Posts
2842
Joined
7/19/2013
Location
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Does anyone know what happened to Sandbox in NH? Their instagram and website are gone. I was hoping to make the trek up there this Spring.
I don't know, but that picture makes me desperately want to shut down the office and go ride
100% I don't know either but I just wish we could have tracks like that in California!
Noooooooo!! One of my favorite tracks!!
It's what we get in return for a brutal winter and humid summers: sand and trees all the way from NJ to Maine.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Free shipping: VITALMX
I’m not sure they closed, but doesn’t look great
The website has been gone for a while - check their facebook. Last year I thought the same until I found the facebook was active and posting ride dates.
https://www.facebook.com/sandboxnh
I know they're not on the JDay schedule this year, which is disappointing. Haven't heard if they're closed or not though.
E street, Marysville in winter is a killer sand track.
I grew up riding e street. I love that track. It has a harder base than east coast tracks though for sure. Same with spots like Fernley and the Nuevo sand tracks in socal. I’d recommend anyone who loves riding that type of dirt to head east for a moto trip.
New Hampshire state motto is "Live Free or Die". It's on their liscence plates
Fernley has been AMAZING since Zeb has had it!
It's odd their Instagram is gone though
Agreed. Does anyone know who owns and runs the place?
Whoever it is, I don't think they run the track for anything other than love of the sport. During the hot months of summer they won't even have practice days. Seemed like they would be open in spring then you wouldn't see any practice days July or August. Then they would open again in September
Damn, I planned on going out there for the first time this year.
It's definitely run as a hobby not a business - which is a good thing I think. People that love the sport but don't rely on it. I bet we'll see some ride days. Managing social media and websites is a skill that doesn't often overlap with grooming a track.
There are several awesome sand tracks in the New England/ Northeast area…
Besides southwick and 207, where else would you go if you’re driving up from PA/NJ?
Pit Row
damn this was on my track bucket list
I'm really hoping you're right. It's one of my favorite tracks. Much more fun than Southwick. There was a big table in the back and a devil's drop type section. I was hoping someone in the know would have come across this thread.
I just talked to a local that has been riding there for years. He said its not really closed, or open. It seemed like he did not really want to tell me too much info. But pretty much , the cost to keep a sand track watered is crazy and they have to use a truck.
It sounded like they want to move towards renting the track out for a set # per day for people that want to ride there. Organize a group of friends and split the daily rate. To me it sounded like my customer was a little unsure of what to tell me. So I don't know if that means its more of a private track now and You have to know somebody to set up a rental. It also sounded like they were not ruling out having days they opened up like they have been and charging a smaller amount per rider.
The good news is that its still going to be a track. It just may be a little harder to be able to ride there now than in the past.
I would pay to ride it with no prep after some rain.
The person you spoke with actually gave you good info. That's my take on it after riding it numerus times last year. The guy who runs it does a awesome job. It's a fantastic place that is well run with very friendly people and atmosphere. I think the water situation causes it to be sooo much more work and we had a very dry summer and fall. No J day there on the schedule is concerning to me. It's one of the best tracks in the East. I'm hoping it can still thrive.
Yah the customer has equipment that the owner uses sometimes and has helped him out on that side of things over the years. I told him I was going to reply on here to help answer this post, so I think he may have been a little unsure of what or how to explain it.
He was saying that they used to only ride after a decent amount of rain years ago before they made it so anybody could ride there. The owner would send him a message saying that they were going to prep the track after the storm and they would be riding the next day or whenever. And back then they only rode when it had been rained on. Sand is so hard to keep wet; water just flows right through it. And watering the entire track, getting it wet enough to be good was taking a lot of fuel. And some days they were spending more in fuel to water than they took in for riders. He said they have plenty of water on site. But using the truck to water is time consuming and expensive. Hopefully something lines up so they can install some watering system. I'll have to look and see if there is anything coming up on any government auction sites. That pump that NHMX/Jolly Rogers has or had, was an old military surplus pump. Thats what I was told by the original owner. That places watering system works so well.
Thats what they used to do. Only ride the day after a storm before they made it open to the public.
I'll suggest that to my customer. that hey try opening to the public after a storm and see how it goes. The customer knows the owner fairly well so I can see what he says. It might be hard to plan a trip up from PA if they open that way.
I'm not sure if the price is accurate or not but I think he said they would rent it out prepped for $1200 per day. I have no idea if there is a limit to how many riders could ride at that price. Some tracks will limit the number of riders when You rent or change the price for larger groups. He was kind of vague when talking about that and started to explain why they were not running the way they were last year. If that is the price, its not bad considering the amount of work involved in prepping a sand track like that. Again, don't take that as 100% accurate. There were alot of things going on at the time when we were talking so I could have missed some details . Thats why I was careful in posting only what I was sure about in the first post.
I have wanted to have a ride day at a local track for my customers. Right now, I'm unable to do that because I'm helping my mother out. She has some health issues. If and when things change, if I did it at this track I'll come back and reply in this post and invite anybody to come that wants to as long as I don't have a small limit on how many riders can come.
To me it sounded like the current way of operations may be temporary.
Thanks for the updates Sasquatch.
$1200 track rental is a bargain big time. Years back we would rent Southwick for 3 times that.
Post a reply to: Sandbox New Hampshire Closed?