[V8SC09R25&26] Telstra 500, Homebush Precinct, Sydney

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Great to see the new premier is a motorsport fan though, could lead to bigger and better things for motorsport not just street circuits.

Temporary Premier most likely......my local member, doing the dirty on her constituents with the Southern Cross Drive/Gardeners Rd exit ramps.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The cars are held in a hall, when they come out of the hall, the tensa barriers go up inside the hall, and people are prevented from walking in the area behind the paddock. The cars come out of the hall and to the pit lane proper, with several controllers, but without the great unwashed being behind a barrier...

All the floors are concrete, level, no damage to front splitters or similar as they are moved.. not sure that can be said for QR, or Winton or Barbagallo...

The front of the hall....


The inside of the hall....




Plenty of room in the team areas....




Corralling the cars to leave for R26...










Outside the hall....


Cars leaving the hall.... note the controller....




Out to the circuit....

[SSbaby]

I don't think that 'lack of talent' was the issue at all. The thing about the track layout is the unnaturally narrow track with unnatural cambers and a road surface that catch drivers out who creep off the line (as in being overtaken or slightly misjudging their line) and onto the marbles... WHACK!

How many times did we see the top 5 runners surrender positions thanks to turn 8? That sort of thing usually happens mid-pack/tail end and not to the leading group.

[peckstar]

No arguments from me SS baby.

But you wont win this discussion as Stealtly likes the carnidge , he wants more crashes, not less

[STEALTHY]

Clearly our opinions will always differ.

Sorta like when frosty nailed tander at bahrain a few years back 'i had nothing left' (braking), duh, brake sooooooner....

Same theory, drive on the marbles, end up in the wall. Simple fix would be don't drive in the marbles. Turn 8 at Adelaide has a 'gentleman agreement' to not go in 2 wide, apply the same theory here, problem solved. It seems everyones suggestion is to fix something that isn't broken. Quite stupid really.

[peckstar]

The corner is broken and they will fix it

they make changes to fix the adelaide corner nearly every year also

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by peckstar

The corner is broken and they will fix it

they make changes to fix the adelaide corner nearly every year also

A little more room would help IMHO.

[Axeman444]

after seeing these pics i think i will have to forecast i am going to be sick on the Friday of next years event and go down for a wander through the paddock etc

[Trev Campbell]

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but everytime there was an overhead shot on the weekend. Most of the stands I saw seemed to be empty !!!!! However at the start and end of the race the stands seemed quite full !!!!! To anyone who was there is this what happened ???? Is this as a result of the event seeming to be marketed as an event that just happened to have a V8 race as the 'main' attraction. As opposed to the Clipsal which is a motor race that happens to have other stuff happeneing. Because that stands are packed for the entire race at the clipsal. I'd be interested to see if thats how it felt to someone who went.

[MarkInTheStands]

Trev,

Being in the Grandstands for all 3 days, you will find a number of people used their Grandstand seat as a base camp and somewhere to get a good view of the Start of the Race 1 of the Weekend. We had people all around us in their seats at one stage or another on the weekend, but the only time it was completely full was for the the first 25 or so laps of Race 1.

I think shade might have helped, keeping a few more in attendance a little longer but on a Day where the Temperature was 35 degrees, come say lap 60 of the 2nd race, people started filing out, once James got an 8 second lead.

Talking to the Cityrail staff at the station, they had been dealing with people on the Express trains since about 4:15 or 4:30 about 25 minutes before the end of the race.

Typical Sydney sporting crowd really if the conclusion is known and they are getting uncomfortable, they will exit pretty quickly.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Trev Campbell

Not sure if this is the right place for this, but everytime there was an overhead shot on the weekend. Most of the stands I saw seemed to be empty !!!!! However at the start and end of the race the stands seemed quite full !!!!! To anyone who was there is this what happened ???? Is this as a result of the event seeming to be marketed as an event that just happened to have a V8 race as the 'main' attraction. As opposed to the Clipsal which is a motor race that happens to have other stuff happeneing. Because that stands are packed for the entire race at the clipsal. I'd be interested to see if thats how it felt to someone who went.

