Officials of Tooele County, Utah, have agreed to sell Utah Motorsports Campus to Mitime Utah Investment LLC, a subsidiary of Geely, which is the largest domestic automaker in China and the owner of both Volvo and Lotus.
Mitime has managed and maintained UMC since 2016 when it was contracted by Tooele County officials to operate the facility after the expiry of the lease and a failed attempt by the Miller family (its original operators) to buy the land on which the track sits.
Tooele County's agreement to sell UMC to Mitime means that the company assumes ownership of the 511 acres of land on which UMC resides, as well as its buildings and miscellaneous assets. Mitime has agreed to honor the facility's existing leases with outside parties (tenants, event/race organizers) through the end of the year, though the company may renegotiate these in 2019. Parties potentially affected include Pirelli World Challenge, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, and MotoAmerica, all of which gave patronage to UMC in 2018.
"This facility is a perfect fit with our company’s other enterprises, and we are looking forward to making it bigger and better in the future," stated Mitime vice president William Lee.
"We are really excited about the future of UMC, and we have significant plans for the facility," added UMC CEO Willem Geyer. "We are studying the viability of adding various race tracks, entertainment venues and supporting infrastructure that will not only solidify our position as one of Utah's major entertainment facilities but also ensure that UMC will be a profitable venture for the first time in its history."
UMC is but a small cog in the racing machine that Mitime's parent company Geely is constructing. The automaker intends to construct 10 facilities of comparable size across China, whose interest in motorsport is growing at a rapid pace. Ningbo International Circuit, the first of Geely's planned 10 Chinese racetracks, opened in 2017, and the second is currently under construction.
