1978 Hang Ten 400

[M-Kart]

Originally Posted by racer69

Lets not also forget the short-lived Grand Prix extension, used between 1984-1988 (until 1993 or so for the bikes), which totally cut out Rothmans Rise and the esses leading to Dandenong Rd corner.

Isnt that the sportscar infield bit i mentioned? or is there another section? I know they destroyed the majority of the infield in 2002 when they renovated the horse track, theres a tiny bet left (thankyou google earth). the turn in before the rise, and exit back on before dandenong rd are still there - you can see them feeding in on this years 500 race coverage.

[racer69]

Yes you did mention it.....i totally missed that bit

[piglos]

Originally Posted by M-Kart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fbc5U6wTfUw
Interesting for someone like myself (quite younger than this footage) to see how sandown changed for 1984. obviously the back straight, curves down the hill and dandenong rd are still similar, but the rest of the track as changed alot. Did the startline used to be after the preset turn 1? and were the pits located in there current position? i know the (current) turn 2/4/3 section was changed in 84 to its current setup, (and the now deceased infieald section was added for the sportscar world champs, along with the safety barriers etc.) but what else changed then?

Start line was in front of the main grandstand, with a rather short run to T1. I'm rather sure the 1978 Sandown 400 was the meeting where an XC Hardtop was knocked back at scrutineering because it was running on LPG. Apparently this was a safety issue.

It ended up running a demo alongside its more conventionally fuelled sister car.

[rustyinsthoz]

Originally Posted by Falcadore

Sandown 500 (and predecessors) has always been a mid-late season event, most often in September. Any February meeting would be as stated, a bog standard ATCC sprint.

Additionally during the Tasman era the Australian Grand Prix was an early season event but after the death of Tasman where it was replaced with Formula 5000 it began a late to very late season event which continued through transitions into Formula Pacific (Atlantic) and the Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix. The return to Albert Park in 1996 saw it return to an early season event.

The February meeting at Sowndown was the Rothmans/ Tasman Championship, with touring cars as support category. The ATCC meeting was generally run in April/May with the long distance race held in September .