New Track for Melbourne?

[inpitlane]

A plan for a 4 lane Drag Strip in Melbourne's South West has been revealed by Drag Racing's Governing body ANDRA.
The plan also includes a 2 km "sprint circuit"
More news here.
This is in addition to plans to build a multi purpose circuit near Pakenham in the outer south east.

[rdmdog]

Geez I wish some of these people would work together and actually get a new track or two off thew ground!

[retro]

http://www.motorvatemelbourne.com/

[V8 Fireworks]

Gov $ from Albert Park to single F1 class Melbourne permanent track, easy? It's the argument for Sydney isn't it?

[PVDA]

I wish them luck as Drag Racing needs a proper stand alone facility but we've seen this before and all too frequently in the past.

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by PVDA

I wish them luck as Drag Racing needs a proper stand alone facility but we've seen this before and all too frequently in the past.

What I'm really suprised about is that a week has past and there has been no press release from Calder Park about their proposed upgrade of the drag strip to group one level. Which usally happens everytime there is mention of a stand alone drag strip in Melbourne.

Maybe Bob's a bit busy at the moment?

[rdmdog]

80th Birthday Party?

[inpitlane]

Originally Posted by Driver TBA

What I'm really suprised about is that a week has past and there has been no press release from Calder Park about their proposed upgrade of the drag strip to group one level. Which usally happens everytime there is mention of a stand alone drag strip in Melbourne.

Maybe Bob's a bit busy at the moment?

Not so fast Mr Bond. Calder Park have announced the return of drag racing to Melbourne with regular Friday night street drags commencing 22 January and the second AMC "True Blue" Nationals the following night Jan. 23.
The track will also play host to a major "Monster Truck" show as well as the Easternats which have moved from Sandown.
All these events of course not ANDRA sanctioned.

[inpitlane]

They're claiming a $30'000 prize pool for Pro Stock. Also the entry includes a TV levy. Don't know where it'll be shown.

[STEALTHY]

I'd settle for a 2 lane strip in Adelaide. All we have is Mallala which is something like $600 for a few laps. Nothing for the drag racers tho.

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by inpitlane

Don't know where it'll be shown.

AVE & a few others will film just about anything these days, would just be nice if they actually let us know what is going to be shown & when in advance.

[inpitlane]

Originally Posted by PVDA

AVE & a few others will film just about anything these days, would just be nice if they actually let us know what is going to be shown & when in advance.

If the TV levy is included in only a $275 entry fee then it probably won't be AVE.
If it is they have dropped their prices substantially which despite what some people claim are very low to begin with.

I'd say that Full Boost will probably do it but I don't know what station it'll be shown on.

One HD seem to be taking a lot of pay for play stuff now so possibly there.

Of course often you don't know yourself what's coming up, it depends on how things cut together and when things fall into place.

I wasn't expecting the Dean Randle SAAB story and the 4.5 hour kart enduro to be ready for January 5 on In Pit Lane but now they will be.

In the meantime it's a very Porsche Xmas with the German Carrera Cup.
That's much easier to get together in the limited time available.

[Silver GT]

Originally Posted by inpitlane

Not so fast Mr Bond. Calder Park have announced the return of drag racing to Melbourne with regular Friday night street drags commencing 22 January and the second AMC "True Blue" Nationals the following night Jan. 23.
The track will also play host to a major "Monster Truck" show as well as the Easternats which have moved from Sandown.
All these events of course not ANDRA sanctioned.

It impossibel to get out of Calder park after a big event.....Calders time has past.....

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by inpitlane

All these events of course not ANDRA sanctioned.

And all the work they did on the strip 18 months ago still didn't bring it up to ANDRA/Group 1 spec, hence why the Doorslammers could only run 1/8th mile when they ran 12 months ago.

As long as Bob Jane mows the grass at Calder Park and puts out the odd press release, this mobs going to struggle to get the govenment to fund a new drag strip.

It took Sydney 7 years of hard lobbying to get WISD built and there was no strip at all in Sydney.

[Trevor]

Bob needs to move on and do something else in his retirement, because it appears that he isn't doing the right thing by motorsport in Australia.

He used to be fantastic for Aussie motorsport, but something has changed he focus.

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by Silver GT

It impossibel to get out of Calder park after a big event.....Calders time has past.....

It's actually not that bad so long as they force everyone to head towards Diggers Rest and do a legal U turn about 1km down the freeway. This avoids having to cross the freeway trying to do a right hand turn.

Believe it or not that is actually a VicRoads requirement for the traffic management. If you are going by the Crusty Demons show then that was the fault of the traffic management group brought in by the promotors who didn't listen to any of the locals suggestions and totally stuffed getting the people out of the complex

[Driver TBA]

[Silver GT]

Originally Posted by PVDA

It's actually not that bad so long as they force everyone to head towards Diggers Rest and do a legal U turn about 1km down the freeway. This avoids having to cross the freeway trying to do a right hand turn.