In the 35C heat, there is no way in the world a normal person could sit in a grandstand for 10 hours without fading.

The stands were not as full on Friday...


... as they were on Sunday before R26...

[sizzle]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

In the 35C heat, there is no way in the world a normal person could sit in a grandstand for 10 hours without fading.

The stands were not as full on Friday...


... as they were on Sunday before R26...

Still a fair bit of blue there GTR. Up in the knobs area there GTR, didn't get a nose bleed being up that high did you?

[Reload]

Amazing the similarities with Jamie regarding the last round of last year and this year.

On both occasions he only needed to cross the finish line in his first race to win the championship and then encountered major dramas after wrapping up the championship.

You make your own luck and congratulations to him.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by sizzle

Still a fair bit of blue there GTR. Up in the knobs area there GTR, didn't get a nose bleed being up that high did you?

3 levels high of temporary pitlane... lots of nose bleeds, lots of bouncing up stairs, and back down again... good fun but

[Matt]

I absolutely love the track.

[Axeman444]

i'm assuming the metalwork of that pit structure will come down, but the concrete support will stay?

[Green Hornet]

Apparently the construction is designed to be transportable and will be used at other V8 meetings . . . such as a dedicated pit area at the AGP . . . according to the fearless leader . . .

[chavez]

Originally Posted by SSbaby

The thing about the track layout is the unnaturally narrow track with unnatural cambers and a road surface that catch drivers out

Sounds like what a street circuit should be.

Want a wide track with predictable cambers and surface? - try a permanent circuit.

[retro]

...

UPDATE 3: 1800hrs Sunday 6th December 2009

Matters Arising from Race 25:

Pit Lane Penalities were imposed by the Stewards as follows:
• Car #9 Shane Van Gisbergen for driving infringement on Car #6 Steven Richards at Turn 6.
• Car #888 Craig Lowndes for unsafe release from Pit Bay.
• Car #25 Jason Bright for an unsafe release from Pit Bay.

Matters Arising from Sunday Qualifying:

No matters arose during the session.

Stewards gave permission for Mark McNally Car #16 to start Race 26 despite failing to achieve the 105% cutoff time in the session.

[retro]

Post race burnout...

[RS500]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

In the 35C heat, there is no way in the world a normal person could sit in a grandstand for 10 hours without fading.

The stands were not as full on Friday...


... as they were on Sunday before R26...

That sunday on looks like a thursday for clipsal!

[bortall]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

Hopefully the spinoff will be positive for other motorsport disciplines as well

I can't see how it could be???

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Green Hornet

Apparently the construction is designed to be transportable and will be used at other V8 meetings . . . such as a dedicated pit area at the AGP . . . according to the fearless leader . . .

AGP awaits

Maybe Barbagallo too??

The wind was good to cool down the top floor, but I would imagine the natural air flows may not be as generous at other rounds... perhaps non-natural air conditioning awaits

[mac]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

Hopefully the spinoff will be positive for other motorsport disciplines as well.

If only they were allowed to race, or be shown on TV without having to pay Tony squillions... more likely to be a positive for road cycling at this stage...

[mac]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

Same theory, drive on the marbles, end up in the wall. Simple fix would be don't drive in the marbles. Turn 8 at Adelaide has a 'gentleman agreement' to not go in 2 wide, apply the same theory here, problem solved. It seems everyones suggestion is to fix something that isn't broken. Quite stupid really.

Sounds good in theory... but this thinking is way too simplistic.

Look at poor Cam McConville in Sunday's race. Had a car lunge up the inside of him at Turn 8. Was extremely aware of the situation and did not turn into the corner because there was a car there - hence his race smarts prevented a collision. Yet he is left out in the marbles with absolutely nowhere to go except the wall!!!

I'm all for challenging and complex corners, and I'm aware that the term "smarts" is a strange concept for a lot of V8 fans that would rather see cars piling into concrete walls repeatedly, but the racing would be better if there was room for overtaking, or taking different lines, or even just room to allow another car past...

There is room at that turn to bring the kerb back towards the inside wall and allow for more width through that corner - and I hope this is done for next year.