The FIRM, Racing Circuit

The FIRM, the Florida International Rally and Motorsport Park, sits in around 420 acres of sand, pine forest and scrub about eight miles south of Starke, near Keystone Heights, Florida. The site occupies part of a former United States Army Air Forces base, built in 1942 and originally named Crystal Lake Army Airfield before becoming the Keystone Army Airfield, which still operates as a general aviation airport alongside the track. In 1998 British rally driver Ivor Wigham established the European Rally School on the land, carving around seven miles of trails beside a disused runway, and the facility quickly became popular with the military for driver training. The site expanded with extended off-road trails and a kart circuit, and in 2008 Wigham invested in a 1.6 mile road course using part of the runway and existing trail roads. That road course features ten turns, including a lightly banked double-apex curve onto the main straight, a runway esses section and an optional four-turn shoebox loop, and it can be split into east and west loops that run simultaneously. Wigham sold to Gainesville investment firm The Strategic Group in 2012, who renamed the venue The FIRM to reflect its broad range of activities. Today it houses a performance driving school, a security academy training elite troops in high-risk driving, and a firing range. The FIRM rents its tracks to teams, runs open track days and serves as a filming location, and is regarded as one of North America's premier facilities of its kind.

Operated by: The Florida International Rally and Motorsport Park (The FIRM), Inc.