Believe it or not that is actually a VicRoads requirement for the traffic management. If you are going by the Crusty Demons show then that was the fault of the traffic management group brought in by the promotors who didn't listen to any of the locals suggestions and totally stuffed getting the people out of the complex

Yes I am talking about Crustys....that was a joke...car drove through fences to get out....thats was after being stuck in the car park for 3 hours.

10,000 cars lined up to do a U turn seems a bit extreme and would have some problems...an overpass is what is needed. You can add getting Bob out of any decision making to that. He is the one who killed Drag racing in Victoria.

Any option to get drag racing back into Victoria that doesnt include Bob is your best bet in achieving that goal

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by Silver GT

10,000 cars lined up to do a U turn seems a bit extreme and would have some problems...an overpass is what is needed.

There is several exit points out of Calder and as I said the traffic management mob we useless for that event.

You've obviously never tried to get out of the old AFL Park or the MCG or PI or Warrnambool Speedway (need I go on), it will always be difficult to get a lot of cars out of a limited number of exits.

As for an overpass, one is in the planning phase for Kings Road with Calder Park Drive next on the list so it's a few years away. That's a VicRoads issue not Calder Park.

Originally Posted by Silver GT

You can add getting Bob out of any decision making to that. He is the one who killed Drag racing in Victoria.

Actually you are wrong. Bob dropped (ANDRA) drag racing when he found (the hard way) that's it's public liability insurance wasn't worth a pinch of nanny goats poop at the time and it had the potential to take the T-Mart empire with it after a serious crash at Calder. Unfortunately being an ANDRA led debate they tend to ignore that little bit of info.

Anyway we are getting way here.

[rdmdog]

As I flew back from Brisbane on Monday Morning, I noticed a HEAP of what looked like Horse trotting tracks in the (guessing) Mickelham area.

The Im sure there was a rectangular, concrete looking large oval that stood out from the rest. Having a look at Google Maps for that general area, I noticed that there is plenty od places under the flight path and a highly suitable area at Monegeetta that could be converted reasonably easily I would think..........

Might need a few more years of use by it's current occupants unfortunately.

[PVDA]

You come in over Heathcote but you would've noticed the drag strip & speedway easily enough. There is an Army training facility up at Monegeetta??

[Silver GT]

Originally Posted by PVDA

There is several exit points out of Calder and as I said the traffic management mob we useless for that event.

You've obviously never tried to get out of the old AFL Park or the MCG or PI or Warrnambool Speedway (need I go on), it will always be difficult to get a lot of cars out of a limited number of exits.

As for an overpass, one is in the planning phase for Kings Road with Calder Park Drive next on the list so it's a few years away. That's a VicRoads issue not Calder Park.



Actually you are wrong. Bob dropped (ANDRA) drag racing when he found (the hard way) that's it's public liability insurance wasn't worth a pinch of nanny goats poop at the time and it had the potential to take the T-Mart empire with it after a serious crash at Calder. Unfortunately being an ANDRA led debate they tend to ignore that little bit of info.

Anyway we are getting way here.

Yes I have tried to get out of the old Waverley footy ground, MCG, Philip Island, Sandown, Bathurst, Oran Park, Eastern Creek, Drive in Theaters, Chadstone shopping centre and Canberra. But I have never had to wait 2 hours then resort to driving through a fence.

I should have known it was going to a shocker of a night because from memeory it took a hour to get onto Calder park that night.

Calder maybe able to handle Friday night boy racer drags and the occassional driver education courses but if it wants to be serious there needs to be infrastructure changes.

Its all well and good blaming traffic managment....let face it if people experience that crap, they wont go back.

Bring on the new track.....the sooner the better

[Driver TBA]

Over 16,000 people fronted up to the Melbourne Showgrounds for the rally yesterday. Yet no one from the Brumby govenment turned up.

Had to work yesterday, but a few mates went out. Highlight was Jimmy Walton (used to race the Coca Cola Mustang Nitro Funny Car in 70's 80's) firing up Pete and Helen Russo's Nitro car.

Good article here http://theage.drive.com.au/all-revve...ml?autostart=1

Was front page story in todays 'Sunday Age'


Interesting the govenment is refusing to release both feasability studies in full.

.

[rdmdog]

TV news mentioned that it was going to cost $60 mil to build a joint.

Pretty astounding, you would end up with a flash one for that price I would think!

How much did WSID cost? I would be surprised if it was that much. I guess if the Govt is in charge it would cost $60 Mil and still be hopeless!

Anyone surprised that there was no show from the Vic Govt?

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by rdmdog

TV news mentioned that it was going to cost $60 mil to build a joint.

Pretty astounding, you would end up with a flash one for that price I would think!

How much did WSID cost? I would be surprised if it was that much. I guess if the Govt is in charge it would cost $60 Mil and still be hopeless!

Anyone surprised that there was no show from the Vic Govt?

The Brumby govenment CLAIMS it would cost 60 million. Yet the 2008 report stated 38 million. This is information form 2 heavily censored reports, the 2nd was released as a 'powerpoint presentation'. Why won't they release the reports in full?