Bend tipped to change future
VETERAN Supercars team owner Brad Jones says a new $110 million race track being built at Tailem Bend, east of Adelaide, will be the best of its kind in Australia.
The Bend Motorsport Park will host its first Supercars event in August next year, doubling South Australia’s presence on the championship calendar.
Organisers have signed a three-year contract for the Super Sprint event to be run on the 4.9 kilometre circuit with the first race scheduled for August, 2018.
The race will feature two legs, one of 120 kilometres and one of 200 kilometres, and will be run in addition to
the Adelaide 500 street race which traditionally opens the Supercars series.
“This will be a spectacular event that will showcase the Bend Motorsport Park to a huge national and international audience,” Jones said during a tour of the precinct.
“This track is completely
different to the street circuit used in the Adelaide 500 and we’re confident that with its world-class design, the racing will be just as exciting and memorable for fans.”
The track will also feature a 110-room hotel on pit lane along with caravan and camping facilities to cater for 10,000 people. It will begin hosting international events from January.
Meanwhile, Supercars will light up Sydney next year when night racing at Eastern Creek becomes a permanent fixture on the V8 calendar.
In the countdown to this weekend’s Bathurst 1000, Supercars will today announce a 300km Saturday night stand-alone race under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park from 2018.
In a V8 revolution billed as Supercars’ version of Twenty20 cricket, the Red Rooster Sydney SuperNight 300 will be run on August 4 and aimed at attracting a wider audience when drivers hit the track for just three hours of high-intensity racing.