Favourite emerges in race for new Supercars street event

Supercars CEO James Warburton has trumpeted his ambition to secure a NSW street event since returning to the job midway through last year.

Warburton’s previous stint in the role included spearheading the establishment of the Newcastle 500 that debuted in 2017.

However, after a COVID hiatus and a single-year return in 2023, the event was scrapped by the Newcastle Council.

A latest motion to revive that event was knocked back by the council last week, which instead voted to support exploring options elsewhere in the Hunter Region.

Supercars has not ruled out returning to the Hunter, although a ‘Wine Country 500’ mooted by the Cessnock Mayor in 2023 has so far failed to gain traction.

Warburton revealed late last year that Supercars’ two main targets are Wollongong and the Central Coast, most likely in the Terrigal area.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that Wollongong is the front-runner, speculating that a circuit could run along the Cliff Road foreshore and up to the Flagstaff Point Lighthouse.

Sydney-raised Supercars champions turned TV talent James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom are both quoted backing Wollongong, recalling karting events held on its streets in the 1990s.

Supercars is understood to have met with Destination NSW and Wollongong authorities in recent weeks regarding the proposed event.

Member for Wollongong Paul Scully responded to today’s Daily Telegraph story by declaring his support.

“This could be a fantastic opportunity for Wollongong and should be thoroughly examined,” he wrote.

“Cities should look to have a diverse range of events and attractions.

“An event like this would support more tourism, boost local jobs and has the potential to make a multi-million injection into the local economy.”

Warburton confirmed to Speedcafe last month that discussions with Destination NSW, the Minns Government and local areas are ongoing.

“We want to open our season in Perth and that’s progressing for 2028, and then we want one more big street circuit,” he affirmed.

“Destination New South Wales are fantastic partners and then we’ve sort of got various options within that.

“It is about finding those locations that have the accommodation, that are close to major cities or airports and actually have that ability to bring the day trippers and the people that want to stay.

“So whether it’s the Hunter Region, whether it’s Wollongong, Central Coast… it’s about finding councils and local tourism bodies that actually want to partner with us and with the state government.”

Wollongong ticks the key boxes for Supercars due to its size and day trip distance of under 100km from Sydney’s CBD.

Warburton affirmed that 2028 is the target for a fresh NSW street event to join the calendar alongside the new Perth event.

“You’d love to think you could get it up and running in ’27, but you’re better to design these things, take your time, do it properly, so that you get the tenure out of it,” he said of NSW.

“You look at some of the races that we’ve had and how long we’ve had them, they do become institutions, so we don’t want to be chopping and changing.”

The ill-fated Newcastle event took over from Sydney Olympic Park, which hosted Supercars from 2009 to 2016.

Although the Homebush location appeared a perfect coup for Supercars, the area proved costly to operate and the event failed to capture the attention of Sydneysiders.

“It’s about taking it to the regions,” Warburton added.

“When you think about our calendar, we’re very regionally centric in terms of what we do and the core of our fans.

“We’ll see, but we’re making no secret of what our ambitions are and now we’ve got to get on with them.”

NSW currently hosts two Supercars events, the Sydney 500 at Sydney Motorsport Park and the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.

Supercars also operates the Bathurst 12 Hour GT endurance race with backing from Destination NSW.