The Repco Supercars Championship began at Mount Panorama on the weekend after the same circuit hosted the Bathurst 12 Hour, a billing which was conceived due to the cancellation of the Newcastle 500 in a late decision by that city’s local council.
Notwithstanding Bathurst Mayor Jess Jennings’ stated enthusiasm for the SuperFest concept – including not just the festivities but also the twin motor racing billing – it had long been regarded by many within the industry as an interim solution to the Newcastle deadlock.
Said deadlock has been broken by the axing of that event altogether, meaning next year’s curtain-raiser will likely be hosted at a third different venue in as many years.
“Where we go for Round 1 next year is an open question,” Supercars Chief Operating Officer Tim Watsford told Speedcafe during the Bathurst SuperFest.
“We’ve got a broader agreement with New South Wales, with the Sydney SuperNight and the [Bathurst] 1000, and, to be quite frank, there’s been amazing support from the Premier down, so we can’t thank them enough.
“We’ll go into negotiations with a variety of states and different areas, and, together internally, [consider] what’s best for the category to open up next year.”
New South Wales circuits have served as at least one of the bookends of the calendar every year from 2008 (the farewell to Oran Park) to present, with the state contractually entitled to the season-opener as part of a variation of the first and only Newcastle deal.
The state government has demonstrated its ongoing backing of Supercars, with Premier Chris Minns at one point slamming Newcastle council’s objections to an interim, one-year contract offer for 2024 as “nonsensical”.
However, Watsford confirmed to Speedcafe that NSW does not have an ongoing right to Event 1 of the championship, and, with the demise of the Newcastle 500, the state only has two circuits capable of hosting Supercars.
That would change if neighbouring Cessnock’s ‘Wine Country 500’ concept comes to fruition, and Supercars is in talks about just that, although the 2025 season-opener could go almost anywhere at this point.
“We’re engaged with SuperNight and the 1000 from a couple of years, so we’ve still got a little bit of a while to run on that deal,” explained Watsford.
“Newcastle was a separate agreement, and where we landed with them was, ‘Okay, if we can’t do Newcastle, where else can we go?’
“Look, we’d like to do more in New South Wales, to be quite frank. Our supporter base here is probably the best that we’ve got, together with Victoria and Queensland, obviously, and this is something that we want to support and grow them.
“There’s been a talk and been publicly stated around looking at the Hunter Valley region to try and maybe do a street course there.
“We’re in discussions with the local mayor and Destination New South Wales around what potentially that can look like.
“With any street circuit, it goes without saying that there’s a mountain of work but look, we’re keeping our options open.
“Like I said, we’ve got great support [and] we are a travelling circus, without stating the obvious.
“The volume of economic impact that we can bring to a local region or a town is way beyond what – I’ll throw a barb out here – NRL or AFL can ever offer.
“We’re here for effectively 13 days for this event [Bathurst SuperFest], and a general street circuit event – ie Newcastle – there’s five days of over 3000 Supercars officials and teams [personnel] alone that come and swell a town.
“So, our offering to a region is strong, and it’s known, and my role now is to work with regions to elaborate that and grow and go bigger.”
The noticeably thinner crowd at the Bathurst 500 compared to the Bathurst 12 Hour, let alone the Bathurst 1000, suggests that the SuperFest will indeed prove to be a one-off.
So too does the fact that, while marketed as a single event so as to comply with a legislated cap of five ‘motor races’ per year at Mount Panorama, it was two in practice, and Motorsport Australia issued separate permits.
However, the benefits are set to be more enduring than simply filling a gap on the calendar, with the entertainment offerings – which included theatre shows, a CBD live site, and regional driving days – serving as a template for Supercars’ new mantra of “bigger, better, more” from its events.
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