Homebush Street Circuit

The Homebush Street Circuit, also known as the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit, was a temporary street circuit around the former Olympic precinct at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, Australia. The track hosted the Sydney 500 and was used for the first time at the final round of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series.[1] The circuit was used for the final time in December 2016 due to a relocation to a Newcastle after it was announced the ANZ stadium precinct would be upgraded and block the track location.

Homebush Street Circuit
Sydney Olympic Park
LocationSydney Olympic Park, New South Wales
Time zoneGreenwich Mean Time +10
Coordinates33°50′41″S 151°3′58″E
Opened4 December 2009
Closed4 December 2016
Major eventsSydney 500
Length3.4 km (2.1 mi)
Turns13
Race lap record1:27.9481 (Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Holden VF Commodore, 2016, Supercars)

Layout
Aerial image of Sydney Olympic Park, including the circuit, looking north

The circuit was designed by Mark Skaife, who focused on creating a track with a variety of bumps, camber changes and fast and slow corners making it difficult to complete the perfect lap.[2] It was constructed on Australia Avenue, Kevin Coombs Avenue, Edwin Flack Avenue and Dawn Fraser Avenue. 140 mature trees needed to be removed and kilometres of tarmac needed to be torn up to accommodate the race.[3] Overall the track had a mixture of track surfaces.[2]

V8 Supercar driver Jason Richards suggested that there were many difficult braking areas, interesting corners and good passing spots.[4] The main straight was the single widest section of race track in Australia, while the straight along Edwin Flack Avenue was one of the narrowest. The outside of turn eight had an unusual negative camber that caught many drivers out in the inaugural race, resulting in several cars crashing into the outer barriers. The first race was won by the Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander from pole position while, the second 250 km race was won by Dick Johnson Racing's James Courtney (who started from second position on the grid). Jamie Whincup secured winning the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series after finishing fifth in race 1 and fourteenth in race 2.

Environmental concerns
Wetlands at Sydney Olympic Park

The conversion of part of the Sydney Olympic Park precinct into a V8 street-car race circuit was widely criticised. The Total Environment Centre said that the New South Wales Government overrode the threatened species law, as well as the Homebush Bay Authority's planning principals, and would cause social, environmental and economic disruption at Sydney Olympic Park.[5] Tony McCormick, who led the team that designed Sydney Olympic Park, said "I find it truly a travesty... The site was supposed to be a legacy for generations and we can’t even make it last a decade."[6]

Closure

In 2015, V8 Supercars proposed to shorten the circuit to reduce the event's costs.[7] This proposal failed, and in March 2016 it was announced that the ongoing costs of running the event would result in 2016 being the final running of the Sydney 500.[8]

Lap records

As of 3 December 2016.[9]

Class Driver Vehicle Time Date
Outright Shane van Gisbergen Holden VF Commodore 1:26.6272 3 December 2016
Sports Cars
Australian GT Bernd Schneider Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 1:28.6368 2 December 2012
Carrera Cup Jonny Reid Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 997 1:30.2244 4 December 2011
Aussie Racing Cars Blake Sciberras Aurion-Yamaha 1:43.0750 5 December 2015
Touring Cars
Supercars Championship Shane van Gisbergen Holden VF Commodore 1:26.6272 3 December 2016
Super2 Series Cameron Waters Ford FG Falcon 1:28.3668 7 December 2014
V8 Ute Racing Series David Sieders Holden VE SS Ute 1:43.5860 3 December 2016
Australian Mini Challenge Chris Alajajian Mini JCW R56 1:46.2661 5 December 2010
Toyota 86 Racing Series Will Brown Toyota 86 1:49.3997 3 December 2016
Historic Touring Cars
Touring Car Masters John Bowe Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 1:36.8400 4 December 2016
Racing Cars
Formula Ford Anton De Pasquale Mygale SJ13a-Ford 1:34.1651 8 December 2013
Formula 4 Nick Rowe Mygale F4-Ford 1:34.2658 6 December 2015
Other
Stadium Super Trucks Sheldon Creed Stadium Super Truck 1:54.9534 5 December 2015

See also

References
  1. Allan Edwards (29 September 2008). "Homebush to host V8 Supercar race". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series, however it's reported that the event was running at a 56 plus million dollar loss a year and was not financially viable for the state government to continue to outlay the shortfall. Retrieved 29 September 2008.
  2. "Sydney Telstra 500, Sydney Olympic Park". v8supercars.com.au. n.d. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  3. Allan Edwards (30 September 2008). "2009 V8 Supercar calendar released". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
  4. "Minister impressed by Sydney track". v8supercars.com.au. 12 November 2009. Archived from the original on 14 November 2009. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
  5. "Govt adds fuel to V8 race debate". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2 December 2008.
  6. Moore, Matthew (31 July 2009). "Tree felling for V8 Supercars gets black flag". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. Bartholomaeus, Adrian (7 December 2015). "Sydney shift touted after circuit plans quashed". Speedcafe. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  8. "Axe falls on Sydney Olympic Park street race". Speedcafe. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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