| Author | Message | ||
     Buellgrrrl |
Was browsing the Naples area county assessors website the other day, came upon the Harley Naples Evaluation Center property. Yup, it's been closed for over a year and the staff laid off... But the property still lists to Harley. I searched a bit, and it doesn't even look like Harley is trying to sell it. So I rode by the other day and had a look. The outer gate is wide open, but I honor the "authorized personell only" sign and don't proceed further. Could see a closed gate a couple hundred yards further up the road anyway, so why push it. The area is a tester's dream- miles and miles of lightly travelled roads, both dirt and gravel, in the partly abandonned Golden Gate Estates development. Google and Bing maps tell me more- the facility has a couple mile long straightaway and various curvious loops. There's several buildings on the site, no doubt shops and such. What can I say... Typical Harley mismanagement. The place has loads of possibilities, with potential for unpaved and off road testing as well as the paved track. OHVs have been banned from the neighboring state forest and were promised a replacement OHV riding area, that promise remains unfullfilled. Collier County has responsibility for finding a new OHV site... Perhaps Harley should sell it to the county? Or a public/private partnership with Harley using the facility during the week and the OHVers on weekends? It says something about Harley that they're letting this asset rot in the Everglades. But heck, Harley's executives probably don't even konow they own the place! | ||
| Oddball |
How about Bueller Land? Buellerville? Lake Buella Vista? | ||
| Jandj_davis |
Have an address? I love a good google map site. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Easiest I can think of is to search for "Golden Gate, FL" on google. Select maps, then surf east on I-75 (Alligator Alley). Watch for a long straightaway on the north side of I-75. The address IIRC is on 34th Avenue just east of Desoto Boulevard. | ||
| Greg_e |
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&g eocode=&q=Golden+Gate,+FL&aq=&sll=37.0625,-95.6770 68&sspn=30.599615,85.869141&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Gold en+Gate,+Collier,+Florida&ll=26.167995,-81.500187& spn=0.033818,0.083857&t=h&z=14 | ||
| Moxnix |
How long is the straight? | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
Looks to be about two miles long. In addition, most of the street grid outside the property is devoid of traffic- the land is in flood plain and difficult to build in, so just about no one lives there. Perfect for testing! | ||
| Buellfan |
Been there many times, helped Craig Jones set the official world record stoppie on that straight. Straight is 2.0 miles long with no run off on either end. Gators come out of the swamp most afternoons and lay just off the pavment on the north end. Black bears cross the track wedensday mornings (garbage day). Deer on occasions before dusk. It was a very profesionaly run facility, the employees were top notch. Ford owned it prior to HD. | ||
| Court |
Harley, working from memory, used to have two test facilities. Talledega and Placida, FL. |
