MOTORSPORT: V8 Supercars at – and up? – the Creek

The start of the V8 Supercar Championship is close and tomorrow there's a test day at Sydney's Eastern Creek - with some evidence the track still ought to be a championship venue

Sydney's permanent circuit still has case for championship round

The V8 Supercars kick off the new year this weekend with a test day and season launch at Sydney's Eastern Creek, a track that is no longer on the championship calendar.

All 28 drivers in this year's series and the cars in their new liveries will be on track at the Creek tomorrow (Saturday).

The 18 Holden Commodores and 10 Ford Falcons must run on the Dunlop control tyre in the day's first session from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

In the second session, from 2pm to 5pm, any teams that have Dunlop sprint tyres left over from last year can run on them.

The combination of the softer rubber and recent resurfacing of about 20 per cent of the Eastern Creek track – at turns two, nine and 11 and 12 on to the main straight – could produce the quickest V8 Supercar lap at the Creek.

Mark Skaife, reigning Bathurst king with Craig Lowndes but no longer a full-time competitor in the championship, holds the V8 Supercar race lap record at 1 minute 31.7301 seconds in a Holden Racing Team VT Commodore on control Bridgestone tyres from the opening round of the 1999 championship.

Skaife also set the qualifying record on the same March weekend at 1minute 30.6556 seconds, which stands as the fastest lap by a V8 Supercar at the Creek.

The last time V8 Supercars raced at the circuit, in March 2008, Garth Tander took pole position in a Toll HRT VE Commodore with a lap of 1 minute 32.1080 seconds.

Tomorrow's test and return to the Creek, with free entry for fans and the opportunity to view the cars from the grid between the two track sessions - come two weeks before the start of the new championship season in Abu Dhabi.

It will be the first public appearance of reigning champion James Courtney in the new-look HRT Commodore VEII after taking last year's title in a Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing Falcon.

Courtney's replacement in that team, James Moffat, 26-year-old son of Ford icon Allan, comes into the series full-time this year in that No. 18 Falcon.

Will Davison, who raced the No. 18 before Courtney, returns to the Ford fold in a Trading Post-backed Ford Performance Racing Falcon in which he will be seen for the first time tomorrow after his two years at HRT.

The Team Vodafone Commodores of 2008-09 champion Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes have a new look that fans will get to see for the first time, with Whincup starting the season favourite to regain the title.

Greg Murphy, the four-time Bathurst 1000 winner who looked in danger of missing out on a full-time drive this year until joining the Kelly Brothers team, will appear in the colours of new sponsor Pepsi.

Steve Owen, the reigning Fujitsu series champion, becomes a full-time "main game" driver in a Paul Morris Motorsports/VIP Petfoods Commodore alongside 2005 V8 Supercar champion Russell Ingall in the Supercheap Auto Commodore.

New Zealander Fabian Coulthard, who had that spectacular crash at Bathurst last year, will be in a new-look black Bundaberg Commodore, while David Reynolds is back in the championship in the Stratco Racing Commodore.

Tomorrow's test also will see the debut of the new-look Lucky 7 Falcon from Stone Brothers Racing for Tim Slade, while Jonathan Webb, surprise winner of the penultimate race last season, appears with his own Mother Earth Energy Racing Falcon and veteran Jason Bargwanna now confirmed with Brad Jones Racing.

The new season will start against a backdrop of slow progress on the Car of the Future and the possible sale of part of V8 Supercars Australia – perhaps the 25 per cent portion owned by Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

But it comes after a 2010 season that produced some of the most exciting racing in the history of V8 Supercars, especially at the Gold Coast, at Sydney's Homebush - with the help of wet weather - and Adelaide.

Eastern Creek Raceway chief executive Glenn Matthews has said that the return of the V8s to Eastern Creek, even if only for a test day, is "a fantastic opportunity for race fans".

"Having the first public session of V8 Supercars for 2011 is a great opportunity for race fans to meet teams and see the cars in a relaxed atmosphere." Matthews said.

"We are certain that Sydney fans will not pass up the opportunity."

However, neither the circuit nor series organisers are making any bold predictions about the attendance, although V8SA chief executive Martin Whitaker reckons that the pre-season test day could draw 40,000 fans in future.

While the V8s, which raced at Eastern Creek each year – other than 2006 - up until 2008, are back there tomorrow for the test day, Whitaker has said it is no forerunner to championship racing returning to the western Sydney track.

The speedcafe.com.au website reported recently that "with the Sydney Telstra 500 around Homebush's Olympic Park precinct already satisfying the Sydney market, Whitaker believes that adding more overseas events to the newly re-branded International V8 Supercars Championship is the priority".

"If anything with Eastern Creek, we will try to grow the test event and see what we can develop that into," Whitaker said.

"We're not racing there, but I think the important thing is that we are running there.

"A test is never going to become a race, but nevertheless we'll take a review after this year's test and, if it works for us, maybe it's something we can build on in the future in terms of making it bigger and bolder."

