As you leave New York City and head north along the Hudson River, the West Side Highway leads you past the iconic George Washington Bridge, alongside the Bronx and into suburbia. Strangely named enclaves like Yonkers, popularised in TV and film, eventually give way to picturesque farmland.

The Taconic State Parkway is for many, an escape route from the chaos of the city and the burdens of the life that it brings. At the mile 50 marker you feel as if you have been teleported from an Urban Metropolis, as concrete gives way to green fields and beautiful homesteads, while horses and cows gaze lazily at the traffic zipping by.

For most well-heeled New Yorkers, this Parkway represents a cathartic path to peace and quiet. But for one, Alan Wilzig, the rolling hills and seclusion of Taghkanic, in Columbia County, would provide catharsis of a different kind, best enjoyed on two wheels, or four on the limit of traction.

Imagine your own personal professional grade racetrack, a garage, no that’s too small, make it a hangar of sorts, filled with exotic race cars and motorcycles.

Add to the mix some shifter carts, exotic supercars, a collection of memorabilia and race paraphernalia which resembles a museum and just for good measure throw in a lake with a dock and some jet skis for the summer.

Once you’re done imagining it, rejoin me here to find out what you forgot to include, because I have been witness to a “Field of Dreams” which exceeded everything I could possibly imagine. It is the real world of the “Willy Wonka” of motorsport, Alan Wilzig.

I met Alan on a plane one day a few years ago, we were flying to New York. I was on my way to a MotoGP race. Alan had been doing a three day training program with the Yamaha Champions Racing School. As I settled into the middle seat, a guy in a Repsol Honda jacket inched down the aisle.

Thankfully he sat next to me and within seconds I was interrogating him about his choice of clothing. The four-hour flight came and went faster than any I have done. We talked non-stop; the stories Alan shared went from the sublime to the ridiculously sublime. As we parted ways, he invited me to catch up again. I wasn’t sure if he had just told me the biggest bunch of lies, or I had met the actual Dos Equis guy, you know the one “The most interesting man in the world”.

ON BOARD LAPS OF WILZIG RACEWAY – You can click here to subscribe to Alan Wilzig’s YouTube Channel for some cool videos.

Under the best of circumstances, building a racetrack in your back yard is no easy feat. Layer in a broader community used to fighting development, carpetbagging city slickers who want to preserve their quiet and militant anti-development neighbours who live several miles away, who would object to kids hosting a bake sale out the front of their grandparents’ house.

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The road to the racetrack was a long one, starting in 2004 and eventually finishing in 2010 after several New York Supreme Court challenges and subsequent appellate court appearances, costing over $10 million. To do this you must be an unusually motivated participant in life at a level reserved for only the most fortunate and dedicated.

His love of bikes and cars dates back to childhood. As a student, his dad, a Holocaust survivor, rewarded he and his brother with a Corvette for achieving good grades. As the most junior of bankers following the Holocaust survivors career path, managing the branch pest controllers and doing every other job nobody else wanted to do, Alan did so in style.

Trading his Corvette and cashing out his bar mitzvah gifts for a fly yellow Ferrari, a misstep that sent his father into a rage as he chastised the younger Wilzig for expediting the rewards of hard work. Alan’s proudest day seems to have been crushed, only to be revived as he heard his father’s throaty laugh as he shared the sons scalding with a fellow Holocaust survivor and friend. “Can you even imagine” Siggi Wizig said “That my son buying a Ferrari should be my biggest problem when not 50 years before we were eating dandelions in a death camp to survive”.

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Following his father’s passing, the Wharton schooled Wilzig assumed the reins at the Trust Company of New Jersey, growing its branch count and expanding its loan books significantly. Where his father had tried and failed to sell the bank, Alan struck a deal in 2004 to sell the company to a competitor in a cash and stock deal that would prove to be a masterful transaction as the acquiring bank was purchased by Capital One a few years later, valuing the stock at a significant premium.

With the financial means to bring any dream to life, Alan set about building the Wilzig Racing Manor. Having selected a site with gently undulating hills and a beautiful spring fed pond, Alan set about designing the track, draining then expanding the pond into a 25-acre lake and restoring the historic barn and Dutch Colonial house into works of modern art.

The track is a bi-directional circuit, its nine turns feature a banking left hander, a cross over allows racers to cross the circuit and run it in the opposite direction. The conventional 1.15-mile circuit then expands to over 2.4 miles with this clever use of the crossover. There are few barriers to the circuit, instead the runoffs are a mixture of grass and gravel.

At 90 feet wide, the circuit is wide enough for cars to pass and more than ample for the self-imposed limit of up to four bikes to chase each other around. Why just four bikes? Remember this is the dream circuit, just for you and your friends, it was never intended for commercial use.

