MOTORSPORT: Permanent circuits back in vogue

How the wheel has turned...
A decade ago the push was predominantly for races on street circuits.

Now the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and V8 Supercars have publicly committed to seeing the development of more permanent race tracks, especially in regional areas.

Giant audit and consulting firm Ernst & Young told CAMS in a report that there was a severe shortage of tracks in Australia, which it said was inhibiting the growth of motorsport.

CAMS and V8 Supercars said in a joint statement this week that they have "committed to developing a nationwide track strategy to ensure that Australian motor sport continues to grow".

They said they had "further strengthened and aligned their collaborative relationship to ensure the retention of existing Australian motor sport venues and the development of further tracks".

CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca said track development and upgrades were "an absolute priority for CAMS and Australian motor sport".

"Without new tracks and continual improvements in the quality, safety and amenities of existing tracks, the growth in our sport will be restricted," Arocca said.

"In the last two years the number of licensed competitors and permitted events has grown significantly. However, that growth will be impacted in future years by a lack of quality venues.

"Motor sport contributes $2.7 billion annually to the Australian economy ... there is little doubt this already significant figure would be higher if more venues existed.

"It can only result in one thing, and that is greater participation – which will further drive economic activity, particularly in the regional areas.

"It is a compelling case for continued and expanded government funding."

V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton has only been with that organisation a couple of years but claimed the category – the highest form of national motorsport – had been a leader in track development and redevelopment for two decades.

Warburton welcomed CAMS prioritising venues – both the number and the standard of them.

"V8 Supercars is proud to have been a key lobbyist and direct conduit for permanent circuits in this country to become first-class venues for all users," Warburton said.

"Together with the venue operators we have piloted major upgrades such as the new pit complex, paddock and track upgrades at Mt Panorama [at Bathurst], the new pit building, track upgrades and resurfacing of Barbagallo Raceway in Perth, safety upgrades at Symmons Plains [in Tasmania] and the new facilities, track redesign and safety upgrades at Pukekohe Park in New Zealand – as well as safety upgrades at most major venues in the country.

"We have also assisted with circuits such as Hidden Valley in Darwin, where the Northern Territory government has invested substantially in continual facility upgrades.

"This assists all levels of motor sport and ensures these venues comply with safety standards.

"With CAMS and V8 Supercars fully invested in this process, our hope is that current facilities can attain the much-needed funding and resources to improve their venues and that new facilities are provided for the whole motor sport community."

All of that may be true, but it overlooks that the very clear priority of the previous V8 Supercar management regime headed by Tony Cochrane was for street circuits, while CAMS was reactive rather than proactive on the matter of developing tracks.

Cochrane for years championed the concept of a street event at Sydney's Olympic precinct at Homebush, with extravagant predictions of what it would become – claims that have gone largely unfulfilled.

He also fought loudly for a street race in Perth, threatening that Western Australia would lose its round of the V8 Supercar Championship without one.

The WA government stood firm and instead there was the more cost-efficient and practical upgrade of Barbagallo Raceway at Wanneroo.

The most ignominious failure in Australia of an event created on a temporary circuit was in Canberra, where a V8 Supercar Championship round was scrapped after just two years of a five-year contract.

Across the Tasman Sea there was huge lobbying for a street race in Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, but when that didn't win approval the NZ round went to the streets of regional city Hamilton  – and was an unmitigated financial disaster.

Ultimately common sense prevailed with the upgrade of Pukekohe and the return of the Kiwi event to that cramped but popular venue.

The shining light among Australian street circuits has been Adelaide, where the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar event was created several years after the City of Churches lost the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Although the financial costs in Adelaide may not be entirely transparent, the atmosphere and way the city embraces the event are undeniable.

Melbourne's Albert Park, which has hosted F1 and non-championship V8 Supercar races for two decades, has produced annual losses of around $60 million for several years now, with a TV audience only a fraction of what it was long thought to be.

Townsville, which is hosting this weekend's V8 Supercar Championship round, is something of a "hybrid" circuit, using some roads that already existed with other stretches added in Reid Park.

