Shannons National - Eastern Creek July 18/19

[D.R.T.]

The Shannons National Tour will be returning to Eastern Creek next weekend. A pretty good line up of categories with Australian GT, GT3 Cup, Formula 3, Manufactuers Championship, Commodore Cup, HQ's and Superkarts.

http://www.thenationals.com.au/story.asp?id=356

The most impressive point so far about the event has been the resemblance of promotion for the event. During the last week the event has been pushed through local Sydney newspapers with one paper in the Blue Mountains running a front page advert in line with its ticket and ride promotions.

[Crash Test]

A good line up of classes, some pretty good looking fields, so is it just going to be me and D.R.T lobbing up this weekend?

[alfacors]

No, the usual scruffy pack of media will be there too

[Crash Test]

Oh, jolly good! I've been shopping for the media centre olympics. Think of what we had for Sandown, but better

[Crash Test]

Just a bit of FYI for those who need some prodding, the weekend line up looks like-
12x F3
23x GTs
20x Porsche GT3s
28x Man Champers
21x Commodore Cup
29x Superkarts
8billion x HQ Holdens

[alfacors]

Tickets are only $20 for Sunday as well, which includes Paddock Access.

[bazil]

Originally Posted by Crash Test

Just a bit of FYI for those who need some prodding, the weekend line up looks like-
12x F3
23x GTs
20x Porsche GT3s
28x Man Champers
21x Commodore Cup
29x Superkarts
8billion x HQ Holdens

I wonder if the "Crowd pleasing" Dennis the menace Panna is going to make a Commodore Cup appearance?? He has been ON FIRE before at the creek...

[D.R.T.]

obviously you will be there in attendance Baz

[bazil]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

obviously you will be there in attendance Baz

You never know DRT... I have plenty of friends that will, who I would love to catch up with. Trouble is the photo of me with a red line thru it put up by your mates might cause a problem or 2 getting in

[D.R.T.]

I am interested to know who one could get banned from attending a race track

[Green Hornet]

At this rate the spectator roll up will hit double figures - WOW!

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Crash Test

Just a bit of FYI for those who need some prodding, the weekend line up looks like-
12x F3
23x GTs
20x Porsche GT3s
28x Man Champers
21x Commodore Cup
29x Superkarts
8billion x HQ Holdens

If they all show up, then quite a decent roll up of entries (except F3, but never has our top local open-wheeler formulae attracted 20+ runners regularly)

Looking forward to the HQs, its great to see that ten years after CAMS tried to oust them, they are still going strong

[D.R.T.]

I guess that shows the foresight of CAMS!

[alfacors]

Given the good fields and expecting good racing this weekend, has anyone stopped deriding the event long enough to suggest to other motorsport fans that it may actually be a good event to attend? Or will everyone sit in their armchairs and throw stones instead of actually attending and supporting an event in NSW....?

[Green Hornet]

I don't think anyone is is deriding this event just certain posters who continually deride the other series - that one that breaks new ground and draws fans.

Personally I looking forward to a great weekend's racing.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by alfacors

Given the good fields and expecting good racing this weekend, has anyone stopped deriding the event long enough to suggest to other motorsport fans that it may actually be a good event to attend? Or will everyone sit in their armchairs and throw stones instead of actually attending and supporting an event in NSW....?

Who in this thread has derided the event, it looks like most of us are going!

[KSM86]

hey can some of you that are going plz film the gt race and post it up on youtube??

[Crash Test]

How did everyone enjoy their day? Pop by pit bays 8 or 9 tomorrow and say hello!

[D.R.T.]

Eastern Creek presented a glorious Sydney day for Shannons Nationals today, the warmest race meeting in mid July for as long as I can remember.

Special mention to Matthew Sofi in grabbing his first win in F3, Dean Grant and David Wall for the race long duel including 3-4 lead changes and the Commodore Cup field for there usual door to door racing. The GT3 Cup Demolition Derby was also highly entertaining.