The pit lane access roads link to the road network, which services the Wilzig Racing Manor, connecting the residence to the “Wonka-land” moto museum which drew its origins from a Tasmanian emergency services helicopter hangar. Alan, an enthusiast of design and architecture, had seen pictures of the hangar in a magazine and instructed his architects to draw inspiration from its brow shaped roof line and open plan interior.

The deceptively large building is clad in metal exterior paneling with a soft rusted patina. Nestled in a hollow below the circuit, instead of dominating the landscape it blends in beautifully, especially with the autumn colours.

Upstairs placed around the perimeter pathway is the biggest collection of Bimotas I’ve seen. I counted 28 of them ranging from the first generations to the most current and the V-Due 500cc two-stroke model, which sent the storied brand into bankruptcy and the eventual hands of the Kawasaki group.

The most interesting of that collection belonged to Steve Forbes of the Forbes magazine empire. So much did he love that bike that he had a Samsonite case made for it, allowing him to pack it into his private jet so he could travel with it to far-off places.

There is no fewer than 14 Ducati’s, my favourite being the 1957 Americano, which harkens back to the days of slippery fairings and bravery of those who rode it. The most unique of the Ducati lot is the “hybrid” MV Augusta / Ducati “egg bike” custom commissioned by Alan and painted using the techniques employed by the Faberge for the creation of their exquisite Russian “Eggs”.

The most expensive bike in the collection and the one Alan would most love to ride is the Honda NR750 RC40, a super rare collector bike he purchased a decade ago from Japan. Its speed is only rivalled by its appreciation in value, now the most expensive bike in the collection. No wonder he hasn’t ridden it. Oval pistons. Phew…

When it comes to riding Alan tells me there really is no challenger to his favourite bike, the Krämer GP2 890R. A purpose-built race bike from designed by the German manufacturer and built and supplied from the US distributor. Alan says it was instantly competitive right out of the box without the need to tune and farkle a street bike like the Yamaha R3 or GSX-R600.

To encourage his friends to experience the thrills of knee down racing, Alan purchased three NSR50 two-stroke race bikes for visitors to practice on. These little demons absolutely rip and are infinitely “chuckable” allowing beginners to really get the feel for leaning into corners without the fear of being bucked by a full-size race bike and ending up in the kitty litter.

While the circuit is private occasionally Alan hosts charity events, club events and track days for his friends at Audi, McLaren and Ferrari. Alan shared a story of the launch of the Audi TT and a very stoic Audi test driver who declined a couple of laps to get a feel for the circuit. “I have been driving these cars at the Nürburgring and every other continent on earth” he replied, before promptly putting the thing backwards into the mud at the second corner, a tricky right hander which is off camber and is a bit reminiscent of the corkscrew at Laguna Seca.

Trusted with the care and maintenance of the collection and property is Peter Huber. Keeping up with Alan must be a nightmare because the guy is literally always going 100 miles an hour. Peter’s calm demeanour and extensive knowledge of all things mechanical make him the perfect candidate to keep the place in order.

During Alan’s decade of road racing prior to the construction of the circuit, Peter managed his race team and was one of the few guys who managed a 100 per cent reliability record from season to season. Peter knows the bikes inside out and importantly knows Alan. When he is not maintaining the property, setting up for weekend shenanigans or showing people like me around, he is hard at work rebuilding bikes, changing slicks and prepping the bikes and cars for the track.

After ripping around the track in my little Abarth for a few hours one day while Alan had a sleep in after our big night, I got to wonder whether the barking exhaust of my little rocket would be disturbing the neighbours and if it did, how did they cope with the bikes and race cars ripping laps?

It turns out the location of the track on the property and the way it was designed means that the neighbours rarely hear a thing and certainly don’t complain. In fact, one day when we went into town to get pick up a few pizzas for Alans kids, we bumped into a local guy who recognised Alan as being the “racetrack dude” most likely because of the Red Bull jacket and pants.

There is little doubt that Alan is living his best life. Unlike pretentious ‘collectors’ who covet the machine, Alan covets the speed and the experience, sharing the passion with his friends. For lovers of motorcycles and cars the Wilzig Racing Manor may well be the “Field Of Dreams”.

WILZIG RACING MANOR FLYOVER VIDEO

WILZIG RACING MANOR GALLERY

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For most well-heeled New Yorkers, the Taconic State Parkway just outside of the hustle and bustle of the city represents a cathartic path to peace and quiet. But for one, Alan Wilzig, the rolling hills and seclusion of Taghkanic, in Columbia County, would provide catharsis of a different kind, best enjoyed on two wheels, or four and right on the limit of traction.

Check out the full write up and tour of the Wilzig Manor compound here…

Topped out with one of the most impressive private collections of bikes, cars and other racing machines, the Wilzig Manor compound is an impressive display from a man who is living his best life. The Wilzig Manor compound also hosts a bi-directional private race track for Alan and his mates to sharpen their skills whenever they like.

