The Newcastle 500
The construction site that will host the first Frugi Newcastle 500 has been completed more than three years from today.
Hunter Valley will play host to the opening event of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship after the latest race on the calendar as of 2019.
COVID-related restrictions saw the cancellation of the 2020 edition and Newcastle never made it onto the calendar in 2021, before being postponed and finally canceled again in 2022 to bring Omicron.
The construction of Newcastle’s East Street Circuit which kicks off today will be overseen by Newcastle City Council and will be overseen by iEDM founders.
“It’s very exciting,” said Supercars chief executive Shane Howard.
“Today really today you have pulled down one of the 100 kicks of New Castle Frugi, when the building event will already be started.
“This is going to be a great lead-up to what is hopefully the biggest Supercars event we’ve seen in Newcastle.
“In the next six weeks you’ll see the Newcastle CBD septum start to change, we’ve got over six kilometers of concrete barriers going in, it’s going to be an ever-changing landscape.
“After a three-year hiatus due to COVID, just to bring it back and make it bigger and better than ever is what we’re looking forward to.
“We’ve almost sold out the corporate facilities, and the next big ticket is going to be sold as well.
“I advise everyone who wants to attend the event to apply for tickets now.”
Newcastle is included in the 2017 calendar, with the circuit extended by 12 meters to 2.641km ahead of the 2019 event, by widening the Turn 11 hairpin in front of Hunter River in which improvements have been achieved by creating a harder braking zone.
New Castle Turn 11 looted
The tweak didn’t have the desired outcome but drivers expressed hope that, coupled with future reductions in race cars, it would pay dividends.
As luck would have it, a small change to the aerodynamics in 2020 did little to make it easier to follow, and cars of that type never made it to the Newcastle track anyway.
Now, the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang will make their debut in New South Wales’ largest city next month with a claimed 63 to 64 percent reduction in power relative to their predecessors.
Newcastle were lucky to have their next season opener effectively swapped direct with Adelaide, which closed a new, five-year deal in 2022.
The return to the Hunter Valley in 2024 is dependent on a new contract between Supercars, Destination NSW (representing the NSW Government) and the City of Newcastle, of which residents, local businesses and event attendees are expected to make a decision. a new deal is made.
Gen3 testing is set to continue today with the Blanchard Racing Team taking to the track for the first time with a race car at Winton.
The Newcastle 500 takes place on March 10, with the Foreshore Park Icehouse hosting Jon Stevens and the Screaming Jets on Friday night; while Saturday night’s concert will be headlined by Hilltop Hoods, supported by Thelma Plum, San Cisco, Trophies de Novi Castro, and Tribulations.
Before then, there will be a public Fun Day in Civic Park on February 18, bringing together several Supercars drivers.