Now the calendar is set for this year and the Eastern Creek test day is what it is, but something is being overlooked – especially as V8SA looks to expand the championship with more overseas rounds.

While many fans dislike the idea of the V8s racing outside Australia more, we have said here previously that the fees that can be commanded from some overseas venues make racing offshore compelling for the series organisers – although perhaps they should be looking at an overseas mini-series separate from the national championship.

But what is being overlooked in seeing Eastern Creek as nothing more than a test venue is that when the V8 Supercars raced there in the past they attracted bigger TV audiences around the country than not only overseas rounds but also better than for the costly new Sydney 500 at Homebush.

The second Sydney 500 last December, at which the championship was decided, drew an average audience in the five major capital cities of 360,000 on the Saturday afternoon and 421,000 on the Sunday.

The last Eastern Creek V8 Supercar round in March 2008 drew 383,000 on the Saturday and 492,000 on the Sunday.

So the Creek in '08 had a TV audience in the five major capitals almost 17 per cent better than Homebush on the Sunday last year and almost 6.5 per cent better on the Saturday.

For the first Sydney 500 in 2009 the Saturday figure – for the very first day of racing on the Homebush streets - was 401,000, so better than the Creek the year before, but the first Sunday race at Homebush in '09 drew an average of only 390,000 viewers in the five capitals, almost 100,000 less than the Sunday telecast from the Creek the year before.

Not only do the Creek TV figures from '08 shade the subsequent Sydney 500s but they are way ahead of the numbers in the five capitals for any of the overseas rounds in the past two years at Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Hamilton, New Zealand.

Certainly Homebush has had bigger attendances at the track, aided by its location and music concerts at night, and the overseas race fees help V8SA's financial coffers, but with TV surely the ultimate measuring stick it's odd that Eastern Creek isn't considered worthy of a place in the championship.

2011 V8 Supercar line-up

James Courtney (Holden Commodore) Toll Holden Racing Team
Garth Tander (Holden Commodore) Toll Holden Racing Team
Jamie Whincup (Holden Commodore) Team Vodafone
Craig Lowndes (Holden Commodore) Team Vodafone
Mark Winterbottom (Ford Falcon) Orrcon Ford Performance Racing
Will Davison (Ford Falcon) Trading Post FPR
Paul Dumbrell (Ford Falcon) Bottle-O Racing
Shane van Gisbergen (Ford Falcon) SP Tools Racing/SBR
Alex Davison (Ford Falcon) Irwin Racing/SBR
Lee Holdsworth (Holden Commodore) Fujitsu GRM
Michael Caruso (Holden Commodore) Fujitsu GRM
Rick Kelly (Holden Commodore) Jack Daniel's Racing
Todd Kelly (Holden Commodore) Jack Daniel's Racing
Greg Murphy (Holden Commodore) Pepsi Kelly Racing
Steven Johnson (Ford Falcon) Jim Beam Racing/DJR
James Moffat (Ford Falcon) Jim Beam Racing/DJR
Russell Ingall (Holden Commodore) Supercheap Auto Racing
Steve Owen (Holden Commodore) VIP Petfoods
Jonathan Webb (Ford Falcon) Mother Earth Energy Racing
Jason Bright (Holden Commodore) Team BOC/BJR
Jason Bargwanna (Holden Commodore) Brad Jones Racing
Tim Slade (Ford Falcon) Lucky 7 Racing
Fabian Coulthard (Holden Commodore) Bundaberg Red Racing
Tony D'Alberto (Holden Commodore) Wilson Security Racing
Warren Luff (Holden Commodore) Gulf Western Oil Racing
David Reynolds (Holden Commodore) Stratco Racing
Dean Fiore (Ford Falcon) Triple F Racing
Karl Reindler (Holden Commodore) Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing

2001 V8 Supercar calendar

Feb 10-12: Yas V8 400, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi
Mar 17-20: Clipsal 500, Adelaide (F)
Mar 24-27: Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne (non-championship)
April 15-17: ITM 400 Hamilton, Hamilton, New Zealand
April 29-May 1: Barbagallo Raceway, Perth, WA (F)
May 20-22: Winton Motor Raceway Winton, Victoria
June 17-19: SkyCity Triple Crown, Hidden Valley, Darwin, NT
July 8-10: Sucrogen Townsville 400, Reid Park, Townsville, Qld (F)
Aug 19-21: Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, Qld (F)
Sep 16-18: L&H 500, Phillip Island, Victoria
Oct 6-9: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, Mt Panorama, NSW (F)
Oct 21-23: Armor All Gold Coast 600, Surfers Paradise, Q'ld
Nov 11-13: Falken Tasmania Challenge, Symmons Plains, Launceston, Tas
Nov 18-20: Norton 360 Sandown Challenge, Sandown Raceway, Melbourne (F)
Dec 2-4: Sydney Telstra 500, Homebush, Sydney (F)

(F) = Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series as well.

Image courtesy v8supercars.com.au

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MOTORSPORT: V8 Supercars at – and up? – the Creek

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