2001 Sandown 500

[racer69]

Any news on who is going to be competing in the race, and any driver line ups. How about whether the race will be shown live or not.

[Buckshot]

Actually I was also wondering is this race just for the Nations Cup cars or will all the Pro-car categories be in it ?

Are there enough Nations Cup cars to make a full grid for such an Enduro ?

[gomick]

nations cup cars plus the gtp class a + b cars i do believe will make up the sandown 500

[Buckshot]

That sounds like a pretty good mix.

[Ray Bell]

Jon sure is a tryer... hope it works out for him. He and Sandown both deserve some success after what AVESCO and CAMS have done to them over recent years.

[Buckshot]

Have AVESCO and Pro-car had some sort of fued ?

[DNQ]

It's a shame we lost the race in the first place -the QLD 500 is rubbish, and Queensland Raceway is a pathetic track.

[Ray Bell]

Nobody lost any race... they lost the participation of the AVESCO crowd. So the race couldn't happen and AVESCO were racing at Willowbank.

I know it's a small point, but it's the difference between knowing what happened and being a newspaper reader.

[Crash Test]

More specifically Queensland had some Governement money which helped with the AVESCO fee...

The Sandown 500 did seem to struggle with naming rights sponsorship, the Tickford sponsorship really wasn't that convincing (then again...at the rate we are going, the race at Bathurst in October will probably be called the Tickford-HSV 500). The worst thing about the Tickford 500 was that HSV bought all of the ad space on the TV...

[Buckshot]

Sandown have 2 pretty big events for the latter half of this year...how long does it take to drive from Sydney to Sandown ?

[Ray Bell]

Depends on where in Sydney and how keen you are to still have a licence after the drive...

We used to do it in about eight and a half hours in a reasonable car in the seventies, but the road has been improved out of sight since then... so expect maybe nine hours with stops... it's 800km with 110kmh limit for the majority of the trip, little in the way of holdups (Coolac, Holbrook, Tarcutta and Albury is about all once you clear Liverpool) but you can't drive so fast now the roads are improved.

Remember too that once you cross the border the cops have orders to take you to gaol if you are 30kmh over the limit. Automatic drive no more!

If you haven't been there, you'll find it fantastic. If you have a little time to spare, turn off at Benalla and go via Merton and Alexandra down to Healesville and come back to Sandown via Dandenong... takes a little longer but the views are great.

[elephino]

I was about to say, 9 hours to get to sandown? Impossible. And actually I still say it as Sandown is the wrong side of Melbourne to make it in 9 hours, including stops, assuming you stick to the speed limit. The initial thought was stuffed up by the fact I'm on the north side of Sydney.

[Ray Bell]

On the old road, Warwick Brown and Pat Burke pulled up at Seymour, about 50 miles from Melbourne, with a smoking Porsche 911S. They were 5h 30m out of Sydney...

Stops can be three or four ten minute stops or you can have restaurant meals every 200kms... for me, the quick ones are the go. I like to break the back of a trip with long stints.

Actually, believe it or not, I once hitch hiked from Greystanes to Essenden (no point in going anywhere else, it was so early in the morning) in 9h 20m.... including stops... about twelve stops between lifts. But they weren't long ones!

[elephino]

See, 9h 20m, not 9 hours

I'm not saying it will take a lot longer, but not 9 hours. 10 can be done easily and is pretty normal when I go down to Melbourne by car.

[Ray Bell]

9h 20m hitch hiking... hitch hiking, that is twelve or so different lifts... stopping and getting out and putting the hand out for another lift... it was an exception, to be sure, but a good time.

Best I drove, from memory, was a Volvo 244DL from Parramatta to Sandown in 7h 55 including stops. My companion/co-driver was Greg Falconer, the photographer, we left Parramatta at about midnight on a Friday after a school reunion. But again, while the road was slower, the limits were more easily broken... must even out somewhere...

Do the figures... Liverpool to Broadmeadow is about 740km, deduct about 20km for the towns and slow bits on the way, so 720km divided by 110 for the speed limit, that's 6h 55, and then there's about 80kms to do at perhaps 60kmh average, we're up to 8h 15 or so... a few quick stops and you have nine hours.

Of course, in reality, you would sit on 115kmh on the freeway stretches, never get touched at that, and save another 20 minutes or so.

[elephino]

Yeah alright, but I said to Sandown and that is more than 3/4 of an hour away. Plus I've got another 15 minutes or slightly under to get to Parramatta. Also helped that you left at midnight as there would have been no traffic as even leaving at 6am you get traffic through Liverpool these days.

Either way, very quick hitch-hiking trip.

[Ray Bell]

Okay... I see where you're at... now when you get to Melbourne, there's a path across from about Reservoir, I think it is... no, Coburg, you go left and go through Preston, Heidelberg, Manningham Rd to Doncaster Shoppingtown, left again and that takes you to Springvale Road, which points you south to virtually the Dandenong Road Corner end of Sandown Park... not hard, nor a long drive, miss the city... no three quarters of an hour at all... you'll find that easy.

[elephino]

Thanks Ray, I'll try to use that when I go to Sandown later in the year, though I'll be coming from the airport.

[mickj]

sandown is 30min from essendon airport on the toll road.turn onto ring road at fawkner it bypasses melb city.toll ticket avail at essendon.signs posted..sandown is a good track.mickj

[Ray Bell]

Wouldn't have thought anyone would come in via Essendon any more Mick?

Tullamarine is on the same freeway though, isn't it? A bit further out...

[mickj]

its quicker ray.not many traffic lights