Homebush... Gone....!!!

[Umai Naa]

The likes of Adelaide and Townsville wouldn't be such a big deal, as a good portion of the infrastructure is permenant.

But yes, I had absolutely no interest in attending the Homebush track, but I'll definately be going to future V8SC rounds at EC.

As others have said, the Homebush site is far from a ghost town. The Monster skate park, for example, gets year-round use. The exhibition halls see a fair amount of use, too.

[pplater]

I've been a paying spectator at every Sydney 500 held thus far and have enjoyed every day at the track. The public transport, amenities etc are much better than what the creek has to offer, and the racing has been pretty decent too.
If Homebush goes, I'll miss it for sure.

[Umai Naa]

There's still plenty of vacant land around Eastern Creek, so there's no reason the local and state governments couldn't tip some coin into proper bus embarking and disembarking areas, taxi rank, etc. I think we may be 10-15 years off seeing some sort of rail or light rail heading in that direction. There aint that much development going out there. Which is a good and bad thing, depending on how you look at it.

As it stands, all hopes are pinned on the M4, M7 and Great Western Highway to get to the joint.

[F J Nedos]

The "new grand finale" either:

• At the Gold Coast 600 (mini enduro, other drivers in the cars)
• At an overseas round (great way to alienate the core audience for the sport)

Gee that all sounds hunky dory!

The only street circuit that has worked in my eyes is Adelaide. Townsville could be the only other exception.

I wouldn't be sad to see the demise of most street circuits, as you can pump the millions of hard earned into something else.

I think they should build an indoor arena somewhere and hold the new grand finale in that. Imagine the noise!

Or what about the Dubbo 500?

[Umai Naa]

Re-visit Canberra for a Finale?

That's right. I went there...

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally Posted by Purist

They'd have to build a new, FIA Grade 2 circuit to replace Townsville, which would easily cost $100-150 million just for the track and its facilities.

Where on Earth did you get that figure from? Did you make it up?

[yap]

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

The "new grand finale" either:[LIST][*]At the Gold Coast 600 (mini enduro, other drivers in the cars)
?

Just imagine 2 drivers neck and neck on points, going into the last race at the Gold Coast

One of the co drivers bins the car costing him a chance of the title

What a "grand finale" that would be

[F J Nedos]

Originally Posted by yap

Just imagine 2 drivers neck and neck on points, going into the last race at the Gold Coast

One of the co drivers bins the car costing him a chance of the title

What a "grand finale" that would be

Precisely.

Also, imagine if the grand finale and championship deciding race was held in Uzbekistan ...

[Shane001]

They're never going to take the 'grand finale' overseas lol. They're arrogant but they're not stupid lol! If anything it's a negotiation tactic to try to put pressure back on the govt.

[St00ge]

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

The "new grand finale" either:

• At the Gold Coast 600 (mini enduro, other drivers in the cars)
  
• At an overseas round (great way to alienate the core audience for the sport)

I think the core audience is watching on TV so not sure it matter as much as you think... but anyway as above the last round wouldn't be sent o/s

[Purist]

David, that $100-150 million figure is in line with the cost to put up tracks like Miller Motorsports Park, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Monticello Motor Club. I think Barber Motorsports Park was also in that sort of price range.

Major oval speedways are even more to build. Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile NASCAR oval) cost $224 million to build initially, and they're doing major work on it here over the summer (raising the banking and adding a roval).

For a new FIA Grade 1 circuit, you can multiply the Grade 2 figures by three to get a good idea of what that costs (so $300-450 million). BTW, Abu Dhabi cost $1.3 billion to build.

[Crash Test]

Back in 1999 Queensland Raceway cost $10millionish. Even with the wash outs, you'd say $20mil in today's money? Find me $150mil, and I'll keep a nice piece for myself

[Axeman444]

but what was the result of that $10M?

[St00ge]

Originally Posted by Crash Test

Back in 1999 Queensland Raceway cost $10millionish. Even with the wash outs, you'd say $20mil in today's money? Find me $150mil, and I'll keep a nice piece for myself

That's about as basic as you get for a track, but in todays money you wouldn't get far as they just spent 15mill on updating a couple of buildings and new pit lane at Wanneroo and when stage 2 developments happen and they extend the track it is going to cost a lot more..

[Andrew Rast]

Sad to see. They shouldn't be doing this unless they have proper racetracks to replace them.

[Umai Naa]

They've had a proper track 20 minutes up the freeway from it for the last 20-odd years.

[Andrew Rast]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

They've had a proper track 20 minutes up the freeway from it for the last 20-odd years.

What's that track?

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by Andrew Rast

What's that track?

http://www.eastern-creek-raceway.com/

[Trevor]

who cares, racing should be done on race tracks

[DAVID PATERSON]

Morgan Park Raceway is licensed to stage CAMS National Championships and has done so. It cost less than $5M.

We don't need three storey Ivory towers or gold plated taps in the washroom. If the track is good enough people will come.

[alfacors]

Whilst I love MP, the facilities are in desperate need of an upgrade to operate properly on a National level IMHO. The Shannons Nationals has switched back to QR for 2012.

[Aarrgh8]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

who cares, racing should be done on race tracks

Absolutely. Proper race tracks like Bathurst.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Purist

David, that $100-150 million figure is in line with the cost to put up tracks like Miller Motorsports Park, New Jersey Motorsports Park, and Monticello Motor Club. I think Barber Motorsports Park was also in that sort of price range.

I don't know where you get those numbers but I know they are not entirely correct.

Miller did come in at close to $100 million. I know the place inside and out. With some minor work it could technically be an F1 track. It was total overkill when they built it, best of everything. It is I believe the longest road course in the USA with multiple configurations, has a very nice pit and paddock area with tons of paved areas, grandstands, a huge high ceiling club building, a museum, admin offices and an extensive amount of garages(hundreds). There are few road courses in the world with the amount of infrastructure that place has.

Barber was done for around $20 million and has all their costs tied up in the museum for a total price tag of $60 mil.

Monticello, if they actually build everything they say, the price tag will be around $50 million. But they have struggled from the start, not attracting the membership they thought.

NJMP was built for less than $50 million.

You can build a reasonable circuit to pass FIA grade 2 spec for $20-$30 million.

I think you misunderstand the grading system. You don't need Grade 2 unless you want to run GP2 or LMP cars and if you do and you are starting from scratch, the main things they are looking for track design that is safe for open wheel cars or high speed sports cars. Examples would be excessive banking/camber in turns, raised track edges where the lip of the track meets the gravel/dirt, exposed concrete barriers, steep down hill runs, etc.

Where the costs climb is when you add the bling with high tech road surfaces, buildings, garages, landscaping, etc.

[Trevor]

Originally Posted by Aarrgh8

Absolutely. Proper race tracks like Bathurst.

You are a slow learner obviously, Bathurst is also a street / road circuit.

[david5]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

You are a slow learner obviously, Bathurst is also a street / road circuit.

It's a permanent facility though isn't it ? There is no comparison to the goat track @ Homebush.