Anything Steampunk gets my approval. It's a nice concept, I can just imagine racing through a steampunk styled victorian city. :) Look forward to hearing more
I like the concept. As Shepeiro alluded to though I would go for a steampunk-ish environment as well. Maybe theres a way to get some physics interaction with the environment? Think of a racetrack inside of a giant (or part of) a ruth goldberg machine.
I love this concept. I have always been a big steampunk fan. Keep going! There is a replica of the Crystal Palace in Dallas Texas called the Data Center. If you don't have enough reference for the original, there are quite a few pictures of the Dallas version online.