What could Homebush do differently for 2010?

[GTRMagic]

TC's list shows a number of things the VESA Events group saw as things to do differently...

What else could be added to the list?

For me, I wouldnt say no to courtesy buses to take people from one end of the place to the other... its a long walk, and if its done for 3 days, its very easy to be leg weary and worn...

I am sure there are a number of other things that were good, that could be made to be great!

[peckstar]

as mentioned eleswhere

the weekend does not work for me or the people i normally go to the races with.

Its too close to christmas for us and we end up with too much on

We would like to go though

Shade in the grand stands is another thing i think they would need (based on Clipsal experience)

Did they have a swim suit show?

[Porka54]

I would have thought that upgrading the track surface would be high on the agenda after looking at the condition of the surface around turn 1 in particular..a large screen for the people at turn 1..shade over the stands..even the free ones...plus some sort of people mover within the circuit to save the legs..

[F J Nedos]

If you filter through all of the self slapping-on-the-back from a VESA self promoted event, and pick this track up and place it somewhere else which wasn't a VESA self promoted event, then...

Turn 8 - why is it that turn 8's are contentious? I reckon that if you cannot move half a metre off line, then this isnt a corner which should be part of a "racing" circuit. We are talking about half million dollar cars here...

They were saying that the esses/chicane/whatever near Acer area was too tight. It isnt designed to be an overtaking opportunity. Everyone who drives it is in the same boat... so the simple solution there is to slow down for that corner, or look after you car so you dont pummle the bloody suspension and/or watts linkeage.

How cool would it have been if somehow the track actually went indoors through that pavillion? Imagine the noise! Now that would be something different.

I also think that it would be seriously cool to run the saturday race at dusk. That whole precint would light up very well.

[F J Nedos]

Also, reading Mr Cochrane's list - it appears as if good ol' Kenny's mob didn't cater for enough crap!

You'd think good ol Kenny and Cochy would have "shpecific linesh of communicationsh" with their lisps!

There must been a lot more sh1t at homebush than they expected!

haw haw haw.

[Alan52]

The 2 areas that have to be fixed on track is race circuit quality resurfacing in all the corner areas where the track was breaking up across the weekend and the widening of the run from Turn 4 to Turn 5.For spectators definitely more screens(one should be visible from every stand) and additional or larger stands in the 2 areas that sold out-Turn 1 and the Turn2-3-4 chicane.For the General Admission fans that might actually want to see some racing concrete stands like those used in the GA areas at Albert Park would help .GA at any street circuit is bad and I would always suggest to people that if you can't afford or don't want to spend the price of a stand ticket ($260-$300 at Homebush) your'e better off in front of the TV.The GA at Homebush was much much worse than Adelaide or Surfers Paradise and persuading these people to come again will be the biggest task for the organisers.

[Matthew Ronke]

Is it a troubling sign that attendance and TV Ratings were down on Sunday compared to Saturday?? All other events they are normally much higher on the Sunday.

Or is Homebush a Saturday style event rather than a Sunday style??

[Axeman444]

to me purely from a TV viewing, the run onto Dawn Fraser (8?) seemed to narrow on exit to allow a move up the inside to be defended against? maybe widening the exit or entry? also the run from the final turn to turn 1 i think should be straight without the kink, so if a car gets a run it can take advantage from the outset rather than have to wait for the preceeding car to clear the 2nd kink after the starting grid to try to pass.

as for the resurfacing of turn one, unless the surface has actually deteriorated, forget it, it shows what cars are being driven properly. i'm all for the cars up the front being the driven by the best drivers

[garbo6]

Originally Posted by Matthew Ronke

Is it a troubling sign that attendance and TV Ratings were down on Sunday compared to Saturday?? All other events they are normally much higher on the Sunday.

Or is Homebush a Saturday style event rather than a Sunday style??

Attendances - Sunday didn't have Cold Chisel bumping up the crowd figure.

TV Ratings (Sat in brackets) - Cricket 649k (528k), V8 390k (401k), Golf 276k (225k).
From Sat to Sun a slight slip in V8 viewers with increases for those watching the final round of the Australian Open Golf, and Australia batting in the cricket.

Seeing cricket is Australia's #1 summer sport losing some viewers to it wouldn't surprise me.

[stmookeyj033]

It would be more of a worry that the Golf figures are so close than the Cricket figures being so high.

As for the event, if you can widen the track in some areas do it, looks too narrow. Also put more emphasis on racing, no need for all that pre-race crap on Sunday (intros, Angels, dancing etc).

[Reload]

IMO, i believe that it would be better if it is not the final round as there are going to be many occasions where the championship is either over or as good as over like this year.

Having said that, imagine trying to repair all that damage in time for the following round.

