0Mike@NorrisMotorsports

Hi All,

A lot of folks know me on the forum but a lot from the Northeast may not, but I am looking at possibly moving to the Portland, Maine area some time within the next year or so and checking to see what the business opportunities are like in that area as well as the surrounding states.

I know when I was in Florida and even now in Indianapolis that 50% of my work is somewhat local and the other 50% was from out of state.

So let me know who and what is out there. Just got back from the area and quite the nice place.

Thanks and Happy New Year!!

Mike Norris

m and t's77

New Hampshire has the only real drag strip in N.E.and also the motor speedway in Loudon.Also smaller tracks across the state.Maine has a few tracks also with Oxford Plains being the biggest one,but its way up north past Portland.

MidYearRoadster

Portland is a nice area...it is somewhat sluggish in some aspects of jobs and development but its holding its own. Portland has become big in the restaurant area. Lots of top notch restaurants for the foodies...also the port is becoming more popular with the Cruise Line industry after building a new facility for the ships to dock. Stock car racing is big up north and yes Oxford Plains Raceway is about an hr away it also has a 1/8th mile drag strip behind it that runs often. The big dragstrip in the area is in New Hampshire in Epping...New England Dragway, NHRA. Also, new this coming year, is a 3.2 mile road course being constructed in Tamworh NH right off Rt 16 and 25. They hope to get the road racing boys up there. There are some Hi perf. machine shops in northern Mass and some in NH and Maine as well. The cruise car/hot rod/ custom car is a strong arena up there...

0Mike@NorrisMotorsports

Thanks for the info guys. What are the thoughts on a late model GM performance shop in the area?

Mike Norris

SteveDoten@ARH

Mike, I think I can recall 2 or 3 Corvette owners from Maine.

Very scarce.

Chokeu

Unless you own a Mustang or an import, there ain't **** up here in Cowhampshire to help us late model GM guys. Please open up a shop! The closest place to NH is an hour and a half into Mass. I had a Mustang GT Edelbrock S/C and had installed it myself. I brought it to a local dyno shop to get tuned and it had a surge/skip issue when you accelerated from a dead stop. They worked on it 2-3x and kinda straightened it out. Still did it from time to time. I got sick of it and just pulled the trigger and bought a canned tune from a reputable shop in IL (Brenspeed). Car ran like a champ after that. The shops in NH suck. Mass. has a couple of real good shops though.

0Mike@NorrisMotorsports

Thanks for the info folks and it will not just be a late model Corvette shop, but also an EFI calibration shop. So we will see how this plays out :-)

Mike Norris

Chokeu

Mike, Keep us posted!!!! Try for NH! We've got zero!

jwebsta32

Im one of the two or three corvette owners from Maine! A late model GM/EFI shop would be welcome!

Idle

Truthfully, probably the worst state to open. Very limited market up there and out of the way.

jwebsta32

^where are you from? You speak like you know the they exact number of corvettes in my area?

jman1

theres a ton of vette owners up here... there is a cruise in up in Waterville on Friday nights.. there is always a parking lot full of classics and on any given Friday 10-15 vettes...if you build it they will come

jwebsta32

Exactly!

Idle

Nothing personal. For a shop to stay open they need the work. Say you have 50 vette owners up that area and give a generous 20% of them mod there cars. That gives this shop about 1 month of work. What will he do for the other 11 months?

Everybody wants a local shop to deal with. That's the best. Just throwing business sense out there.

0Mike@NorrisMotorsports

Thanks again for all the info, very helpful. I would not just be a Vette shop. I can build and calibrate any late model GM vehicle (Camaro, G8, SS, GTO, etc.) as well as I build a lot of older vehicles and update the drivetrain and chassis with late model equipment. Not to mention calibrating after market ECU's like Holley, FAST, Accel, Motec and so on.

Mike Norris

striper

Why a move from Florida, with year round driving, to a limited market such as Maine? I'm thinking of moving in the opposite direction, tired of winter and snow.

jman1

Maine is not the back woods place it was 100 years ago guys... we have running water and everything these days...

0Mike@NorrisMotorsports

I have actually been in Indiana the last 5-6 years. Florida is nice but the humidity in the summer sucks. Great for going to the beach, nasty to have to work in. I will take a 45-55 degree shop over a 90-95 degree shop any day.

I think the market is only limited by ones ability and diversity. Plus I do sell on line parts and do on line calibration work.

It looks like we have a trip planned for Portland July 3rd thru the 10th.

Thanks!!

Mike Norris

DOUG @ ECS

Good luck Mike, we will be glad to refer SC installs to you once you are up and running.