STRIP SEARCH

> WE TAKE A WHIP AROUND A BUNCH OF AUSSIE DRAG STRIPS TO SEE WHAT’S GOING ON DURING THE COVID-19 SHUTDOWN

WHILE there isn’t much actual racing going on in Australia at the moment, there’s still plenty of stuff happening behind the scenes at some tracks. Here’s a sample.

SYDNEY DRAGWAY

THE Sydney track is getting a serious birthday, starting with a brand-new strip. “The racing surface will be concrete the whole way,” says SD’S Rusty Gregory. “There will be a new bitumen braking area too. We’re also taking the opportunity to update a few things, such as the drainage.”

And what about the suggestion that Sydney Dragway will be the new home of speedway, with Valvoline Raceway set to be demolished by the NSW Government? “There is no news yet,” says Rusty. “We’re not even sure if the speedway would share land with the dragway or not. It’s not a sure thing yet.”

BODANGORA

WHEN we checked in with the Dubbo City Car Club in 2018, the crew had plans for a brand new track, upgrading from the eighth-mile airstrip they have been racing on for 20 years. They got as far as acquiring the land before discovering it wasn’t going to be suitable for a number of reasons, including access. “Now we’ve sold that site back to council and taken over the lease of the airstrip,” says DCCC’S Jim Fife.

“We’re settling into our new role as the leaseholders, which means we need to look after fences and a lot of other maintenance. Later this year we’ll put down a new startline and work towards a completely new racing surface in 2021.

“The plan is to have a driver training centre as well,” Jim continues. “So between that, the drags and the aero club, the site will get a lot of use. There is room for us to go quarter-mile in the future, too.”

CALDER PARK

MELBOURNE’S quarter-mile is also slated for resurfacing – also in concrete – with some repairs to pit lane as well. These have been pushed back due to COVID, but fingers crossed they’ll get rolling soon!

ADELAIDE INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY REPAIRS to track wiring caused by vandalism have been completed and promoter Peter Pisalidis says AIR will be good to go once COVID-19 restrictions lift.

SWAN HILL

SWAN Hill Rural City Council voted to develop a plan to repair the strip back in April, with $31,000 committed to assessment of the track surface, including geotechnical analysis and a ground-penetrating radar survey. This comes after an inspection in January revealed seven major and four minor defects.

Last year, $170,000 was allocated towards track repair, with $58,000 unspent. From there, the council recommended the development of a repair plan and cost estimate, followed by consultation with user groups and a report back to council.

PALMYRA

THE crew in Mackay resurfaced their quartermile track in 2018 and have been working hard to make it one of the prettiest strips around. Right now, they are extending one wall to keep the track up to code. “The COVID closure has given us a chance to get stuck into it,” says track manager Glenn Cunningham. “We’ve done about 300m so far. Our plan is run our street cars over the quarter and run the fast stuff over 1000ft.

“We’ve got some big meetings coming up, including the Sugar City Powerfest in September and the Aeroflow Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars in November, but we’ll have to see what happens with the restrictions.”