It at least has proven how well motorsport events can work in regional centres, which so often are deprived of major sport.

The new priority on permanent tracks has not only come out of necessity but because governments are increasingly scrutinising the value they get for the money they inject in street races – both initially and recurring.

Queensland governments now keep a much closer eye on the Gold Coast 600's accounts since it transformed to a domestic rather than international event as it was for two decades with the American open-wheeler IndyCars.

Again, the bold claims that were made for the Gold Coast event in that transformation to a predominantly V8 Supercar event have been largely unfulfilled.

While this week's joint statement talked up the merits of permanent circuits, it curiously made no mention of projects already some way down the pipeline.

Adelaide's wealthy Shahin family has the South Australian government's green light to redevelop the former Mitsubishi proving ground at Tailem Bend, almost 100km east of the state capital.

A V8 Supercar Championship round already is slotted there for 2017.

At Toowoomba in Queensland the Wagner family want to build a V8 Supercar-standard track next to the airport they have constructed there, but there are delays.

There are plans for a multi-purpose motorsport venue on NSW's Central Coast, handy to Sydney – which has lost the wonderful Oran Park and Amaroo in comparatively recent times, and Warwick Farm and others longer ago.

However, those behind the Central Coast project are not pursuing a V8 Supercar round.

Mildura in Victoria is another regional centre where there has been interest in developing a new permanent circuit, while talk for years of creating a V8 Supercar event on the streets of Geelong have come to nothing.

The benchmark among permanent Australian circuits is Victoria's Phillip Island, where the Fox family has progressively and brilliantly upgraded a traditional venue to the highest standards – even though its location mitigates against big attendances nowadays.

CAMS vowed in this week's announcement that it would not focus purely on development and maintenance of major tracks but "will include grassroots and local venues, particularly in regional areas".

It said it would do "a state-by-state assessment of the existing and proposed tracks in order to identify and prioritise lobbying efforts at federal, state and local level".

"In its role as the national sporting organisation [recognised by the Australian Sports Commission] for four-wheeled motor sport, CAMS will ensure that all governments are aware that the development or improvement of tracks within their domain should be reviewed against the CAMS track strategy for that state or region," it said.

"CAMS does not shy away from this role.

"It is the custodian of motorsport in Australia and has been so for more than 60 years.

"We aim to continually develop motor sport and, with our supporters, will continue to do so.

"The Australian motor sport family deserves and expects to participate in and enjoy a sport with a safe and bright future."

Great Scott, an Aussie in the U.S. of A
While a batch of young hopefuls participate in the start of Formula 4 in Australia this weekend at Townsville, another Aussie is excelling in junior open-wheeler racing in America.

He's Scott Andrews, from Geelong, who has won a record seven races in the F1600 Formula F Championship this year.

Andrews is driving an Australian-made Spectrum and in one race went from last – after arriving late on the grid – to victory.

He has had a couple of other podiums and leads the series commandingly.

Andrews is 24 and combined sedan and single-seater racing the previous couple of years.

While age may count against him in rising up the open-wheeler ranks, Andrews displays not only talent but versatility – and his most ardent supporter is Phil Brock, a brother of the late Peter Brock.

James Davison, another Victorian in the US who has competed twice in the Indianapolis 500 and won two races this year in the Pirelli World Challenge driving a Nissan GT-R, has lost his other drive, an Aston Martin V12 Vantage in the United Sportscar Championship,to French-Canadian Kuno Wittmer.

"James Davison has filled a great role with our TRG-AMR team since first coming on board in 2013, but with his increased schedule [in the Pirelli World Challenge] and focus on other opportunities and roles, the very tight competition in GTD [Daytona-class GT cars], and our increased sponsor commitments, we needed to make sure that all our focus was on achieving our team, driver, sponsor and manufacturer goals for the balance of the season and beyond," said Kevin Buckler, the owner of the Vantage.

Since our preview of F4's debut earlier this week, the field has grown to 13 with addition of WA driver Nick Rowe in a sixth entry from NSW squad AGI Sport.