Sleeping Giant awakes- Thunderdome to return

PVDA · 23 May 2004, 09:56 (Ref:979518)

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/pri...633418,00.html

Great news for those of us who worked at the Thunderdome in the late 80's & early 90's.

vortexo · 23 May 2004, 10:30 (Ref:979562)

PVDA - how many Auscars are out there ready or getting ready to race?

Matt H · 23 May 2004, 10:35 (Ref:979565)

I remember reading in the herald perhaps the last time v8s were at calder, that mr jane was building corporate stands, food stalls, and a new pit lane, but it hasnt eventuated, whats the likely hood of this new revamp of the thuunderdome actually going a head ???

no offense to bob jane, would love to see it happen, but dont hold much hope

Sol · 23 May 2004, 10:48 (Ref:979586)

I'd love to see racing return to the Thunderdome.

Great venue and at its peak produced some great racing.

The Jones Brothers honed their driving and management skills at the Dome in winning 5 (?) Auscar titles and a Nascar title (at their first attempt).

Robert Ryan · 23 May 2004, 11:58 (Ref:979649)

Hmmmm...I believe it when I see it. Bob Jane has made many rash promises in the past. Good question where are the cars? I think he is dreaming all of this , personally

jetsetter · 23 May 2004, 12:20 (Ref:979672)

While it would be great to see it eventuate i'm a little skeptical about the whole thing & can't see it getting off the ground.

hgmonaro · 24 May 2004, 02:20 (Ref:980665)

Maybe the ticket office is going to open to take advanced deposits for house blocks...

Crash Test · 24 May 2004, 02:45 (Ref:980681)

But there would have to be a truck load of cars out there. What happened to all of the Nascars, Auscars, Sportsmen, HQs etc? Heck, we could get the FVees, Aussie/Future races, trucks, BRutes (i'd pay good money to see that!!), and why the heck not bring back rally cross? If someone revived rallycross properly it would be absolutely huge!

single keel · 24 May 2004, 07:49 (Ref:980857)

I think everyone is a bit skeptical about such claims given the past.. I was under the impression (from a few different sources) that Bob was flat broke a few years ago, but that could be wrong. When you have a nation wide tyre business, I geuss a bit of road resurfacing can't be that big an expense.

What about back in the late 80's with the world Touring cars on the Dome and flat track at the same time, perhaps that could be revived?

Crash Test · 24 May 2004, 08:05 (Ref:980873)

Nah, that track is a bit of a drama safety wise...

single keel · 24 May 2004, 08:13 (Ref:980879)

Quote:

Originally posted by Crash Test
Nah, that track is a bit of a drama safety wise...

Make those Supercar drivers earn their keep...

Kerri · 24 May 2004, 08:18 (Ref:980884)

If BJ needs money, why doesn't he sell AIR?
I know competitors in Adelaide would love to go back to racing the full circit, at least then we would have 2 tracks. It would need a fair bit of work done to it before anyone could race, but it just seems such a waste.
Nothing wrong with Mallala mind you but it does get a bit monotonous.

blaarg · 24 May 2004, 09:43 (Ref:980960)

I'd say the timing is just about right for a thunderdome revival too!

Two thumbs up for Bob!

racer69 · 24 May 2004, 10:10 (Ref:980981)

Agree with that. Sure everyone will be abit sceptical, but lets get behind it and try and make it all happen again.

I wonder abit about the focus on Auscar. There will be a few still around, but weren't alot converted in Future Tourers? Auscar's did provide great racing, but it wouldn't be complete without some NASCARs on track.

All this probably won't happen unless they can get some TV though.

Mattracer · 24 May 2004, 10:24 (Ref:981002)

TV is the make or break these days.

PVDA · 24 May 2004, 11:21 (Ref:981085)

My ear to the ground told me at the weekend that the quotes are in they are in the process of working out which cheque book to pay for it with. Another thing to remember is that everyone except Bob Jane said you couldn't build a Superspeedway in Australia and it happened so Bob being a man with a renewed vision for Calder is almost unstopable.

An extra tid bit about the National circuit that hasn't been mentioned in the media yet is that the drag strip is staying where it is but the road course will revert to the original Gloweave corner (now that was a great spectator spot) and run closer to the crowd down what is now pit entry (or the drag racing staging lanes) and will rejoin the existing main straight just as it reaches the grandstand. Unconfirmed but I'm hearing the pit lane will move back to the infield with the possibility of a control tower there as well, now that would be going back 20 years.

Another thing I noticed, Calder Park Drive (the access road to the Thunderdome car park) has now been sealed all the way from the Calder Freeway to the Melton Highway (Keilor-Melton Rd for you oldies out there) and with Kings Road now extending all the way from the Melton Highway to the Princess Freeway (& Westgate) if you take a few shortcuts it should be easier to get out of the place.

Enough of the western suburbs update for now.

DAVID PATERSON · 25 May 2004, 02:36 (Ref:982106)

I'm not a big fan of Superspeedway myself, but it would be great to see NASCAR back at the 'dome. Hey, it's already there, why not use it?

Why is AIR not operational? Don't tell me another perfectly good race track is just sitting there?

Kerri · 25 May 2004, 02:51 (Ref:982115)

They only use AIR for Drag Racing & driver training.
Yes a shame really.
Who knows the real reason, there are so many rumours flying around.

racer69 · 25 May 2004, 11:54 (Ref:982441)

Adelaide International Raceway was/is a great circuit. The braking duels into turn 1 produced some fantastic action (eg...Grice, Fury and Moffat in '83)

News of the dome's resurgence has even reached Autosport http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=27410&s=54

mountainstar · 26 May 2004, 05:32 (Ref:983392)

Calder Park was looking pretty ragged last year so if it can be brought back to life I'd be happy to see it.

naughtymutt · 26 May 2004, 10:52 (Ref:983670)

What was the "insurance issue" that closed the 'dome?

PVDA · 27 May 2004, 12:49 (Ref:985065)

Quote:

Originally posted by naughtymutt
What was the "insurance issue" that closed the 'dome?

I'm lead to believe there was a serious drag racing accident several years ago at an ANDRA sanctioned event at Calder and the insurance for ANDRA in those days was through some arrangement with CAMS and the underwriter went belly up exposing Calder (& Bob Jane) to a multi million dollar claim. This was well before the FAI collapse.

Chronicle · 27 May 2004, 22:13 (Ref:985526)

Go to the link below naughtymutt, you will get 55 pages of interesting stuff (and of course the mandatory dribble as well), but well worth the read if you have the time.

http://www.procar.com.au/forum/topic...ficials+Corner

Heidi · 28 May 2004, 02:59 (Ref:985678)

Whoa, 55 pages worth!

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