Check out the video above to see what it’s like living on one of the best properties in the world, having your own racetrack and owning some of the rarest motorcycles to ever go on sale. Graeme Warring catches up with Alan to get the full story.

Wilzig Manor

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This event has everything – there is kick arse action on track and off track it’s almost as exciting! Things such as free pit access where the fans get to rub shoulders with some of the best riders in the world and check out some serious bike porn in the pits too. Not only is bike porn in the pits, it’s also in the parking area as well, where fans gets to park their pre 1990 non-competition motorcycle pride and joy close to the pit area and turn it into a ‘showroom like parking lot’. 

On the Sunday afternoon they even get to do a demonstration lap in the Shannons Parade Lap show as well and a welcome return was trade alley in the back of the paddock where you could buy official Island Classic merchandise. 

Another big-ticket item is the Saturday night welcome dinner with Sir Alan Cathcart interviewing all the main players including UK’s new star recruit, John McGuiness. Even Alan Cathcart thinks this event is amazing, saying, “I have been coming to the Island Classic on and off for the past ten years. It’s been fantastic to see how it has grown. Having the International Challenge was a brilliant idea. The whole event is a great success.”

In regards to the International Teams Challenge, if you’re wondering what that is all about, well, in simple terms it is a fiercely contested weekend which sees Australia V the Yanks V the Kiwis V the Poms, all going hammer and tongs to score top points to win for their country. For individual honours, riders were all battling it out to win the Ken Wootton memorial trophy and the famous Karen ‘Nurse’ Wootton’s homemade chocolate brownies.

2014 saw UK’s best line up of riders that were ready to rock and roll and go toe-to-toe with the Aussie riders and the other two teams. They brought an army of their best riders such as ex 250/500cc GP star Jeremy McWilliams, Gary Johnson and Mike ‘Spike’. At the eleventh hour, Irishman Ryan Farquhar was called in to replace Steve Brogan because of family commitments. But the biggest name to make the headline act was without a doubt, the man from Morecambe, Lancashire, 41-year old John McGuinness.

The 26-race victor at the Isle of Man TT and an accomplished endurance racer was glad to be back on Australia soil. But when he asked what it was going to be like to race his IOM TT rival Cam Donald, he said, “It’s going to be hard to deal with Cam around here that’s for sure.” “He passed me yesterday and showed me who was the ‘boss’ around Phillip Island. But we will slowly catch up and hopefully towards the end of the weekend we won’t be a million miles away.

“But the likes of Shawn Giles, Steve Martin Robbie Phillis are superfast around here. Even Brendan Roberts. I have experience racing against him in BSB Superstock and he is lighting fast as well. I have a load of respect for all of these guys.” 

The English team may have had their strongest line up of riders, but quite frankly the Aussie team did too… Riders such as the 1999 Australian Superbike and 2009 World Endurance champion Steve Martin, Martin’s teammate Shawn Giles. ‘Mr Superbike’ Robbie Phillis, Tasmania’s Malcolm ‘Wally’ Campbell, Current Australian Superbike racer Beau Beaton, Brendan Roberts and another IOM TT legend, Cam Donald just to name a few.

On track action, well it started off with an Aussie blitz from Donald. From the word go he was the early pace setter in qualifying one and looked like he was going to be the man to catch for the whole weekend. Donald steered his Manta Engineering Suzuki XR69 to a 1:38.368 in the 15-minute opening qualifying session, just 0.403s faster than countryman Beau Beaton on the K.H. Equipment/Austart Air Starters Irving Vincent. 

In qualifying two however it was McWilliams (Team Winfield) who got the upper hand snaring pole position over Donald by .017sec! Giles rounded out the front row. McWilliams kept his form going in the two opening racers on Saturday beating Donald who played second fiddle to him in both racers. Race two was nothing short of a bell ringer! McWilliams, Donald, Giles and Roberts all battled it out for the whole six laps, and at the end of the race the time difference was just .272 between the four riders!

Race three belonged to Donald as he led from start to finish but it was not made easy as Giles gave chase the whole way. Giles’s team-mate, Roberts finished third while McWilliams had to settle for fourth,with his bike cutting out down the main straight on the first two laps which cost him any chance of victory. With this result it set the stage for an epic battle for the final race of the weekend. Donald was just one slender point ahead of McWilliams with Giles just three points off Donald.

In the most stunning outcomes, Roberts pipped McWilliams by the smallest of margins (.004s) to claim second spot behind Giles in race four. The result meant that both Giles and McWilliams finished the International Challenge races on 155-points apiece, and were subsequently declared joint winners – the first time it’s happened since the International Challenge began in 2005. Giles and McWilliams now ‘share’ the Ken Wootton Trophy as the highest individual point scorers in the International Challenge. 