[tippo]

What can they do better for next year...? Give it to Eastern Creek ( a real purpose built race circuit.. remember these people?? ) to hold the V8's and Homebush can have they're pathetic channel 7 cycling event.. Seriously...if they need to put the V8 circus on street circuits to create some bash and crash to get the "General public" interested in Sydney, then surely there is a fundemental problem with the class or the place...

Sorry to be so negative but to see places like Oran Park dissapearing, and a joke of a circuit be used in place and be called a great success... makes me sick..

OMO BTW...

[MarkInTheStands]

The problem with trying to widen turn 8 is that, well it is an actual street and that is as wide as Dawn Fraser Avenue is. You might be able to widen it about 3 feet in total but I think it will be a safety issue with the concrete blocks up on the paved service and not sitting in the gutters like it currently is.

But the sweeper could be widened as could the entire section between Turn 1 and the 2-3-4 complex, as that is the only part where the Trees or indeed the Centre Light Poles could be removed. They were using 1 side of the street at along that area, there is another 2 lanes wide plus a big median strip that they could use around there.

I would love for them to cover all the grand stands, that would be awesome as I am still sporting the sunburn even after the Friday.

For those GA Punters, I don't know some more area's along Dawn Fraser avenue might be helpful, or as someone said a raised Platform or the like along there (Someone in the Telegraph suggested semi trailers be used.

[Matt]

Night race.

[Trevor]

TC's list shows a number of things the VESA Events group saw as things to do differently...

What else could be added to the list?

Move the event to Eastern Creek where it belongs

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

Move the event to Eastern Creek where it belongs

Blah, give it up, Eastern Creek is the least fan-friendly track around and Sydney racing fans have voted with their feet already.

[browney]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

Move the event to Eastern Creek where it belongs

I've never been to EC and haven't been to Sydney is ages but would having the event at Eastern Creek generate the same amount of interest?

I can just imagine how well Adelaide's V8 round would go if they decided to move it to Mallala....

[Chatters]

I agree with GTRs comments about the walk... It's a big area on the inside and there's plenty to look at so it would have been nice to have an easier way of getting around but from where I was (Stand 3), there isn't really a better way of getting from the outside of the track to the inside, apart from what was already there.

Shaded grandstands - Definately needs to happen and an interview with TC at the track confirmed that all the stands on the main straight will be shaded next year.

Big screens were also an issue - there was one seemingly pointless one that hardly anyone would have had a good view of on the outside of the final corner. There was supposed to be a big screen on the inside of the main straight above the podium but that wasn't there.

In that article on Page 1 of the thread TC mentioned the toilets- The only problems I had with them was someone threw up in one of them on Friday, which pretty much rendered it uninhabitable!

A little track reconfiguration might be needed too- There were a couple of parts of the track which were just a tad too narrow but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to make them wider. A resurfacing of the track might also be needed, a lot of drivers seemed to think it was breaking up fairly badly towards the end of Sunday.

Apart from that, there were a WHOLE lot of positives about the event, which I will post in a separate thread!

[Axeman444]

perhaps even push the apex of T3 further north to widen the 2/3/4 bit (why is that termed as 3 actual corners?)

[Juarez Jed]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

Move the event to Eastern Creek where it belongs

Eastern Creek alraedy has the 2 best events of the year in Sydney for motorsport fans, the Muscle Car Masters and the Tasman Revival. Share the love around Big Trev.

[Juarez Jed]

What were the levels of public intoxication and its resultant effect on the dunnies like at this event ? It used to **** me off big time when I used to go to Surfers, the mess that some people would make of not only themselves but the portaloos. And this was all before noon.
I remember the poor kid from the Red Rooster on the main straight heading off to the toilet with his bucket and mop to find that a fire hose would have been more appropriate to clean out all the spew.
Hopefully Homebush attracted more families and less young ****heads !!

[mac]

Well... where to start...

I've got a whole bunch of things, which does not mean I think it was a bad event - it wasn't... I think a lot of these things should be done at every round. Every round should be a special event.

THE TRACK
It is certainly not the "amazing" circuit that everyone has been jumping up and down about. Compared to some of the fantastic street circuits in North America, such as Long Beach, St Petersburg, Toronto, Montreal, it could not dream of coming close. It's the "least good" out of all the street circuits in V8Supercars - give me Hamilton, Townsville or Adelaide any day of the week. However, the brief was to design a street circuit around Sydney Olympic Park - and in those circumstances you have to work with what you've got. I must say, the designers got it about as right as they could have - though there are a few small changes I would like to see made:

- Widen the first chicane (Turns 2,3 & 4). It has clearly been made so tight to try and make it a passing zone, but given the amount of passing that actually happened there, and the amount of room available, it would be better to widen it up and get the cars bouncing over the kerbs through there a bit faster.

- Turn 8 needs a minor re-arrangement. There is room on the inside of the corner there to bring the apex in further, creating a wider turn, allowing for different lines, and creating a wider racing line.