[alfacors]

Congrats also to Sam Zavaglia for winning the Australian Superkart Championship, John Wood for a dominant performance all weekend in the HQ Nationals and Steve Glenney taking outright victory in the Australian Manufacturers Championship on debut in his Evo X.

[Crash Test]

D.R.T. you didn't pop by and say hello

Having spent the past four days there thinking about the Eastern Creek popularity debate, I've got a few views on the matter.

I think the place is just too big- there are too many spectator mounds, too many big wide expanses for people to set up camp on. That's not a bad thing at all, but when you have for example 30,000 people there, it would be incredibly spread out and decidedly empty. Jam 30,000 people in Oran Park, Winton, QR, Barbagallo etc, and the place looks and feels packed,with some real atmosphere. To fill all of the vantage points at Eastern Creek to get a similar feeling would probably require 200,000 punters. Even with a good crowd on the weekend, it still felt a bit empty and soul-less.

As for the viewing spots, I thought that there were plenty of good spots to watch the action at with a decent view of a majority of the track. Anywhere near turn one is brilliant, what an awesome corner!

If I were chief in charge of Eastern Creek, I would probably splash out on some paint. The place looks and feels in some spots to be a lot older than the 20 years it is. Paint the walls around the track, give the place a bit of a birthday and she'd be as good as new..

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by alfacors

Congrats also to Sam Zavaglia for winning the Australian Superkart Championship, John Wood for a dominant performance all weekend in the HQ Nationals and Steve Glenney taking outright victory in the Australian Manufacturers Championship on debut in his Evo X.

Shall we now see a parity fiddle for the Evo X?? Did Mr Glenney just restrict that car's B12 potential?

[Crash Test]

Steve drove incredibly well- we knew he would be quick, and he had enough race craft to hold on in his first meeting, top stuff!

The Product cars are still having a fair few centre diff problems, I think if it was anyone less than Mark King driving, it wouldn't have been a front runner.

...but they are beatable, Castle in the old Subaru was able to beat Salmon in a clean fight in the last race. Eastern Creek is a horsepower circuit, so we weren't expecting the Subaru to be near their pace. The next two rounds at Morgan Park and Oran Park aren't massive engine power circuits by any stretch, so it will be very interesting to see what happens there...

[Belly13]

Great weekend of racing. I'll always love Oran Park, but there's something special about Eastern Creek as well. It really is a fantastic circuit. It's a shame that there is no 'major' events there, so I hope the Int. GT Class comes down next year.
Congrats to Mr. Sofi and Mr. Holdsworth - great drives, boys.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Crash Test

D.R.T. you didn't pop by and say hello

Apologies crash, didnt see your post untill after returning yesterday evening.

Originally Posted by Crash Test

I think the place is just too big- there are too many spectator mounds, too many big wide expanses for people to set up camp on. That's not a bad thing at all, but when you have for example 30,000 people there, it would be incredibly spread out and decidedly empty. Jam 30,000 people in Oran Park, Winton, QR, Barbagallo etc, and the place looks and feels packed,with some real atmosphere. To fill all of the vantage points at Eastern Creek to get a similar feeling would probably require 200,000 punters. Even with a good crowd on the weekend, it still felt a bit empty and soul-less.

A very fair assessment. Eastern Creek is of Grand Prix length, many Australians (race fans and category promoters) say they want tracks on international length and with character. Here we have a circuit that holds a level 2 FIA license with great facilities and provides great racing but the down side is obviously the circuit and spectator areas are going to be equally big.

This cant be solved, you either want a Queensland Raceway or an Eastern Creek and need to understand the give and take with each type of circuit.

Originally Posted by Crash Test

As for the viewing spots, I thought that there were plenty of good spots to watch the action at with a decent view of a majority of the track. Anywhere near turn one is brilliant, what an awesome corner!

Absolutely. Many fans plonk down in the grandstand at 9am and dont move untill 5 and complain about the viewing The turn 12,13 complex provides great viewing from 8 all the way down the front straight and into 1. That distance is probably the whole length of OP!

Behind the pits on the outside of turn 4 is also a great place to watch and you can get close to cars over the hump