Darwin night race unlikely as Sydney plans progress

Racing under lights in Darwin remains unlikely for the immediate future as Supercars continues its push for a night race at Sydney Motorsport Park next year.

The Northern Territory was set to host a night race in 2018 as part of an agreement struck last year to keep the race at Hidden Valley Raceway until 2030.

However, plans were abandoned following a change of government in the region in September, which saw the NT Country Liberals, who were set to foot the multi-million dollar cost to light the venue, ousted from power.

The event would have been Supercars’ first night race since 1997 at Calder Park.

Speedcafe.com has learned that the night racing concept has not been raised again since the NT Labor Party came into government.

While refusing to rule out a possible night race in the future, Northern Territory Major Events Company General manager Andrew Hopper says the prospect of a floodlit meeting in the short-term future is unlikely.

Hopper, however, admits the concept would have been ‘fantastic’ for the round, which is celebrating 20 years of Supercars racing this weekend.

“You never say never, but the for the short and medium term future I can’t see it happening,” Hopper told Speedcafe.com.

“The challenge of night racing is there is an enormous outlay of capital.

“We did some work on the costs required and it could range from $14-22 million dollars.”

Supercars has long held an ambition to add a night race to its schedule with the concept back into the spotlight after revealing plans to host a ‘Big Bash style’ event under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park for 2018.

While Darwin’s hopes for night race have faded, Supercars CEO James Warburton says the category’s Sydney plans are progressing.

A test to ensure the lighting is sufficient for the use of the proposed shorter 2.8km circuit layout is next on the agenda.

“It’s now a matter of testing the lighting,” Warburton told Speedcafe.com.

“Now we’re looking at getting more temporary lighting in and actually testing the lighting levels from a broadcast point of view, and then away we go.

“The main thing is obviously FIA marshal sight lines and visibility and then obviously we’d want to be safe from a drivers’ point of view in terms of not being in their face or eyes and then the rest of it.”

Race formats for the event, which could involve shorter heats and the inclusion of the Dunlop Super2 category, continue to be discussed by the Supercars Commission.

Warburton says he is keen to ensure all fans are catered for while avoiding gimmicks.

“We had a really good, robust discussion about it at the Commission on Tuesday,” he added.

“They are keen on us to keep progressing the ideas, and then we’ll land on a recommended format and take that back to the Commission.

“Obviously, the calendar is not due until September and formats thereafter, so we’ve got a bit of time.

“I just think for us, compressing what we do into a three-hour window and actually having a really key point of difference, would be quite an exciting initiative.

“I just think you’ve got to be careful of gimmicks.

“There’s some off-the-wall stuff, which is good, I mean it’s what you need to do, you need to throw that at the wall and think about it, and come back to centre, and that’s what the Commission is charged to do.

“The Commission is charged to look at calendar formats, obviously the technical regulations, rules, and the judicial system.”

The CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown continues today with a final 45 minute practice session at 0925 local time, ahead of a 15 minute qualifying (1350) and a 42-lap race (1615).