T
he Newcastle 500
street circuit looks
set to be one of the
best circuits we
race on. Racing on
the main streets of Newcastle
in between buildings and then
along the foreshore will be
pretty special.
It’s got everything: undula-
tions, narrow sections, tight
corners, fast corners, long
straights and more, all the
things that test us drivers and
teams, which is what we want
in order to produce a good
spectacle. Tracks usually have
at least one hero corner. Well,
Newcastle has more than a few!
I went up there with a couple
of other drivers and we had a
look at what they proposed,
which was awesome because
we could add our opinions and
influence the track design.
Although our primary role
was to look at it from a safety
perspective, we came up with a
wishlist of improvements and
they all came off.
It’s a lot like the Adelaide cir-
cuit in the sense that it’s smack
bang in the middle of the city.
And it’s got a lot of those types
of corners with a parklands sec-
tion. But with the location along
the foreshore it will be unique to
Newcastle.
We went to Newcastle for a
fan day when the tickets went
on sale and it was packed with
a real positive vibe and a buzzaround town. There’s no doubt
the Newcastle 500 is going to be
huge and it already feels like it’ll
be one of the marquee events on
the calendar.
It’s important for us to have
a marquee event as the season
finale. The Sydney 500 was big
when it first started but it served
its time and now Newcastle
could be even bigger, while still
not being too far from Sydney.
Sydney was good and it served
its purpose but it was at the end
of its time. The track was hard
on equipment and I won’t par-
ticularly miss it. Newcastle has
more appealing traits and more
variety in its layout.We still have a presence in
Sydney at Sydney Motorsport
Park. And I’m intrigued to see
what becomes of that event
under lights. I’m a bit unsure
about the shorter format, so I
have to see how it unfolds.
My preference is for longer
races and the two 250km race
format we will do in Newcastle is
a proven winner elsewhere. It’s a
long day of racing and physically
you’re knackered. That’s what
you want; by Sunday feeling like
you’ve really earned your result.
That’ll be really tough in
Newcastle given the additional
demands of a new circuit. It’s
sure to be an entertaining and
intriguing weekend of racing.- Frosty
BEYOND THE
WHEEL
Column by
Mark WinterbottomE e In
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS