Write me down as one who sees the NBR as rightfully one of the preeminent tracks in the world.  It is so long and varied that, to me, it is like a boiled-down version of the wold of sport driving in one place.  Its no coincidence that Germany has long since built some of the best sports cars in the world, and that the Nurburgring is the performance benchmark by which they are all measured.  It drives the process of sports car evolution toward a balanced, multifaceted picture, by providing a balanced, multifaceted metric as the primary feedback filter.

This project sounds pretty cool to me, but how will they thoroughly replicate all the elevation changes?  You would have to find a spot amazingly similar, and still move a (green) hell of a lot of dirt to make it match closely in the end.  I seriously doubt this will go forward.

One cool implication that Nevada's more predictable weather has going for it though, is that there wouldn't be as much contention about 'ring times used as a standard for vehicle comparisons.  If this is done well (if done at all!), could the Nevada facility steal some business/attention away from the NBR?  I can still see the Nurburgring being absolutely necessary for winter/cold/rain conditions too though...