Luxury race track offers high-speed fun in Coachella Valley

Dave Kunz Image
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Luxury race track offers high-speed fun in Coachella Valley
A race track, luxury clubhouse and private garages - the Thermal Club in the Coachella Valley has it all.

THERMAL, Calif. (KABC) -- Car enthusiasts Tim and Twanna Rogers have spent years creating an ultimate playground for high-speed fun. A race track, luxury clubhouse and private garages - The Thermal Club in the Coachella Valley has it all.

"We brought in Discover Land Company, which has built 14 different high-end golf courses throughout the country, and said why don't we do the same thing as a golf club except we'd have race tracks around it," Tim Rogers said.

Millions have been spent so far, but it's not nearly finished. The place has three state-of-the-art road courses and amenities for a weekend of horsepower and leisure.

"It has the S-turns like the old Riverside race track used to have," Tim Rogers said. "We have an 18-foot sound wall that goes around the track, a tuning shop and the member lounge."

BMW is also building a performance driving center on site. That means no cross traffic or speeding tickets.

"It's a very premium club, but the courses that we offer here are also very accessible. For the range of courses from teens up to the advanced M schools mean they're very accessible," said Peter Miles, a spokesman for BMW.

Joining the club, however, doesn't run cheap. Memberships go for about $85,000, plus the cost of building your own private garage villa, which can add up to more than $1 million.