The New Eastern Creek Unveiled!
August 7th, 2008
Today, Eastern Creek unveiled a masterplan for the future development of the track and Circuit Club was there to witness it all!
New Eastern Creek Images!
August 7th, 2008
The Master Plan - The track will now go clockwise in the opposite direction to what is current
The new “International” circuit layout - 4.7km in length
The 4.0km “Full” track
The 3.0km “National” track
The 2.2km “Corporate” track
The 1.7km “Club” track
The 486m “Drift Bowl”
The track will now go in the opposite direction
What the new Turn 1 will look like - an ampitheatre
The new Corporate Hill artist impression
The intended racing line
The extent of the existing track
THE NEW EASTERN CREEK?
August 7th, 2008
Today, Eastern Creek announced their master plan to develop the circuit to a world-class facility, which includes three interlinked tracks offering six different permutations.
John Cotter, the President of the ARDC, announced that the master plan would be a way to cover for the impending closure of Oran Park, as well as provide world-class facilities to hold world class events, such as Japanese Super GT, FIA GT World Championship and GP2 Asia.
Equally as important, the different combinations of circuits will offer smaller, more economically feasible track configurations to be used for club level events, such as Circuit Club Trackdays.
Pending funds, the track could be built within 2 years. When asked how likely they would be able to acheive the funding, John Cotter replied: “90%”
Following is the press release for your information:
Sydney could be in line to host Australia’s first permanent motor racing ’supercircuit’ equal to the world’s best, according to plans released today.
A $350,000 feasibility study commissioned by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) has outlined opportunities to use Eastern Creek International Raceway as the basis of the world-class development.
The plan includes three interlinked tracks offering six permutations, of which three can be used simultaneously.
The track developments also allow for year-round use of the complex for road safety training, as well as providing convention facilities, music arenas and a purpose-built ‘youth entertainment’ bowl.
The ARDC and designer, UK-based Apex Circuit Design, presented the plan this week to the NSW state government, owners of the Eastern Creek Raceway complex.
According to Apex the new facility could be built within two years using more than 70 per cent of the existing Eastern Creek circuit as its base.
The existing infrastructure would enable the supercircuit to be built for approximately one-third of the cost of a greenfields site.
Initial estimates for the cost of track development are $93 million, with graded implementation to suit budget requirements.
The ARDC, which leases Eastern Creek Raceway from the NSW state government, will commission financial modelling to determine payback timelines and sources of funding.
“Sydney needs increased motorsport facilities and permanent closed-road training capacity,” ARDC president John Cotter said.
“The impending closure of Oran Park and the fact that Eastern Creek is already fully utilised demands action,” he said.
“The Apex report does more than meet the immediate need.
“It maps a blueprint for a strategy which could contribute substantially to tourism and further global recognition of Sydney.
“The plan confirms the ARDC’s proposition that an investment in an appropriate permanent facility is far more advantageous than investment in a non-permanent street circuit.”
The Apex plan lengthens the Eastern Creek International Raceway circuit by more than 800 metres to 4.7km.
It also allows for a 3km national track, a 1.7km club circuit, a corporate track and a drift bowl to be built in a special stadium section of the complex.
Apex calls for the current direction of racing to be reversed to clockwise to create a spectacular high delta (heavy braking) corner at Turn One within the stadium section.
The proposed international track has four extra corners and more than double the potential passing areas of the circuit it would replace.
Equal attention has been given to the needs of cars and motorcycles to provide the ARDC with the best opportunity of attracting major international events.
Apex has had its plans approved in principle by the global circuit inspector for the FIA (cars) and believes the motorcycle equivalent (FIM) would also comply.
The proposed track would qualify for use by all motor racing disciplines up to Formula One.
“The circuit would be one of the most exciting and demanding in this country, and the equal of many internationally,” Apex managing director Clive Bowen said.
“It has been designed to challenge the most accomplished driver, yet also appeal to corporate users.”
Major attention has been given to providing maximum viewing opportunity for spectators, and optimum recognition of the unique Australian personality of the circuit for global television audiences.
“It’s fair to say that many tracks, whether they are non-permanent street circuits or recently developed permanent facilities, lack a national character,” Mr Bowen said.
“Eastern Creek is uniquely Australian – with eucalyptus trees and a panoramic view of the Blue Mountains.”
Apex has paid specific attention to community needs, particularly those of young people.
“The emergence of drift racing has huge youth appeal and Eastern Creek has the ability to incorporate a purpose-built track where young people can compete under supervision in safety,” Mr Bowen said.
“The concept is that Eastern Creek would become, in part, a club facility for teenagers and young adults.”
Eastern Creek was built in 1990 to bring the world championship MotoGP to NSW, and it has subsequently hosted rounds of international motor racing and motorcycle series.
The 90-hectare site has operated profitably in recent years under ARDC control.
Sunny Winter’s Day - The Best There Could Be
August 4th, 2008
Our mid-winter Trackday at Wakefield Park has come and gone, and we wanted to thank everyone who showed up and made it such a wonderful day. If the sunny and (relatively) warm day was good, then the smooth running of the day was perfect! Not once have we had so little people spin out or break down - the red flag was used only once!
Daniel Davis topped the laptimes on the day in that outstanding GT-R - closely followed by the very standard looking EVO IX of Jeremiah Thomas. Paul Johnstone closed up the top three in his 180SX.
