_track_map.svg/2000px-Sandown_(Australia)_track_map.svg.png)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 25 km (16 mi) south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and back straights being 899 and 910 m (983 and 995 yd) long respectively.
Sandown Racecourse was first built as a horse racing facility, dating back into the 19th century, but closed in the 1930s in a government run rationalisation program. Redevelopment began not long after World War II. A bitumen motor racing circuit was built around the outside of the proposed horse track (which was not completed until 1965) and was first opened in 1962 and held the race which became the Sandown 500 for the first time in 1964. The circuit hosted its first Australian Touring Car Championship race in 1965.
The opening meeting, held on 11 and 12 March 1962, featured the 1962 Sandown International Cup, which was contested by world-famous international drivers including Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren and John Surtees. A second Sandown International Cup was held in 1963, the two races serving as the forerunners of the Sandown round of the annual Tasman Series from 1964 to 1975. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the race meetings continued to attract international stars along with the best of Australia's drivers.
Australia's traditional Holden/Ford rivalry really surfaced at the track in the late 1960s and through the 1970s with drivers such as Norm Beechey, Ian Geoghegan, Allan Moffat, Bob Jane, Colin Bond and Peter Brock and continues to the present day. From 1968 to 1980[citation needed] almost every major touring car race held at the circuit was won by those driving either a Holden or a Ford.
1984 saw an extension of the track to 3.878 km (2.410 mi) to comply with FIA regulations for minimum track length for World Championship events, the ultimate goal being to host the Formula One World Championship, though ultimately that went to Adelaide. It also saw the first 500 km race held at the circuit, the Castrol 500, being Round 3 of the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship. Peter Brock and Larry Perkins took their Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore to a one lap victory in the 1984 Castrol 500; it was to be the last of Brock's record nine wins in the Sandown enduro events.
Along with the circuit changes, some AUD$600,000 had been spent relocating the pits from its original place between what was turns one and two (now turns one and four) to its now permanent place coming onto the main straight. The new international standard pits included pit bays and lock-up garages for over 40 cars.
In 1989, the largely unpopular, 3.878 km (2.410 mi) International Circuit (often referred to by Australian television commentators as the "Village Grand Prix" due to how slow the infield section was compared to the rest of the circuit) was abandoned and the track reverted to 3.104 km (1.929 mi), though not by using the original 8 turn layout, but a modified 13 turn course. This was achieved by simply bypassing the largely unpopular tight and twisty infield section that had been in use since 1984 and using only the re-configured National (outer) Circuit. The effect was also to bring the cars closer to the spectator area on the outside of the esses to bring back spectators to the area. The esses at the end of the back straight was a popular spectator area during the 1970s and 1980s with several converted double-decker buses frequenting race meetings.
While the extension to the circuit had been necessary to lift Sandown's minimum length to 3.9 km, unfortunately the circuit promotors, the Light Car Club of Australia, were restricted by not being able to expand beyond the property boundary which only left going infield, which itself met with restrictions from the Melbourne Racing Club who administered the Sandown horse race course who naturally wanted minimal disruption to their horse racing track. The 800 metre extension was not overly popular with spectators (there was no spectator access to the infield) nor the racers, especially the touring car teams who in that era (1984–1988) found the long runs in 2nd gear through that section were hard on drivelines and transmissions.
Hub AI
Sandown Raceway AI simulator
(@Sandown Raceway_simulator)
Sandown Raceway
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 25 km (16 mi) south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and back straights being 899 and 910 m (983 and 995 yd) long respectively.
Sandown Racecourse was first built as a horse racing facility, dating back into the 19th century, but closed in the 1930s in a government run rationalisation program. Redevelopment began not long after World War II. A bitumen motor racing circuit was built around the outside of the proposed horse track (which was not completed until 1965) and was first opened in 1962 and held the race which became the Sandown 500 for the first time in 1964. The circuit hosted its first Australian Touring Car Championship race in 1965.
The opening meeting, held on 11 and 12 March 1962, featured the 1962 Sandown International Cup, which was contested by world-famous international drivers including Jack Brabham, Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Bruce McLaren and John Surtees. A second Sandown International Cup was held in 1963, the two races serving as the forerunners of the Sandown round of the annual Tasman Series from 1964 to 1975. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the race meetings continued to attract international stars along with the best of Australia's drivers.
Australia's traditional Holden/Ford rivalry really surfaced at the track in the late 1960s and through the 1970s with drivers such as Norm Beechey, Ian Geoghegan, Allan Moffat, Bob Jane, Colin Bond and Peter Brock and continues to the present day. From 1968 to 1980[citation needed] almost every major touring car race held at the circuit was won by those driving either a Holden or a Ford.
1984 saw an extension of the track to 3.878 km (2.410 mi) to comply with FIA regulations for minimum track length for World Championship events, the ultimate goal being to host the Formula One World Championship, though ultimately that went to Adelaide. It also saw the first 500 km race held at the circuit, the Castrol 500, being Round 3 of the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship. Peter Brock and Larry Perkins took their Holden Dealer Team VK Commodore to a one lap victory in the 1984 Castrol 500; it was to be the last of Brock's record nine wins in the Sandown enduro events.
Along with the circuit changes, some AUD$600,000 had been spent relocating the pits from its original place between what was turns one and two (now turns one and four) to its now permanent place coming onto the main straight. The new international standard pits included pit bays and lock-up garages for over 40 cars.
In 1989, the largely unpopular, 3.878 km (2.410 mi) International Circuit (often referred to by Australian television commentators as the "Village Grand Prix" due to how slow the infield section was compared to the rest of the circuit) was abandoned and the track reverted to 3.104 km (1.929 mi), though not by using the original 8 turn layout, but a modified 13 turn course. This was achieved by simply bypassing the largely unpopular tight and twisty infield section that had been in use since 1984 and using only the re-configured National (outer) Circuit. The effect was also to bring the cars closer to the spectator area on the outside of the esses to bring back spectators to the area. The esses at the end of the back straight was a popular spectator area during the 1970s and 1980s with several converted double-decker buses frequenting race meetings.
While the extension to the circuit had been necessary to lift Sandown's minimum length to 3.9 km, unfortunately the circuit promotors, the Light Car Club of Australia, were restricted by not being able to expand beyond the property boundary which only left going infield, which itself met with restrictions from the Melbourne Racing Club who administered the Sandown horse race course who naturally wanted minimal disruption to their horse racing track. The 800 metre extension was not overly popular with spectators (there was no spectator access to the infield) nor the racers, especially the touring car teams who in that era (1984–1988) found the long runs in 2nd gear through that section were hard on drivelines and transmissions.