Homebush Street Circuit
# Homebush Street Circuit

The Homebush Street Circuit, also known as the Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit, was a 3.420 km (2.125 mi) temporary street circuit around the former Olympic precinct at Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush Bay, Australia. The track hosted the Sydney 500 and was used for the first time at the final round of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. The circuit was used for the final time in December 2016 due to a relocation to a Newcastle after it was announced the ANZ stadium precinct would be upgraded and block the track location.

## Layout

The circuit was designed by Mark Skaife, who focused on creating a track with a variety of bumps, camber changes and fast and slow corners making it difficult to complete the perfect lap. It was constructed on Australia Avenue, Kevin Coombs Avenue, Edwin Flack Avenue and Dawn Fraser Avenue. 140 mature trees needed to be removed and kilometres of tarmac needed to be torn up to accommodate the race. Overall the track had a mixture of track surfaces.

V8 Supercar driver Jason Richards suggested that there were many difficult braking areas, interesting corners and good passing spots. The main straight was the single widest section of race track in Australia, while the straight along Edwin Flack Avenue was one of the narrowest. The outside of turn eight had an unusual negative camber that caught many drivers out in the inaugural race, resulting in several cars crashing into the outer barriers.

The first race was won by the Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander from pole position while, the second 250 km race was won by Dick Johnson Racing's James Courtney (who started from second position on the grid). Jamie Whincup secured winning the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series after finishing fifth in race 1 and fourteenth in race 2.

## Environmental concerns

The conversion of part of the Sydney Olympic Park precinct into a V8 street-car race circuit was widely criticised. The Total Environment Centre said that the New South Wales Government overrode the threatened species law, as well as the Homebush Bay Authority's planning principals, and would cause social, environmental and economic disruption at Sydney Olympic Park. Tony McCormick, who led the team that designed Sydney Olympic Park, said "I find it truly a travesty... The site was supposed to be a legacy for generations and we can’t even make it last a decade."

## Closure

In 2015, V8 Supercars proposed to shorten the circuit to reduce the event's costs. This proposal failed, and in March 2016 it was announced that the ongoing costs of running the event would result in 2016 being the final running of the Sydney 500.

## Lap records

As of 4 December 2016, the official race lap records at Homebush Street Circuit are listed as:

| Class | Driver | Vehicle | Time | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Street Circuit: 3.420 km (2009–2016) |||||
| Supercars Championship | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden VF Commodore | 1:27.9481 | 3 December 2016 |
| Super2 Series | Cameron Waters | Ford FG Falcon | 1:28.3668 | 7 December 2014 |
| GT3 | Bernd Schneider | Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 | 1:28.6368 | 2 December 2012 |
| Porsche Carrera Cup | Jonny Reid | Porsche 911 (997) GT3 Cup | 1:30.2244 | 4 December 2011 |
| Formula Ford | Anton De Pasquale | Mygale SJ13a | 1:34.1651 | 8 December 2013 |
| Formula 4 | Nick Rowe | Mygale M14-F4 | 1:34.2658 | 6 December 2015 |
| Touring Car Masters | John Bowe | Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 | 1:36.8400 | 4 December 2016 |
| Aussie Racing Cars | Blake Sciberras | Toyota Aurion-Yamaha | 1:43.0750 | 5 December 2015 |
| V8 Ute Racing Series | David Sieders | Holden VE SS Ute | 1:43.5860 | 3 December 2016 |
| Australian Mini Challenge | Chris Alajajian | Mini JCW R56 | 1:46.2661 | 5 December 2010 |
| Toyota 86 Racing Series | Will Brown | Toyota 86 | 1:49.3997 | 3 December 2016 |
| Stadium Super Trucks | Sheldon Creed | Stadium Super Truck | 1:54.9534 | 5 December 2015 |