- It would be nice to widen Turn 5 and the approach to 6 and 7, but I don't know that this is possible.

PRE-RACE
Regardless of whether they are a casual fan or a racing nut, I guarantee that 98.7% of people in that main grandstand or watching on television could not care less about tap dancing, cycling or which new hot popstar is going to murder the national anthem. They want a show, they want to see racing, and they want it done professionally. I guarantee that 100% of fans at other parts of the track were bored out of their brain.

- No one does an anthem like the Americans. It should be done on the grid, everyone should come to a standstill, have some soldiers in there standing at attention, have someone singing it with respect and finish it off with some RAAF jets flying over as it finishes. When I see them do this in the States, it almost makes me wish I was American.

- Tap dancing, music acts, and broadway shows do not work at racing events - frankly, it is embarassing. Sound quality is terrible and the acts are always too far away. If you must have a big act there, get them on the grid and do an interview over the big screen, then play their music between races.

- And get rid of the cycling race for next year - it's got nothing to do with why anyone goes to a motor race.

- Driver introductions are important for familiarisation. Though they should be quick and to the point - no one cares how many times Russell Ingall has qualified on pole! "For Supercheap Auto Racing, Car 39, RUSSELL INGAAALLLLL!" Crowd goes wild, Rusty does a little jig, flips the bird to Jason Bright as he walks past him. The drivers are the stars - not Mark Beretta. If Lee Holdsworth wants to show his jocks, he should be allowed to - it's called personality.

POST RACE
Drivers should be encouraged to entertain. If they want to do donuts, let them - if they don't want to, make them. If they want to drive sideways the wrong way up the main straight after all the cars have entered the pit lane, let them. If they want to stop at the far end of the circuit and jump up on their car in front of the fans, let them. If they want to do a backflip off their car, let them. If they want to climb a fence, grab a flag from a fan, get out and high-five the crowd, let them.

Also, can we please stop with Mark Beretta's inane interviews on the podium!?!? "James, you must be over the moon to win here at the first Telstra 500..." "Actually Mark, I'm not - I'm pretty depressed about it to be honest..." Introduce the drivers in order, present them with trophies, then spray champagne, some photos, confetti and fireworks and away we go. If the crowd needs to hear from the drivers, interview them before or after the podium on Seven and play them over the PA.

RACING
I find the Mini Challenge intrinsically boring, but if they're paying money, then I guess they need to be there. The backbone of the support card should be Fujitsus, GTs, Formula Ford, with contributions from V8 Utes, Mini Challenge, Aussie Racing Cars and Historic Touring Cars. There should also be a couple of standalone Fujitsu events (also including these support categories). These categories are the best spectacles.

BROADCAST
Can someone please explain to the commentary team that the stars are the drivers and the cars - not White, Beretta, Skaife and Larkham?

- We need more thorough coverage of the entire field - every competitor (and every sponsor) is important. If Mark McNally gets a penalty, we want to know why - if Dean Fiore stops running, we want to know why. If Jason Bright comes from a lap down to get into the Top 10 at Bathurst, we want to know how.

- Can we please stop with these in-car interviews after the race? The last thing a driver cares about is talking to anyone other than his team (and it shows in the quality of the chat). I know timing is an issue, but can't we talk to the drivers when they get out of their cars and broadcast it over the PA? Also, we should talk to more drivers - NASCAR virtually interviews the top 10 after a race.

- I would love to see qualifying live - show it in the morning, then go to a different show, then go back for the race. And it would be nice if we could show a variety of support races - rather than just the ones that pay Tony the most money.

[RotorFan]

I think leave the track alone, including the poor surface. It made it exciting.

Actually, I think if they were to change one thing, it would be to widen the exit on the final turn, which looked very awkward. Also the finish line is way too close to the corner exit. Does anyone know why it was put there?

[Denosaur]

Originally Posted by Matt

Night race.

Oh yeah, now that will work nicely. But sadly those endangered frogs will stop that from happening, the same way they did to the ALMS back in 2000.

I'd like to see lower kerbs than those Everest things they put in. As entertianing that they can be, I'd rather see the lower one's so that the car's could get through a little more settled and hopefully carry a bit more speed. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this.

And get rid of tyre's to stop kerb hoping and install those spring back bollards. Driver takes one out, has to donate $1000 to choosen event charity.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Denosaur

Oh yeah, now that will work nicely. But sadly those endangered frogs will stop that from happening, the same way they did to the ALMS back in 2000.

I'd like to see lower kerbs than those Everest things they put in. As entertianing that they can be, I'd rather see the lower one's so that the car's could get through a little more settled and hopefully carry a bit more speed. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about this.

And get rid of tyre's to stop kerb hoping and install those spring back bollards. Driver takes one out, has to donate $1000 to choosen event charity.

What endangered Frogs, if you don't mind me askin?