Australian Race Circuits

#1

Watching the V8 Supercars, I'd got to admit...there's few Australian tracks that are really good. Most of them seem fairly bland and boring.

But there's some that stand out for me:

Adelaide
Phillip Island
Bathurst
Melbourne
Canberra
Surfer's Paradise

Out of all those, I'd say Bathurst is the greatest Australian track ever - if not one of the best in the world. A tight and twisty route between barriers up the side of a mountain, then down a long straight going into a chicane. Brilliant! The Corkscrew must be one of the most daunting corners in the world as well.

For those who don't know, Canberra is a tight and twisty street circuit, but some of it is quite fast and great fun. Maybe you'll remember the hilarious incident there in V8 Supercars, where a car lost a wheel and the wheel went rolling all the way down a straight towards a chicane, picking up speed as it went along. When it hit the kerb, it bounced up in the air and landed PERFECTLY on the tyre wall.

Melbourne's rather crap, in my opinion, and Adelaide is full of right angled corners

But they still stand out as great tracks. Phillip Island is good because of its speed, though it is a rather boring track.

Then you have Surfer's P. Rather unusual circuit. Two long straight, broken up by chicanes, with two 90 degree corners at each end.

Anyone got any opinions on Oz race tracks?

crashdave · #2

Adelaide: great track, turn nine is awesome you either get it right or you crash.

Bathurst: AWESOME, nothing more, nothing less

Barbagallo (wanneroo): a good track, up & downhills interesting, but can sometimes produce boring racing.

Canberra: BRING IT BACK, lovely track, especially the last few corners.

Oran Park: interesting, but abbout to be closed for housing.

Queensland Raceway: boring but my local track so i love going there.

Eastern creek: not my fav, but still a good track.

Sandown: i love the track, very straight forward but always brings a few surprises.

Phillip Island: love the track, wide open down the straight into the first corner is scary.

Winton: kinda like qld raceway, slightly boring but still a decent track.

Hidden Valley: love this track, but it can produce boring races.

Lakeside: Please pine rivers shire dont bulldose it for housing, one of my fav all time tracks, hasnt been used for years because locals (who built their houses well aware of how close they are to the track) complain about the noise

Surfers Paradise Intl Raceway: Not the indy track, this track is situated further inland at surfers airport, it sucks they dont use it (havent for nearly 20 years).

Surfer Paradise: this is the indy track, annother "Local track" i love it.

Darlington Park Intl Raceway: i havent really seen to much of the track, but after seeing it from the fenceline last saturday, it looks very promising, but needs tons of safty work.

Calder park/Thunderdome: The calder park complex is great, the site of craig lowndes' huge rollover in 99' the national track is twisty. the "Thunderdome" modeled on Charlotte/Lowes is a great track, you may remember it from Graeme O'briens huge world record holding stockcar flip in the mid 90's, i love the track because i love stockcars and it's the only oval (Non-dirt) in australia.

Simmons plains: some straights joined by some haripins and a chicaneis corner, seems clear cut, but isnt. many people have come to grief at the first hairpin.

Baskerville: i wish they used this on a national basis, but they dont, my experiance of this is from Targa Tasmania footage and NR2003 lol, and as such i cant say much about it.

Catalina Park · #3

Speaking as a retired (broke) driver.
Bathurst is the best to race on, it is a hell of a thrill to drive across the top of the hill and then throw the car over the edge and down the other side.
I wish someone had taken photos of the crash that I had after the Dipper.

I never raced at Canberra but it was a joke of a track. It was not wide enough for two cars to pass. It was bumpy as well. I stood on the outside of the last corner (a very long fast right) with Formula Holdens on the track and they were getting bounced off the track, I did not stand there for long as I did not want to be in the firing line!

Baskerville in Tasmania is a fantastic little track with blind corners over the top of crests, it has a bit of everything. I enjoyed the meeting I did there.

Oran Park is a bit bland but I will miss it when it is gone. They have spoiled it by adding width on the exits of all the corners, the Dogleg is now almost a straight!

Amaroo is the track that I miss the most. It was great but very dangerous. I crashed on my first lap there!

Eastern Creek is a good track to drive around fast but is not much of a race track! You can block for nearly the whole lap! Turn 1 is great, very fast and it just goes on forever.

Winton is a great little track but does look boring on TV. I have done a couple of thousand race laps there! Never boring when you are in the car!

Catalina Park was a great circuit. I grew up right next to it. Very fast, flowing track with no run off room at all. It was a product of the 1960s and closed for circuit racing in 1970. It was used for rallycross and sprints but is now closed for good. I had a win there in a sprint meeting in the 80s.

#4

Catalina Park wrote:Speaking as a retired (broke) driver.
Bathurst is the best to race on, it is a hell of a thrill to drive across the top of the hill and then throw the car over the edge and down the other side.
I wish someone had taken photos of the crash that I had after the Dipper.

Really?! What kind of racing did you do?

crashdave · #5

yeah what cars did you drive & what years did you drive?

Catalina Park · #6

I am just a nobody that wasted 20 years and lots of $ to get nowhere!
I raced in a lot of lower classes mostly with a roof over my head. My last drive was at Bathurst in 1999 (unless you count driving the pace car at a V8Stupidcar meeting)
I almost drove Touring cars in the mid 80's but it feel through.
I almost drove a Commodore at Bathurst in the mid 90's but it fell through.

I did drive in Sportsedans, Formula Vee, Production cars, HQ Holdens, Improved Production.

Total pole positions 1 (at Bathurst)
Total race wins 2 (at Amaroo and Winton)

crashdave · #7

Catalina Park wrote:My last drive was at Bathurst in 1999 (unless you count driving the pace car at a V8Stupidcar meeting)

im guessing, going off your stupidcar comment that you drove in the super tourer or PROCAR.

EDIT: oh yeah congrats on the pole and race wins

Catalina Park · #8

crashdave wrote:im guessing, going off your stupidcar comment that you drove in the super tourer or PROCAR.

No, I just hate the damn things. (both Supercars and super tourers!) Supercars = A good set of rules spoiled by money, rich kids, rich daddys and a bloke with a lisp.

Group A was a good class until the turbos got too quick but the rulemakers couldn't see it coming. One simple change to the formula and it would have lasted. Mind you I was trying to get one of the first turbos into Aus but I couldn't find the money!

Eddington Mains · #9

not new on here.... first post though......
check out my favorite track... sorry for the big link...... but this is a great site and shows heavan in its full glory....

CLICK

ENJOY....

#10

Welcome to the forum!

I have edited your post so the link doesn't stretch across the page.

villeneuve · #11

I don't have a big aknowledge about Australian circuits, but I can tell you that Adelaide is one of the circuits I miss the most in current F1.

#12

Do you prefer it to Albert Park?

villeneuve · #13

Yes. Adelaide is much better, although Albert Park is still nice compared with some tracks in current F1.

Ahn, can we have both?

#14

Well, if we can have two Japanese GP, we can have two Australian GP!

Let's see...one could be called the Australian GP and one could be called the Oceanic GP

(According to Wikipedia, Oceania is a geographical region consisting of numerous countries and territories in the Pacific Ocean. The exact scope of Oceania is controversial, with varying interpretations including East Timor, Australia, and New Zealand.

)

#15

Just kick out Hockenheim and have the Ring to be the German GP holder!