Superscars CEO confirms the discussions to bring NASCAR to the streets of Australia
Scott McLaughlin reacts to the NASCAR test on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit: “That’s out of control.”
So, you want interesting NASCAR events and less 1.5-mile tracks? NASCAR is actively working on it.
Watch the NASCAR test video below from the Surfers Paradise Circuit.
This week, rumors began to fly that the Supercars was looking to bring NASCAR to a street circuit for a combination weekend. The track in discussions was a street circuit on the coast in Australia.
It appears that the wide spread rumors are true. As of now, the two sanctions are in discussions of how to make it happen. Today, a test session was conducted at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland, Australia.
Yesterday, a photo was posted on social media of a NASCAR race car in the garage at the Supercars event.
Got two cars to play with this weekend… the #17… and the #22,” Scott Mclaughlin tweeted ahead of his test run. “I’m a very lucky guy!”
Dale Earnhardt Jr stated, “Make it happen.”
They have since made it happen. The NASCAR test in Australia has been completed on the street course.
Scott McLaughlin and teammate Fabian Coulthard piloted the NASCAR race car around the street circuit. McLaughlin has won 23 races in the Supercars Series. He’s finished 2nd in championship standings the previous two seasons.
Fabian Coulthard is a 28-year-old racing driver with 374 Supercars’ races under his belt. He’s been to victory lane 10 times in the series and has a best championship finish of 3rd which came in 2017.
The test session was completed using a car that was supplied by Team Penske and driven by Joey Logano in the 2016 NASCAR Cup Series season. They hosted three 10-minute test sessions with the machine.
The NASCAR test session took place on the street circuit that sits on the beach during the Gold Coast 600 weekend. The test runs were conducted to measure the interest of NASCAR being added to the Australian event. Does it create a buzz?
Previously, the Verizon Indycar Series hosted a race on this same track. The pulled out following the 2008 race, leaving Supercars as the primary series on the ticket.
The NASCAR race cars are much heavier than a Supercar. They’re also more powerful and the brakes don’t work near as good. All of the above things are exactly why this is a great idea!
Scott McLaughlin
Scott McLaughlin after running the NASCAR race car on the streets:
“That’s out of control” McLaughlin stated to his mechanic, directly after climbing from the machine.
“It’s a bucket-list done, no matter what happens in my life I’m happy I’ve driven a NASCAR,” said McLaughlin, who has made no secret of his desire to one day race in the US.”
“I’ve just got to thank Roger [Penske, team owner] and Team Penske for letting me have a go.”
“I was probably a little bit of an amateur, I was holding on for dear life, but it was pretty cool.”
“[Initially] it was starting to do this weird vibration stuff then it calmed itself down, then I thought I’d have a crack.”
“I got to 6,000 revs and it just kept revving, it wouldn’t stop revving. I was like, ‘this is crazy!’”
“The power was unreal and as I said the rev-range of the thing was crazy, that was pretty intense.”
The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a challenge for cars that are designed for quick maneuvers. It features 9 corners in tight quarters. The track sits on a narrow coastline strip.
“I hit the smallest kerb out there and got a massive headache from banging my head on the seat,” he said.
“I don’t know (how a race would go), for us it was just good to get it out for Shell and all of our partners.”
Sean Seamer
Supercars CEO
“It is still very early days,” Supercars CEO Sean Seamer told Motorsports.com . “We don’t want to get carried away, but those guys came down and met with us in August”
“We committed to having a more open and regular dialogue [with NASCAR], and we have spoken to DJR Team Penske and we are gathering information on how we might be able to get cars out [to Australia] and when we might be able to get cars out.”
“Obviously they have got a lot of cars in rotation along with engines, so we will work through all that with them,” added Seamer. “Is it a combination of main game, Xfinity or Trucks? All that needs to be worked through.
“It is still really early days. The first thing was let’s get one out and running [with the demo] this weekend and see what it looks like and goes like and gauge the reaction.
“If it all goes well this weekend those conversations will keep going on.”
Queensland Tourism
“We’ve had very productive conversations between Supercars and Tourism Events Queensland and I give this assurance, I want to see this event continue to grow,” said Queensland’s Minister for Innovation and Tourism Industry Development, Kate Jones.
“Certainly, looking at new products and new races to add to the event are part of those discussions.
“We know that Supercars is a race product, but we also know there are many fans out there that would love to see NASCAR added.”
Watch the video from the NASCAR test on the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit below.
NASCAR test run video in Australia
Fullscreen, Sound On ?
This is @smclaughlin93 in @joeylogano‘s 2016 Ford @NASCAR on the streets of the Gold Coast.#VASC #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/QBrUsdZCth
— Supercars (@supercars) October 19, 2018
More
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Poll data shows more short tracks are wanted by NASCAR fans
Links
NASCAR | Scott McClaughlin | Team Penske | Supercars | Australia
