The sooner the economy gets out of second gear, the better for Jon Fontane ”“ though he can help anyone who wants to escape life in the slow lane, for a little while anyway.
Three years after launching the company known today as Motorsports Simulation Consultants, Fontane continues to offer high-end racecar simulators throughout the tristate area, both for sale and for short-term rentals for use at conferences and smaller business events.
If resembling an arcade video game, the machines sold by Westport-based Motorsports Simulation Consultants and other companies use software that painstakingly recreates every inch of racetracks across the country ”“ including Connecticut”™s own Lime Rock Park in Lakeville. Coupled with hardware that attempts to approximate the feel of the racecar driver seat, simulators are used by some Nascar and IndyCar competitors to prep for races, with Massachusetts-based iRacing.com Motorsports Simulations L.L.C. among the companies furnishing software, co-founded by Boston Red Sox owner and racing enthusiast John Henry.
Local enthusiasts have a few real-life outlets like Lime Rock and indoor go-kart tracks like Grand Prix New York in Mount Kisco, N.Y., and On Track Karting in Wallingford. But the option remains of bringing the track to your office or event, Fontane reminds ”“ even if the recession has impacted that side of his business.
“It”™s definitely hurt me because there”™s probably a handful of guys that said two years ago, ”˜I would have bought two of these for the office if things were better.”™ Still, last year at this time I was trying to figure out what to do next. The growth (since) has been double, triple easily. Where my business has slowed a bit is in the corporate and leisure rental side of things. The rental side of the business could easily be 10 times what it (has been).”
Still, as the economy picks up speed, Fontane thinks those opportunities will increase. In November, he was scheduled to install a racecar simulator at Wired Magazine”™s annual “popup” holiday store in Manhattan, which features new and coming consumer electronics, gaming, toys, eco-lifestyle items and other home goods.
While race club enthusiasts and corporate events remain Motorsports Simulation Consultants”™ core clientele other groups have come calling ”“ including parents hosting birthday parties for their kids.
With many kids expected to open a Nintendo Wii video game console with an enclosed Mario Kart wheel this holiday season, racing will get a new generation of enthusiasts. Still, given the five-figure sticker of many racecar simulators, suffice it to say no Nintendo, Playstation or Xbox has emerged for the industry, which instead is made up of myriad small craftsmen like Fontane.
If the tristate area has a more limited base of Nascar and IndyCar aficionados, the local fan base could get a boost beginning in the summer of 2013 as the streets of Weehawken and West New York, N.J., become the setting for the proposed Grand Prix of America Formula 1 race, with the Manhattan skyline as the backdrop.
Fontane knows of no Formula 1 races in store for the streets of Fairfield County ”“ but hopes to approximate one with a future virtual racing center, perhaps in Norwalk. He envisions linking up a dozen simulators allowing for group outings.
“You can do some team-building exercises,” he said. “But wait until the trash-talking starts.”