Third place went to Roberts with a 6-4-3-2 result while Beaton was fourth with a 4-6-7-4. Rounding out the top five was McGuinness on the Harris F1 after he strung a 7-8-8-7 result. A pretty impressive result seeing McGuinness did not even sit on the bike till the Thursday at the Island Classic! 

As Australia celebrated Australia Day on Sunday the 26th of January it was quite fitting that Australia retained the International Trophy for the teams challenge award winning it with 692 points on the board from the United Kingdom on 617. New Zealand was third with 367 and America in fourth with 341.

The final word should go to the circuit’s Managing Director, Fergus Cameron. “It’s been a fantastic weekend. The Island Classic took another step forward this year. It was always going to be hard to follow on from last year when Giacomo Agostini came out. But the International Challenge and the other entire racing certainly served it up. The level of competition is a whole lot fiercer. To have John McGuinness out here this year has been great, he has already told me that he will be back again next year for sure. This event is magnetic. People, who want to get involved, want to stay in involved. And believe me the American’s will come back next year a whole lot stronger as well.”

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There is just so much going on, it’s a must-see event that rivals the Phillip Island Classic in numbers despite being a celebration of classic motorcycling rather than a race meeting. Exact crowd numbers are unconfirmed but the 8,000 each year mark would be a good estimate. The numbers are high for a reason – there was something on offer for everyone!

With a road race circuit, speedway circuit, motocross track, dirt track and trials area at the Broadford complex, all disciplines of pre 1989 motorcycle were covered. There were also trade stands catering for all disciplines and clubs on hand for those wanting to join one and the pits were open to the public.

If you wanted to enter as a participant, all you needed was either an MA licence or a day licence and to either pre enter or enter your bike on the day. The classes were Roadbike, Road Racing Bike, Road Racing Sidecar, Dirt Track Solo, MX Pre 1980, MX Pre 1990, Dirt Track Sidecar, MX Sidecar, Enduro, Speedway Solo, Speedway Sidecar and Trials! Something there for everyone! The cost to ride was great value, only $120 at the gate, $100 early bird or $80 super early bird. A road circuit garage was $400 for the weekend but could be shared while pits in the off road area were $100.

Camping was allowed and only $10 per head, including motorhome or tent campers! Sidecar passengers only had to pay $50 and there were heaps of off road sessions all weekend, while tarmac riders got four 15-minute sessions per day – great value. The tarmac groups were split into Road Bikes Novice/Intermediate/Expert, Race Pre 63/75/89, 6 Hour bikes and Sidecars.

Arriving at the event was easy, although the line was huge, pre-entered people such as myself, or those who pre-purchased tickets, had express entry by waiving ticket at security on the front gate/road. Then it was a quick sign in at the main office, where bike numbers/stickers and wristband was collected and that was it for the weekend. 

Getting around was easy, you could ride your bike anywhere as long as you wore a helmet or drive your car, however, it was very crowded so driving and parking was an issue, riding was the better option or walking and taking in the surroundings, which was all a bit too much to take in at once sometimes! 

There was plenty of food available from various stands located around the complex, as well as drink stands selling soft drinks, tea, coffee and plenty of grog at reasonable prices too. BYO was also welcome, which was fantastic, even fires were allowed in steel drums! There was PBBB merchandise for sale as well and everyone got a free showbag on arrival. 

You had to have your bike scrutineered before riding and good riding gear to participate, however, jeans were allowed, which I highly disagree with personally. There was a rider’s briefing each morning at 8:30am to make sure everyone is informed of flag rules and other info and aside from that it was easy going, with plenty of announcements of each upcoming session. Shuttle busses ran throughout the complex from 9:00am to 4:00pm and there was even 24-hour security to ensure all is kept safe. 

On Saturday night there was a huge Gala Dinner with 100 limited tickets sold for $90 each. The dinner was a dress up event hosted by our own [RCBE] contributors Graeme Crosby and Sir Alan Cathcart, with the range of stars also there; it is no wonder it sold out. Renowned Goulburn Valley Chef Bernard Hayes served a 5-Star three-course meal with wines by Tahbilk. Tickets were $95, a great deal, and a great memorable night.

The event was sensational, walking around with the sights and smells of the classic era absolutely consuming. Everywhere one looked there were famous faces – Graeme Crosby, Murray Sayle, Kevin Magee, Shannon Johnson, Alan Cathcart, Steve Butler, John Warrian, John Woodley and even Cam Donald and many more famous racers floating around and riding their old bikes. There were plenty of original Castrol 6 Hour bikes and that was fantastic to see, a highlight seeing Kev Magee on his old Marlborough FZ750 though, for me, that was magical. 

Broadford Bike Bonanza Gallery

The Penrite Broadford Bike Bonanza this year was an amazing event with a great atmosphere and plenty going on… Words: Jeff Ware  Photography: Russell Colvin

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