Upgrades to a notorious section of Hidden Valley Raceway are in the final stages of completion after undergoing a redesign.
An earth filled tyre barrier between Turns 2 and 4 has been replaced with a concrete wall.
The wall has also been realigned to improve safety with stage two of the project involving barriers between Turns 1 and 2 to be completed soon.
A chorus of discontent was sparked following a seven-car melee in Race 19 of the V8 Supercars Championship last year which began exiting Turn 1 and resulted in chaotic scenes.
Ironically, it occurred only weeks after the Northern Territory government announced that it had approved $9.42million worth of upgrades for the circuit starting in 2014 with more work, specifically on amenities, to be completed in 2015.
Laurie Feehan, manager of the Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex and Events, which also includes the drag strip, speedway, mud racing, and kart tracks, says 95 per cent of work on the barriers is complete.
“The concrete wall work extends from Turn 1 to Turn 4 and they will be realigned as part of it as well,” Feehan told Speedcafe.com
Resurfacing work around the 14-turn, 2.9km track is on target to commence on July 14, three weeks after Event 6 of the V8 Supercars Championship, the Skycity Triple Crown.
Although it is not yet known what type of hotmix will be used, the bitumen has to withstand among the most extreme tropical temperatures in Australia.
“I’m told by our project managers that the mixes they have used down south are fairly close secrets so we are not sure whether we are able to use something very much the same or at least get the specs of that,” Feehan said.
“Ultimately it will be something that will be a lot more conducive to the hot ambient weather we have up here.
“Also the rain is a factor. We are about 300mm short of 1.6m for this wet season so far so we do pretty well in that area.”
Stage 2 of the upgrade work which will cost just over $4million and will include a redesign of the Turn 1 left-hander as well as sewerage, drainage and toilet upgrades.
