V8 Supercars driver Aaren Russell backs ‘awesome’ Newcastle coast track | video

Newcastle is understood to be in pole position to host the final round of the Supercars series for at least the next five years, replacing the Sydney 500 at Homebush.  

Supercars officials are negotiating with Destination NSW and Newcastle City Council about bringing a race weekend to Newcastle, and a track taking in Wharf Rd, Nobbys, Shortland Esplanade and Watt St is one of several options on the table.

Mr Russell said the suggested track layout “made sense to me”.

“It would almost be one of the best tracks we go to,” the 24-year-old Erebus Motorsport rookie driver said.

Mr Russell said cars could hit top gear at 280kmh along Wharf Road before swooping along the coastline past Newcastle baths. Temporary concrete barriers would allow cars to race safely along Shortland Esplanade.

“I think it would be a bloody awesome idea. I’ve thought about it for years and years,” he said. 

“Obviously the foreshore could be really cool, really racy on the beachfront.

“Now it’s just sitting down and working out how everyone could make it viable.”

Mr Russell said Hunter motorsport fans deserved a V8s race on their doorstep.  

“Look at Novocastrians, they love their motorsport. Every round I go to for the V8 Supercars there’s always people from Newcastle there giving their support,” he said.

“It could be a really cool asset to the town. Honestly, it’s just something they deserve. I really hope the council can rally behind it.”

Russell’s father, Wayne, a former touring car driver who ran the family Novocastrian Motorsport team, said other cheaper track options included a largely square circuit around Hunter Stadium and a harbourside track taking in Hannell and Hunter streets and Honeysuckle Drive.

But Tourism Hunter chairman Will Creedon told the Herald on Wednesday that the promotional value of staging the race along the beachfront could outweigh the extra cost involved.

“Newcastle is in a strong position,” Mr Creedon said. “We’re able to safely put a track together in and around the East End of the city, whereas some of our other colleagues across the state, ie Central Coast, have had difficulty ensuring that traffic, other than the race, is looked after. We appear to have crossed that hurdle.”

He said the race needed to be in a location that “sets off the city and region in the best light possible”.

“No matter what location and circuit, it’ll be a big investment. We have to balance what that investment is relative to the best viewpoint for spectators, the best viewpoint for television audiences, the best viewpoint for the residents and people using the city and, of course, we have to make sure that it’s viable.

“We have to live within our means here. But we want to put our best foot forward. We want to use the race as a vehicle to demonstrate to Australia and beyond why people should come and visit here.”

Mr Creedon said a contract with the Supercars Championship would indicate roughly where the track would be, but the fine details would be worked out later.

Wayne Russell said the stadium track option included using its car park as a pit area for an anti-clockwise circuit taking in Turton, Lambton, Curley, Broadmeadow and Griffiths roads.

Nearby parkland and the stadium’s proximity to Broadmeadow railway station made it a natural fit for a V8 Supercars weekend, which includes practice, qualifying and support races from Friday to Sunday.

He said the Hunter had the highest ratio of motorsport followers in Australia. 

“What it would bring to this town is enormous. If they had it at Newcastle, it would be a sellout. You’re going to pull people from Sydney; you’re going to pull people from the country.”