Cessnock City Council threw its hat in the ring when neighbouring Newcastle councillors baulked at a new, 2024 deal for its event and then ultimately killed it off altogether.
The last-minute nature of the Newcastle 500 decision meant that this year’s Repco Supercars Championship opened at Mount Panorama, twinned with the 12 Hour to form the inaugural ‘Bathurst SuperFest’.
Despite stated enthusiasm from Bathurst’s mayor, the SuperFest is thought by most to have best been a one-off due to factors including legal/contractual and – notwithstanding solid television viewing figures – a noticeably small crowd on the Supercars weekend compared to even that of the 12 Hour weekend (which is already a niche, albeit respectable, drawcard compared to the Bathurst 1000).
While Cessnock has plenty of positives – not the least of which being that it would draw from virtually the same catchment as did the Newcastle 500, which had state government funding on the table for 2024 – the crucial question is that of a circuit.
Supercars Chief Operating Officer Tim Watsford told Speedcafe that Cessnock would be a push as the 2025 season-opener, but the category, council, and the state government’s tourism arm (Destination NSW) are all engaged in talks with a view to that possibility.
“I think we’re very much at ‘basecamp’, to be quite frank,” he explained, during the Bathurst SuperFest, of the ‘Wine Country 500’ proposal.
“[There is] Interest from all parties, which is great; Cessnock council – good to have the region involved – the state of New South Wales – good to have the state involved – and obviously us, so there’s a joint desire to try and see what can possibly happen.
“Cessnock, without stating the obvious, will need a variety of works to be undertaken to put a street circuit through it.
“What that looks like, I’m hoping to probably have kind of, in quarter one [or] quarter two, a bit of an idea of where we can probably land with that going forward.
“Is it a ‘25 proposition? It’d be tough, I think, at this stage.
“I’m not ruling it out, but it’s hard.
“There are a couple of [circuit] locations, but I think the other point is as well, what works for Supercars might not work for the region, and it might not work for the state.
“So, I guess what we’re currently doing is trying to work out what a track would look like through there, and then going through the engagement process to make sure that everyone’s aligned and making sure that actually can work.
“But, from an accommodation house perspective, it has more bed nights than Newcastle, so it can work.
“Hopefully, sooner rather than later, we can try and really start putting the rubber to the road – pardon the pun – and lay some foundations to make that work.”
READ MORE: Supercars casting a wide net for 2025 season-opener
Cessnock Mayor Jay Suvaal pounced when matters with Newcastle City Council came to a head and the Newcastle 500 was cancelled, initially for just 2024, last October.
According to Watsford – previously the CEO of the Northern Territory Major Events Company, which promotes the Darwin Triple Crown – there is “immense interest” in hosting Supercars (not necessarily the season-opener specifically), given the tourism pull of the championship and the economic injection created by teams and category staff alone.
That fits in well with the new mantra of “bigger, better, more” from Supercars events, with the hope that other events can emulate the glitzy Gold Coast 500 and become part of the fabric of the championship.
“We have got an immense interest, and right across Australia, to be quite frank,” said Watsford.
“Both regions and states are all looking around how they can generate a visitor economy off the back of major events, and our volume of people that we can bring is a is a genuine sell tool.
“We’re lucky enough to have the desire right across Australia, and our response over in New Zealand is incredible, so we’re in a privileged position.
“We want to do more, we want to go bigger – I think that’s a desire from the board, Shane [Howard] our CEO, and the executive team, to look at the future of what that category is, from a major event perspective – and we want to be major.
“So, street circuits, bigger events is definitely in the pipeline for us.
“How do we do it and build a sustainable offering? We want to come to a town and basically set and forget, to be quite frank, and be there forever.
“Look at some key events like the Gold Coast – that’s a staple part of their event calendar now, for the better part of 30 years – so that’s where we want to be in the future, for sure.”
Interest in next month’s return to New Zealand, at Taupo International Motorsport Park, has been so strong that Supercars announced a new grandstand and corporate capacity last month.
Canberra has also made motorsport headlines lately due to the inaugural Canberra Festival of Speed and also a bold election pitch for a new permanent circuit, although the prospect of Supercars racing in the Nation’s Capital again looks a longshot in the foreseeable future.
In coming weeks, the championship will race in front of a bumper crowd as part of the support bill for the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
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