Homebush Street Circuit

Layout

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. 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. Overall the track had a mixture of track surfaces.

V8 Supercar driver Jason Richards suggested that there were many difficult braking areas, interesting corners and good passing spots. 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

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. 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."

Closure

In 2015, V8 Supercars proposed to shorten the circuit to reduce the event's costs. 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.

Lap records

As of 4 December 2016, the official race lap records at Homebush Street Circuit are listed as:

References

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..
2. (n.d.). "Sydney Telstra 500, Sydney Olympic Park". v8supercars.com.au.
3. Allan Edwards. (30 September 2008). "2009 V8 Supercar calendar released". Official site of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series.
4. (12 November 2009). "Minister impressed by Sydney track". v8supercars.com.au.
5. (2 December 2008). "Govt adds fuel to V8 race debate". [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]].
6. (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.
8. (22 March 2016). "Axe falls on Sydney Olympic Park street race". Speedcafe.
9. "Natsoft ® - IT Specialists!".
10. "Australian GT Sydney Street 2012".