place to hold car auctions or provide a setting for manufacturers to put their newest cars on display. All of these functions will help generate revenue.
The member’s side of the pavilion will contain a swimming pool, locker rooms, a business center and an outdoor fire pit and observation deck. The member’s portion will also have three floors of condos, which can be bought for a price range of $290,000-$600,000. While the condos are not in use by members, they will be able to rent them out to visiting groups or auto manufacturers.
“We actually can’t provide enough condos to keep up with demand,” said Basso. “We will start construction this fall and everything will be completed by the end of 2008.”
The ACCJ will also host the first road race in Chicago since the 1960s’ in August. The Bobby Rahal Historic Races will take place from August 23-26 and will be open to the public. This is the first spectator event that the club has hosted.
Basso said that there may be more in the future, but that is not the primary function or revenue generator of the ACCJ.
“The goal in not really to have 50,000 fans at a series of spectator events,” said Basso. “We really want to concentrate on high-end corporate events.”