News from Niagara College in Niagara, Ontario
July 7th, 2014 – A proposed motor speedway for Fort Erie has opened a world of opportunity for Niagara College students.
Back row from left:
Wayne Toth, Coordinator, Niagara College Motive Power programs Azhar Mohammad, Partner and Executive Director, Canadian Motor Speedway,
Dr. Steve Hudson, Niagara College Vice President, Academic
Front row from left:
Ibrahim Abou Taleb, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Motor Speedway,
Dr. Dan Patterson, President, Niagara College
Niagara College and The Canadian Motor Speedway have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that outlines a broad range of areas where the parties can create hands-on learning and research opportunities.
“This is a world-class attraction that will bring together everything from hospitality to engineering technology,” said Steve Hudson, Niagara College’s vice president, academic. “There are elements of this proposal that align with almost all of our areas of specialization – in both academics and applied research.”
The potential areas of cooperation outlined in the MOU range from events, a presence at the racetrack for NC’s food and hospitality related institutions, as well as applied learning opportunities for technology and motive power students through applied research programs. Opportunities may include the testing of green-energy vehicles, co-op placements, recruitment events, collaboration with other postsecondary institutions and much more.
“Since the inception of Canadian Motor Speedway, we wanted to establish long-term partnerships with world class and Ontario-based educational institutions that could broaden the scope of the Research and Development component of CMS. This partnership will provide a valuable state of the art facility to advance applied learning and innovation, as well as connect Niagara College and CMS to other industry partners, taking us all to another level of excellence,” CMS partner and executive director Azhar Mohammad stated.
Canadian Motor Speedway is a $150 million racetrack development situated on 826 acres of land in Fort Erie directly adjacent to the QEW within two minutes of the Canadian/U.S. border and 20 minutes from Niagara Falls. It will include ancillary construction for infrastructure, recreational, retail, commercial, motorsports, automotive R&D Innovation Park in collaboration with McMaster University and Niagara College, industrial and educational uses that will expand the build-out to $400 million.
The core of the project consists of a stand-alone ¾ mile ‘Jeff Gordon Design Signature Speedway’ oval, which combines to form a two mile FIA grade road course. All 65,000 stadium seats will have expansive views of the tracks and the 5,000 enclosed club seats and 40 suites will favour the customer with first class catering and hospitality.
The development will provide world class racing events for up to 100,000 spectators in a variety of motorsports including automobiles, motorcycles, karting, drifting and various motorized and non-motorized public events. For more information, please visit: www.cdnmotorspeedway.com, www.facebook.com/cmsnation, or on Twitter: @CMSNation.
For more information on Nagara College visit NiagaraCollege.ca.
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Niagara At Large 
One of the reasons I support this track for Fort Erie, is location, the site chosen is of no value for growing foodstuffs , as the soil depth is shallow and covering a huge stretch of limestone , the fact it is near the City of Buffalo will cut down on traffic, to other overburdened highways, any other location would leave a much larger environmental footprint on Niagara. The people of Dubai have had a long term love affair with automobiles , they even opened up a Ferrari themed ride in their country, this project has been in the works for a long,long time and with a rebounding economy Fort Erie will no doubt see a lot more real tourism, not just the Bingo day trippers.
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You can’t get across the Peace Bridge now & this will make it much worse. As for the sport – oh goodie, cars driving in circles. How exciting. Noise & pollution.
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