First shots of the Diamond Hill/ Nong Bua Lamphu international circuit

KTMphil

KTMphil

Senior member
Joined
Jan 11, 2011
Location
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Bikes
2007 KTM 990 Adventure Suzuki DRZ 400
South west of Udon Thani on R 210 a new international race circuit coming to Thailand - The Diamond Hill International Circuit.



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nblp map by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr




nblp1 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr




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nblp by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr
 
Looking a lot like the CR/go kart set up.
 
Any one have GPS coordinates? It is only 50 kilometres from me. I would like to take a drive and check it out. Looks too small for 1k bikes
 
Hi Phil, Yes, I nearly did it in Thailand but because we were educating my Daughter in Australia, we decided to buy 3500 Acres in Western Australia 3 years ago instead. That has kept me away from Thailand for extended periods. I built a couple of dirt track circuits on the farm. One oval and one Motor cross and I can tell you they are fun. Especially the oval circuit.
Need about 4 million to lay 4 k of bitumen for a road circuit plus service roads. Still working on it though. Work and investments have been good to me in the past 4 years.

If you get any feed back on the location of that circuit, please let me know
 
I'll have a quick stab at here cross referencing from the map provided

17°13'55.8"N 102°30'23.0"E


and looking at the aerial photo against the Satelite image from the coordinates in Google Earth I'd say it fits in there like a jigsaw piece.


i find it quite amazing that no one has ventured into something similar around Chiang Mai. It might keep the boy racers and their rice burners away from Doi Sutthep and the like!
 
Using the coordinates provided by John, which were spot on, I was able to locate the circuit. It is carved out of the top of a substantial hill/small mountain summit and has a moderate elevation change (+/- 30 meters) from the highest point to lowest. There is no bitumen surface yet. Just a graded and rolled surface. no track kerbing or pits/spectator infrastructure.
The track length is approximately 2.1 kilometres around the racing line. Got that from driving around the circuit using the trip odometer of my car. The width is around 13 meters graded area, but that should reduce once Kerbing is set.
Apart from one sweeping bend on the start finish straight the corner radius are very, very tight. Be a 1st gear effort for a liter bike. I feel the track is not suitable for big bikes as there is no run off other than the single sweeping corner on to or away from the start finish straight. It depends if it is a left hand or right hand circuit. Run off is non existent in the infield twisting sections. There is no more than 5 to10 meter gap between track directions in places and because of the sloping terrain of the track, some corner edges have a rock wall face drop off, of over a meter.
I spoke with the contractor doing the construction and he told a few small details. It is privately owned by a wealthy Bangkok car racing enthusiast. He is seeking sponsorship to complete the circuit. It will not be finished for at least 18 months unless funds come by way of sponsorship soon.
It will be a reasonable track for small bikes. Just have to wait and see.
 
Did you get ant photo's Brian?


Brian66 said:
Using the coordinates provided by John, which were spot on, I was able to locate the circuit. It is carved out of the top of a substantial hill/small mountain summit and has a moderate elevation change (+/- 30 meters) from the highest point to lowest. There is no bitumen surface yet. Just a graded and rolled surface. no track kerbing or pits/spectator infrastructure.
The track length is approximately 2.1 kilometres around the racing line. Got that from driving around the circuit using the trip odometer of my car. The width is around 13 meters graded area, but that should reduce once Kerbing is set.
Apart from one sweeping bend on the start finish straight the corner radius are very, very tight. Be a 1st gear effort for a liter bike. I feel the track is not suitable for big bikes as there is no run off other than the single sweeping corner on to or away from the start finish straight. It depends if it is a left hand or right hand circuit. Run off is non existent in the infield twisting sections. There is no more than 5 to10 meter gap between track directions in places and because of the sloping terrain of the track, some corner edges have a rock wall face drop off, of over a meter.
I spoke with the contractor doing the construction and he told a few small details. It is privately owned by a wealthy Bangkok car racing enthusiast. He is seeking sponsorship to complete the circuit. It will not be finished for at least 18 months unless funds come by way of sponsorship soon.
It will be a reasonable track for small bikes. Just have to wait and see.
Click to expand...
 
No I did not take any photos because the photos in your opening post are showing the circuit as it is when I visited last Saturday. There is nothing new, generally, that I could have shown.

I live relatively close by and we have land only a few kilometres from the circuit so I shall visit the circuit when ever I am passing by to see if any progress is happening.
 
Brian - From your calculations before, what do you think the total cost is here? Land plus build cost?


Brian66 said:
No I did not take any photos because the photos in your opening post are showing the circuit as it is when I visited last Saturday. There is nothing new, generally, that I could have shown.

I live relatively close by and we have land only a few kilometres from the circuit so I shall visit the circuit when ever I am passing by to see if any progress is happening.
Click to expand...
 
There are so many variables Phil that it is confusing.

For a track to be even half reasonable to race on you need as a minimum 3 kilometres. So the track can have long radius corners and not be a Go Kart circuit you need about 30 hectares or 200 Rai to allow sweeping turns and separation.
I planned and priced a 3.5 kilometre track by 12 meters wide using a medium grade stone Bitumen. I owned the land (185+ Rai )and it was valued at Baht 500,000 per Rai. (Baht100,000,000)
I priced a bitumen using 8mm crushed stone. The cost was 38,000,000 Baht laid. I didn't have to price in the preparation work as I owned 3 tractors and a large excavator so I would have done that work myself. There would have been some additional cost for hired equipment such as rollers and water trucks etc but they are dirt cheap to hire in Thailand.So with out any buildings and infrastructure, Kerbing and no access or service roads and pit area sealed with concrete, the cost was 138,000,000 Baht or a cool 4.6 million USD just for what I have described.

You need perimeter service roads, pit area which must be concrete plus an entry road. There are many types of Bitumen mix so the price per meter laid is from 15 dollars a square meter for course stone mix which is 7 to 12 mm crushed granite or the fine crushed grantie that is from 3 to 6 mm and up to 80 dollars a square meter laid.
The smaller the crushed rock the smoother the finish and the better grip. Plus the oil doesn't melt and be pushed out of the track surface by heavy cars braking and cornering and create ripple bumps. and over time also leave a coarse abrasive surface.

I spoke to the construction guy at Diamond Hill and he told me that the owner had spent about 40,000,000 Baht so far and was seeking another 100,000,000 Baht from a sponsor. He didn't say anything about the land cost other than to say the area was 92 Rai. Hence the very tight lay out !!!

I think Buri Ram Circuit cost 57 million Dollars or Pounds, not sure of that figure but as you can appreciate the cost is significant.
 
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