A paradox played out in Miami during a recent Formula 1 weekend: On fashionable city streets, a tangled toy box of candy-colored Lamborghinis, Porsches and other performance cars were all dressed up with no place to go \u2014 certainly not at the hurricane-force speeds for which they\u2019re designed.<\/p>\n
One speed-demon destination for them will soon be found two hours north \u2014 in St. Lucie County, on 663 acres of former orange groves. There, Ari Straus and his family are plotting the P1 Motor Club, the latest country-club-style racetrack that lets members indulge their inner Ayrton Senna or Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Mr. Straus and partners are spending $270 million to build a pair of motorsports circuits where members and their families can satisfy a need for speed, and learn the art of driving from real professionals, not a high school gym teacher. Those include Mr. Straus\u2019s daughter Aurora Straus, who drives a ferocious Mercedes-AMG GT4 for Murillo Racing, teamed with her newlywed husband, Kenny Murillo.<\/p>\n
Ms. Straus points to an explosion of interest in motorsports, led in part by the Netflix hit docuseries \u201cFormula 1: Drive to Survive,\u201d on F1 drivers and their ruthless teams. Add a postpandemic urge for bucket-list experiences, and wealthy people willing to pay for them, and members\u2019 circuits are growing globally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned from Covid that life is short,\u201d Ms. Straus said. \u201cHaving a life-changing experience with family and friends you care about is something we value exponentially more today.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the P1 Motor Club takes shape, I recently rode shotgun on a four-wheel-drive tour with Mr. Straus and Chris Duplessis, a four-time U.S. rally champion, snapping photos of alligators lazing in irrigation canals. Enormous earthmovers were carving out lakes and elevation changes, unheard-of on notoriously flat Florida circuits such as Sebring. The tracks integrate homages to fabled corners such as the plummeting Corkscrew at Laguna Seca in California and the serpentine uphill curves at Virginia International Raceway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re Lego pieces of famous tracks around the world, turned into a monster circuit,\u201d Mr. Straus said.<\/p>\n
The difference here is that drivers who make a mistake can slide onto hundreds of feet of grassy runoff instead of smacking a wall or guardrails, as at many old-school circuits, and jump back on the track and nail a tricky corner on the next lap.<\/p>\n
An inaugural three-mile Treasure Coast circuit and a forthcoming 4.5-mile P1 Circuit are designed by top companies that have helped create nearly every modern F1 facility. The snaking courses will generate the G-forces and gut-checks that drivers favor, with lengthy straightaways that allow powerful models to top 180 miles an hour.<\/p>\n
I got a spin around the Treasure Coast circuit in a Mercedes-AMG GT. The 603-horsepower, 197-m.p.h. brute should be right at home here. Mr. Duplessis, the club\u2019s aptly titled director of fun, took the wheel and began drifting on the still-gravel surface as if we were in a \u201cFast and Furious\u201d movie. Since my drive, the 16-corner circuit has received a meticulous final paving, and drivers are weeks away from testing their mettle at full speed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea here is to let drivers explore the limits of their cars, with maximum perceived risk but low actual risk,\u201d Mr. Straus said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s also where expert coaching comes in. In 2014, John Strangfeld\u2019s family surprised him with a \u201cTaste of the Track\u201d day at Monticello Motor Club in New York, a track the Strauses helped found. Mr. Strangfeld, who worked for 40 years at Prudential Financial, rising to chairman and chief executive, had appreciated sports cars for their aesthetics but had never imagined driving on a track.<\/p>\n