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With the recent interest from Australian Supercars drivers in NASCAR, it got us at the Daily Downforce thinking. What if NASCAR were to race in the “Land Down Under”? Race tracks dot the island-continent, and there are plenty of interesting places that NASCAR can look at to race.
The most prominent race track in Australia is the Albert Part Street Circuit in Melbourne, Victoria. One thing that some Australian Street Circuits have are permanent sections built within their street circuits. In the case of Albert Part, the pit building is a fully permanent section of the street course.
NASCAR has proven that they can race on street courses, and this track undoubtedly has the facilities to host a NASCAR race. It already hosts Supercars and Formula One. It’s a more technical street circuit, so it would provide a different challenge to NASCAR drivers than the Chicago Street Course did.
Before there was Albert Park, there was Adelaide. This is a hybrid permanent and temporary race track. The final few turns and the start finish straight are permanently built with the rest of the track being public roads.
It hosts the Adelaide 500 Supercars race which functions as the season finale. The long straights with some tight turns means heavy braking zones. The track would lend itself to a very interesting NASCAR race.
With it being a popular venue for Supercars, NASCAR would probably put a good show on at the track. It’s also a historic venue with an older version of the track hosting the Formula One Australian Grand Prix for a number of years.
This is probably more on the wish side of the spectrum, but what a sight to see it would be for NASCAR to race at Mount Panorama. It is a race track that literally runs up and down a mountain. It hosts the Bathurst 1000 Supercars race, which is the biggest race in the series.
The tracks is not an easy place to pass on, particularly on the mountain, so, the racing product with big, bulky stock cars may be processional. However, there are parts at the bottom of the mountain where there can be passes made.
This would be mainly about the visual spectacle. It’s incredible to watch cars wind their way up and down a mountain. Darrell Waltrip even had his own thoughts on the track when he went to cover the Bathurst 1000 for Speed in 2011.
Sandown International Raceway is near Melbourne, Victoria, and it is all about raw speed. Long straightaways with a couple of tight turns and a few esses connecting them make up the track. NASCAR does not have a road course like this on the schedule.
They have tracks like COTA and Watkins Glen that have long straightaways, but this is a road course with lots of high-speed corners and long straightaways. Watching a bulky stock car try to navigate that would be cool. It also may bring in some interesting reliability questions as well.
How can the cars handle the sustained speeds and heavy braking that this track has? No track in NASCAR does it quite to this level. The heavy braking zones will also make for some incredible dive bombs.
Townsville is a similar race track to Adelaide in that it is a hybrid street and permanent race track. However, the track map shows that is is unlike some street courses. Rather than lots of 90 degree corners with straightaways connecting them, Townsville is different.
There is only one 90 degree corner on the entire race track. Meaning that every corner is unique and provides a cool challenge. It is a different beast than something like the Chicago Street Circuit.
Not only that, but having the track be partially permanent is a plus as well. It beats setting everything up to get ready for a race.
Australia has a lot of places for NASCAR to go to if they so choose to. Imagine a NASCAR/Supercars Doubleheader? If I could find a way to Australia for that, I would be there.
