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Phillip Island, don’t you just love it?
It produces some of the best racing there is, as proved once again by the thrilling MotoGP race last weekend.
The racing, the circuit and the crowd all looked awesome on TV. But, it’s not all roses at the Phillip Island GP Circuit and it’s time something was done.
For some reason, nobody appears to be prepared to stand up and just say what those in the industry know to be the case and have talked about endlessly for years.
The garages and the paddock at this circuit are seriously substandard by almost any international measure, whilst the pit lane is so tight it’s dangerous.
For four-wheeled national racing at PI, the whole ensemble is very, very average especially when one considers that the track hire charges are amongst the very highest in the country.
For MotoGP and World Superbikes, we bring the best riders and teams to the best piece of racing tarmac in the world and then give them some of the worst facilities on their respective tours to work in.
And for any racing involving pit stops, the lack of adequate pit lane width stops being an inconvenience and starts being downright dangerous for all crews involved.
It’s about time that there was a serious plan put in place to upgrade the facilities as a matter of urgency. What needs to be done?
- A new pit building incorporating garages that are large enough for not only today’s MotoGP teams to operate from comfortably but also cars the size of a Supercar or a GT car to be worked on safely. There’s a great template in terms of size that’s been used both in Townsville and in Perth – they don’t have to be huge.
- The new pit building needs to be set back far enough from the track to allow a pit lane with a safe working width for pit stops to be performed. The current pit lane is so narrow that it’s even a problem just to drive in and out of the garages without pushing back and forth half the time.
- Incorporate modern toilet facilities and enough of them for both the pit garages and also the wider paddock without having to walk more than 50m from any one spot.
- A new or second tunnel (two way) access to allow decent access to the paddock at any time that then also allows the free movement of emergency vehicles.
Not only would the above create a better, safer, working environment for teams and officials, but these changes would also enable a better experience for fans as well if handled creatively.
A decent passageway for fans between trucks and the backs of the garages (for national events – clearly there are no trucks at a MotoGP event at PI) such as that at Tailem Bend would improve the show for fans in the paddock.
In the last few years we have all seen, and benefitted from, the investments made by the Shahin family and Tony Quinn at The Bend and Queensland Raceway respectively.
The Phillip Island circuit is, like The Bend and QR, owned by one of the country’s wealthiest families.
Surely, between the PI owners and the Australia Grand Prix Corporation (and the Victorian Government – effectively the same thing), the facilities can be redeveloped into something that we can be proud of off circuit as well as on?
And when that also massively increases the level of safety in the pit garages and pit lane, not only for race teams, but also for pit lane marshals and firies, that’s got to be a win/win.
I’ve said many times over the last few years that I regard one of Tony Cochrane’s biggest achievements in motorsport to have been the work he did to get the Bathurst pit lane, pit building and the paddock redeveloped into a world-class facility.
The Phillip Island circuit, like Bathurst, is a national treasure and deserves to have the same level of TLC.
And if, by chance, there are already real plans afoot then come out and tell us please.
We’ve read about various schemes for the track and the surroundings for years now but nothing has actually happened.
Last week’s Roland’s View: The Great Race should have started under the Safety Car.
