BEIJING — Goldenport Motor Park in China is more than just a racetrack. It’s a lot more like an automotive resort. Goldenport opened in 2000 and features an off-road park, a 2.4-kilometre race circuit, a huge tarmac pad for drifting, a fishing pond with waterfront cabins, and a host of high-end dealerships and tuning shops. In fact, Top Gear visited the track during season 18 and the Stig made did some laps in a Roewe and a Trumpchi.
For those near Beijing who want to live out their own Stig dreams, people can drive their own cars on the track for about $35 CDN per hour, but there’s no word on if the facility will let visitors flog a rental car around the track. Goldenport is located very close to the airport and is roughly a 35-minute drive from central Beijing, depending on whether the traffic is bad or terrible.
The track is mostly booked by manufacturers and enthusiast clubs for private track days and testing, but the track is F.I.A. certified and hosted a GT1 world championship race in 2011. The track features 16 corners, has a 400-metre straight and a 25-car capacity. Other races that have been hosted at Goldenport include the China Formula Open and Porsche Carrera Cup.
This massive sign greets visitors to the facility. Goldenport is located very close to the Beijing airport.
Clayton Seams, Driving
Wondering what shows up at a Chinese track day? Volkswagens are hugely popular in China and there are many Golfs that participate in track events. Even a few rare Golf Rs are in attendance. Many fast German sedans with AMG and M badges also show up. Interestingly, these seemingly “regular cars” are almost outnumbered by outrageous supercars — Lamborghinis and Ferarris can be heard shrieking around the track on open track days. The track is also booked fairly frequently by Ferrari China for private lap sessions.
While there wasn’t an open track day during my visit, Audi had booked the track for journalists to drive R8s and S4s. There was also a Chinese truck manufacturer that booked the off-road park so members of the press could drive the trucks through an off-road obstacle course. The trucks featured 2.6-litre Cummins diesels backed by manual transmissions. Remind me again why we don’t have half-ton diesels in North America?
These drift cars show a heavy JDM influence. A very interesting thing considering they’re in China.
Clayton Seams, Driving
Goldenport is also home to a group of enthusiastic drifters. The park offers a world-class setup for drifters — there is a dedicated shop and storage facility for drift cars and a huge pad of empty pavement just for going sideways.
The cars used by the drifters were also very interesting. The cars were all Japanese and were built with a heavy JDM influence. You’d think you were in Japan by looking only at the cars. Notable drift weapons included an LS V8-powered Mazda RX-7, multiple Silvias, a mean-looking single-turbo MKIV Supra and a completely insane tube-chassis R32 Skyline. Cars older than 15 years are not allowed to be registered for road use in China due to strict emissions standards, so many of these cars are track-only vehicles.
Goldenport hosts its own drift club complete with office, garages, storage facilities and a massive “pad” for drifting.
Clayton Seams, Driving
Most of the cars in China seem to be bought rather than built, so it was interesting to see a bunch of young people getting their hands dirty working on beat-up cars. Cars are still plenty expensive in China (a Porsche Cayman starts at $150,000 CDN in China) and this is about as grassroots as it gets.
I spoke with a few young enthusiasts in China and they said they are suspicious of aftermarket parts and tuning practices. Aftermarket parts have a reputation of being lower quality in China, which is one of the reasons why most people who have the means service their vehicles exclusively at the dealership. Nonetheless, I did see a few modified cars on the streets of Beijing, so who knows where Chinese car culture could go?
But Goldenport’s large geographic footprint is also its greatest vulnerability as a business. Land is not cheap in Beijing, and Goldenport’s Forrest Cui told me that land prices have been increasing “like they’re attached to a rocket.” Rising land prices mean that it isn’t financially possible to survive solely as a racetrack.
Because of this, Goldenport has invented itself as an automotive resort. There are high-end dealerships like Porsche, Ferrari, Tesla, Jaguar and Brabus located right off the track and there are many used car dealerships as well. The park is almost like an auto mall with a racetrack and off-road trail in the middle. The ponds are also stocked with fish and you can bring a rod and reel if you desire a more relaxed pastime.
Is Goldenport worth the trip? If you’re a car enthusiast in Beijing, the answer is absolutely. Goldenport is full of automotive eye candy (I saw a stanced Cruze and Ferrari 355) and if you time your visit right, you’ll get a chance to see Chinese car culture at ground level during the track days. Car culture is young in China, but places like Goldenport show that enthusiasts can be found around the world.
