Spring Mountain Motorsports Club members try the 3.5-mile track in Pahrump on Sunday. Members pay from $4,500 to $50,000 to join. Photos by Jane Kalinowsky. Spring Mountain Motorsports Club owners from left, John Morris and Brad Rambo bought the 193-acre Spring Mountain Motorsports complex for $6 million and invested $4 million more on track upgrades. From left, drivers of a Corvette, Porsche GT Carrera, Ferrari Challenge Car, and Lotus Elise unwind at the Spring Mountain Motor Sports Club. Top speeds on the backstretch can hit 140 mph, club owners say.

Die-hard golfers with accumulated wealth wouldn't blink an eye at paying $20,000 for a charter membership in an exclusive country club, a setting where people of similar social status can mingle and play on common ground.

Others are willing to shell out the cash to enjoy a rare driving experience with high-performance cars such as their Ferrari, BMW, Lamborghini, Corvette or Porsche.

That's the business philosophy behind California investors John Morris and Brad Rambo, who purchased the 193-acre Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch from Rupert Smith for $6 million and have invested another $4 million in track upgrades and a new 5,000-square-foot administration building.

Members of the Spring Mountain Motorsports Club in Pahrump pay between $4,500 and $50,000 to unwind the engines in their fancy sports cars on a 3.5-mile road course where top speeds on the backstretch can hit 140 mph.

Rambo said it's typical for tracks to be rented out for the weekend to Corvette and Porsche clubs from Southern California and elsewhere, but this is the first private motorsports club in the Southwest.

"If a guy's got a nice car, the only way he can drive it legally and have some fun with it is by going to one of these track events," Rambo said.

Basic membership at Spring Mountain Motorsports Club is $4,500 to join, plus $120 monthly dues and $60 a day for use of the track. It guarantees access to the track for 20 days a month, including at least two weekends. Members can bring five guests a month, one of whom can drive on the track.

Charter membership is $20,000 with $95 monthly dues and $60 use fee. Members get 22 track days, including two weekends, along with priority status for garage rentals and 20 guests a month, five of whom can use the track.

Corporate membership, with a $50,000 initiation fee and $500 monthly dues, designates four individual members and allows 50 guests a month, including 10 drivers.

Fred Chin, chief operating officer for a local home builder and owner of seven Porsches, said there's a shortage of road courses in the West. He jumped at the opportunity to join the club.

"I'm from Los Angeles and the closest track was 120 miles, so it's somewhat rare to go out and enjoy your car," he said. "I move to Las Vegas and there's a place 45 minutes away and it doesn't have nearly the population base as L.A., so you can access it easier. You think about the investment you have in a car and you can't drive it anywhere that's safe or without getting arrested or getting in an accident."

Morris has big plans for the motorsports club. He extended the original 2.2-mile course and graded the runoff apron. The newest section of the course, known as the Radical Loop, has 10 turns, two banked corners, a dramatic blind drop and a technical off-camber corner, along with a "screaming fast straightaway," he said.

The track will eventually have a closed-circuit, track-to-driver communications center and a 45-foot "wilderness" tower overlooking the course.

The master plan for the property includes 20 to 60 private garages built by Classic Homes and a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse with locker rooms, swimming pool, racquetball court and conference and meeting rooms. Trackside condominiums are a possibility, the owners said.

The transaction included a Corvette driving school that was doing $1 million a year in business. Revenue has tripled since the partners took ownership two years ago and the fleet of Corvettes has doubled. The three-day school costs about $3,000 with 300 miles of track time.

"I look at it as an investment," Rambo said. "I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't looking like a good deal. It hasn't made me any money yet and it won't for a while."

Though membership currently stands at about 60, Morris said he anticipates having 500 to 600 members eventually.

Suzanne Sears and her husband Wade, an emergency room doctor, recently bought a Ford Lotus for $55,000 and became charter members of the club.

"We're both into not just looking at the car but actually driving it, using the clutch and not shifting until you hit the power band," she said. "It's not like staying on the street where you have to do the speed limit or you're endangering yourself or other people. Here you get to hear the engine roar."