The laptimes from the event can be seen here. P.S. Just check out the diversity of the cars! Awesome stuff.
And photos from Circuit Club Resident Photographer Matthew Mead can be found here
Our next event is at the Oran Park GP circuit on the 8th of September – we hope you can make it to that one too!
Cheers!
P.S. This is a new Circuit Club email address – if you ever need anything, send something to here, and hopefully we will be able to respond quicker next time (it will be sent to multiple recepients).
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Trackday This Saturday!
July 21st, 2008
After an unfortunate pull out from a group booking, we now have approximately 6 spots left for this weekend’s Trackday. If you want to come, please email Narada at narada@circuitclub.com.au!
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Our Man, and Official Driver Trainer, Johnny BOZ Boston at Work!
July 9th, 2008
Just another day at work for our official driver trainer John Boston.
This time, he has been given the job of driving Elias Augerinos’ Turbo S2000 at Superlap in the street car class. So that is 450HP at the rear wheels, with what is essentially street tyres (not semi slicks). So watch and learn: this is how to drive a high powered RWD car without high grip levels.
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What Else, Mizuno-San?
July 4th, 2008
In our interview with Honda Australia’s Mizuno-San, we asked him a few more questions about the Honda Civic Type-R road cars that didn’t make it into the magazine (which you can read here). So what more did he have to say?
Tim Fung: How has they Type R fared in Australia? Has it been widely accepted?
Yasuhide Mizuno: It’s going very, very well. We are selling almost 900 cars per year – and there is only one type of car, in manual and at $40,000 it’s a pretty expensive car so it’s amazing!
I’ve just received a lot of feedback through letters from our customers, who have been waiting for this type of very real Honda car. And even though their ages might be a bit higher now, they love to use the car, not only on holidays but also to drive on weekdays to the office.
TF: I use to own a DC2 Integra Type R which was very hardcore with no sound-deadening and a lot of virbrations etc however we are seeing that the new Type R is more compliant and comfortable to drive on the road. Is this the direction that new Honda Type R’s will be taking?
YM: The 3 door Type R (hatch) is very much more a mass production based road car however the 4 door Civic Type R (sedan) only sold in Japan and Malaysia is a crazy car on the road. If you drive it in the city or anywhere other than the race track, it is very uncomfortable *He makes teeth grinding noises*. So this is Honda introducing a real racing car that without any modifications can go straight on to the race track. But the 3 door is a bit more mildly tuned to fit in with road driving.
TF: So was the 3-door Type R bought to Australia because research showed that the super hardcore 4-door version was unsuitable?
YM: Well I use to drive the 3-door Civic Type R here (to the Honda office, in Tullarmarine) but it was still very peaky and the suspension is very hard. My daughter even mentioned that she felt sea sick *laughs* so I think it’s still a very racing oriented car!
TF: So what car do you drive to the office now?
YM: Legend, Legend…
TF: A lot of our readers would love the super hardcore JDM 4-door Civic Type R to be bought to Australia. Why did we not receive this model?
YM: Outside of Japan, there is only one country where this car is exported which is Malaysia. Ten times I had to go to R&D to hit the table *He hits the table* “Please! Bring this car to Malaysia!” in order to get any success. The crazy R&D guys don’t want to export this car because it is a very sensitive car to export outside of Japan. So it was a very tough job to negotiate with them however finally I convinced them to (bring it to Malaysia) because we had done so much work with the 4 door Civic in racing so we had a lot of evidence to show that the car would succeed in Malaysia.
In Australia, ADR imposes a lot of conditions to bring the car here.
Mark Higgins: Also, in Australia, we jumped from the DC2 to the Integra Type S. A lot of our customers told us that as much as they loved the DC2, they wanted softened suspension, air conditioning and a few of the creature comforts. And exactly the same thing happened with the first generation Type R in the UK. Customers said “We love the car. Don’t change the performance but we’d like to have a bit more comfort on the motorways and a few more creature comforts”. So the 3-door probably suited the Australian market a bit better than the 4-door car. The 4-door car is like driving the Dead Sea – you’ll lose your teeth!
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Oran Park! We Want More!
June 10th, 2008
The underlying message after our Saturday Trackday at Oran Park? We want more!!
For many of us, it was the first time out at Oran Park South, and we would all soon discovered the joys of undulating corners and fast changes of direction. Not to mention the non-stop action from the rest of the short 1.8km circuit!
Ian Luff Motivation was there on the day to support our efforts to experience Oran Park before it closes down. So thanks to them who helped us all learn the new circuit, or refine our driving to match the levels of our cars.
Tim Poulton topped the timesheets on the day, with a 48.443. He had laboured all morning with his mechanic as the car wouldn’t start, but it was all worth it in the end to hear that supercharged Toyota motor smash all other cars on the circuit. Nick Kalis’ EVO was next with a 48.515 albeit driven by Circuit Club resident John Boston. Rounding up the top 3 was Steven Christofedelis, who only managed 33 laps before having to retire his car. He did a 49.171.
Special mention should be given to George Vigotis, Dale Coghlan and Michael Midas, who all did over 100 laps! Crazy!
So thanks everybody for showing up. Another great Circuit Club Trackday in the bag, and even more memories to frame.
Here are the laptimes from the day.
Special thanks to Matthew Mead who took photos for us on the day here.
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