Drag racers in Port Alberni have set their sights on a permanent track outside of the city.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District board agreed during a meeting on Thursday, Oct. 13 to provide a letter of support for the Alberni Valley Drag Racing AssociationB次元官网网址檚 (AVDRA) proposal to Mosaic Forest Management to lease the former Link Mill site on Franklin River Road for a drag racing track.

In a letter to the board, AVDRA executive members explained that after their charity cruise in 2021, Tseshaht First Nation helped them approach Mosaic with the idea of leasing the Link Mill site.

At MosaicB次元官网网址檚 request, they joined the other three drag racing associations on the Island (the North Island Timing Association, the South Island Straight Liners Racing Association and the Vancouver Island Motorsports Association) and worked together to look at a permanent track.

The AVDRA says they have now received B次元官网网址渢he go aheadB次元官网网址� to submit a formal proposal for the site.

Drag racers previously used the Alberni Valley Regional Airport for their annual B次元官网网址淭hunder in the ValleyB次元官网网址� event, but this contract was terminated by the ACRD back in 2015 because of the airportB次元官网网址檚 expansion. The races were held on Stamp Avenue for a few years, but this was not economically viable for the AVDRA due to the shortened track and construction of a new remanufacturing plant on land that had been used for the pits. The AVDRA applied for a three-year lease at the airport following the expansion, but this was halted by the provincial government.

B次元官网网址淚t makes me very happy to actually see this coming forward,B次元官网网址� said ACRD director Penny Cote on Oct. 13. B次元官网网址淭he airport really wasnB次元官网网址檛 a good location for that. I am so thrilled that theyB次元官网网址檝e found a place.B次元官网网址�

Acting board chair John McNabb said the Link Mill site is ideal because it already has access to water and power.

In their letter to the board, AVDRA members suggest that the site could be used for drag racing, circle track racing and drifting, as well as markets, music festivals and more.

elena.rardon@albernivalleynews.com
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