The people behind a radical revamp planned for the Eastern Creek circuit near Sydney have claimed that the work could be enough to tempt the Australian Grand Prix away from Melbourne.
Although Albert Park recently extended its deal to host the event until 2015, Allan Moffat - a board member of the Australian Racing Drivers' Club – said he felt the proposed upgrades could give Eastern Creek the edge over Melbourne when it comes to securing the long-term future of the race.
"
Bernie Ecclestone will get sick of Melbourne's refusal to host a night race," he told the
Australian Daily Telegraph. “We would be in a position to take advantage.
“It would cost three times as much to develop a suitable facility on virgin land. We have the basis for it right here in the middle of Blacktown, Australia's fastest growing area."
As part of the $93 million plans to develop Eastern Creek into a 'super-circuit', the new facility would use more than 70 per cent of the current circuit and would be reversed to run in the opposite direction – with the possibility that the work could be completed in just two years.
"We would simply have to run in cables and erect towers," Clive Bowen from Apex Circuit Design, the company behind the plans, said. "Regulations require a heavy braking zone at the end of the straight of a category one circuit.
"It will be a spectacular sight in a natural amphitheatre."
