We’re moving! If you’ve not already seen Epsiode 2 of our Midnight Mayhem XI series, we’re changing sites! Welcome to the Drop Forge Proving Grounds. This will be a completely custom space for Midnight Mayhem. The Midnight Mayhem Organizing Team is well underway in transforming this 30+ acre space, in the heart of downtown Louisville, into a purpose built space for testing your cars. So why are we moving?

Proximity to everything

Those that have been to Midnight Mayhem previously know that Nickota Motorsports Park is a great site. The track is perfect for Baja cars. There is, however, one big drawback; its proximity to just about anything. If you forget something and need to run to Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Autozone, etc., it’s a minimum 30 minute trip each way not including the time you’re in the store(s) getting whatever you need. If you’re not a camper and are staying in a hotel, it’s a 30 minute trip each way. That amount of travel time inside of Midnight Mayhem which, is a day and half of non-stop events is a huge chunk of time to be gone. It’s not only been a headache for you but also for the organizers.

The Drop Forge Proving Grounds is in the middle of Louisville. Hotels, stores, restaurants, you name it, are all within ten minutes or less of the site. This is a huge benefit and was one of the driving factors for making the change.

we needed more space

In case you haven’t noticed, Midnight Mayhem is big. It’s the largest exhibition event for Baja SAE vehicles in the world. Last year, there were over 70 schools in attendance. The paddocks were split for the first time to make room for everyone. Guess what, Midnight Mayhem is still growing. After Midnight Mayhem X was over, our Facilities Coordinator began assessing the possibility of paddocking 100 teams at Nickota. We couldn’t find a place to fit 30 more trailers. Sure, we could have used the parking lot outside of the gates of Nickota but, where do you then put all the cars that have just been moved to make room for the trailers? Paddocking was just one area that space was lacking. Nickota has a lot of land but, as you know, most of it is on the sides of a hill and therefore difficult to use.

The Drop Forge Proving Grounds is smaller than Nickota but, in terms of usable space, it’s larger. We have room for 110 paddock spaces that are larger than the spaces at Nickota. There’s plenty of space for an incredible endurance course, 3 dynamic events, and more, all of which will have incredible spectator visibility.

tailored courses and facilities

This is the part that the Midnight Mayhem Organizing team is looking forward too; having the ability to build completely custom courses designed for Baja SAE vehicles. Perfectly sized jumps, more obstacles, etc. The design judges hear it at every competition, “Tested at Midnight Mayhem.” DFPG allows the organizers to create better courses for your teams to collect even more useful data on your new designs.

visibility

Visibility comes in two forms for Midnight Mayhem. Exposure to the community and physical visibility of the events happening at Midnight Mayhem to its spectators. The Drop Forge Proving Grounds greatly enhances both of these things. Being in the middle of the largest city in Kentucky, right next to the University of Louisville campus, we are so excited to be able to better promote Midnight Mayhem to the public in order to show off all of the hard work and dedication each of you have put into developing your cars to compete at Midnight Mayhem and to show the community that engineering can be fun.

DFPG also has incredible opportunities for great spectator viewing areas. The site is bounded by two bridges on the East and South sides making for excellent elevated viewing of the entire Endurance Course. These bridges, in addition to spectator areas throughout the rest of the site provide everyone with an opportunity to see every piece of the Endurance Course. This is an extremely rare feature for a Baja course and we’re excited that DFPG has the means to offer that.