Like M1 Concourse and Monticello, the Atlanta park offers luxury garages in various sizes and configurations. They can be purchased finished, or members can design their unit. A variety of membership packages are offered. Initiation fees range from $10,000 to $47,500. Access fees and monthly dues apply at some levels.
Mark Basso, the founder and chief executive of the Autobahn Country Club in Illinois, said: “My parents belonged to a golf club. As a young car guy, I wondered why there was nothing like that for people like me.”
In the 1990s Mr. Basso decided to do something about it and developed a business plan for what would become the nation’s first purpose-built motorsports country club. After years of searching for a site and a community that would welcome the venture, he opened Autobahn in 2005. About 45 miles southwest of downtown Chicago and with commercial neighbors, it has prospered.
Autobahn’s main attraction is a 3.56-mile track that can be subdivided into 2.1-mile and 1.5-mile circuits. A variety of racing series provide wheel-to-wheel fun. Also available are off-road trails and a roughly half-mile kart track. Instructors provide driving lessons, and a service center offers racecar maintenance, repair, tuning and more.
Vehicle storage is available in garage condominiums that store six cars on a 1,250-square-foot first floor. A second floor features bedrooms and a party room.
Private lots of one-third of an acre surround the site. There, members have built what Mr. Basso calls garage mahals — elaborate structures that combine living quarters and garages. One is owned by Bobby Rahal, the former race car driver.
Like other automotive country clubs, Autobahn offers a range of social activities. Membership comes at a price, although it is more modest than at some other clubs. The initiation fee is $40,000, and annual dues are $5,250. Social memberships that don’t include full access to track activities are offered for $4,200 a year with no initiation fee.
