V8 Supercars is looking to turn the annual Sandown 500 into an AFL-style heritage round event as it prepares to extend the endurance race classic for at least another three years.
The classic finish as two Ford Falcons finish first and second at the 1977 Bathurst 1000. Photo: Leo Thomas
Fairfax Media has learned that V8 teams have been told that this year's 500 km race at Sandown Raceway in Springvale in Melbourne's south-east is planned to be run as a "retro round" that pays tribute to the track's status as the longest-serving in Australian touring car racing history.
It is also understood that V8 Supercars is close to securing the Sandown 500's future until at least 2019, allaying fears that the Melbourne Racing Club, which owns the combined horse and car racing venue, is planning to sell the suburban site in the near future.
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The September 18 Sandown 500 is the last under the existing agreement and in anticipation of an extended deal, V8 officials want to emphasise the event's heritage by adopting a retro theme. Similar to the AFL's heritage rounds, V8 Supercars wants the teams to turn out in classic colours in what would become an annual history-themed event, with cars and team kit reflecting past glories.
The 3.1 km Sandown circuit, which runs around the outside of the horse racing track, would also be dressed up in "old school" signage and feature off-track retro attractions. The V8 teams are being encouraged to adopt historic or tribute car liveries harking back to the 1960s, '70s and '80s, recreating famous racing colour schemes associated with the squads or the marques they represent in those eras.
They have also been asked to come up with retro pit garage signage and flashback team uniforms, as well as to create heritage-themed promotions around the event and produce period-look team or manufacturer merchandise.
V8 Supercars, which is planning to make the retro look an annual theme for the Sandown 500, will support the teams' turn-out in tribute liveries by adding to the old- fashioned feel with classic food vendors, swing dancers, jazz bands and classic car shows in the fan entertainment areas.
It is also likely that track marshals and other race officials will be decked out in traditional all-white overalls. This year's Wilson Security Sandown 500 from September 16-18 will be the track's 47th Australian touring car/V8 Supercars event ��� the most hosted by any of the 16 venues on the V8 calendar. Sandown, which is one of the very few metropolitan permanent motor sport circuits in the world, first held a major touring car race in 1964 with a six-hour endurance race.
That became the annual lead-up event to the Bathurst 1000 and since 2013 has been the first leg of the three-event V8 Supercars Enduro Cup, a two-driver title that also includes Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600. V8 teams have used retro car liveries to highlight significant anniversaries and several ran tribute colours in the 50th Bathurst 100 in 2013, but there has never been an official heritage event where every squad is expected ��� if not compelled ��� to field their cars in throwback colour schemes or extend the retro theme to team apparel, promotions and merchandise.
Most have only been racing in their existing guise in the past decade, but several can trace their antecedence or inspiration as far back as the '70s. Only Volvo's Garry Rogers Motorsport has a direct lineage of more than 50 years, while DJR Team Penske's origins go back to 1980. Holden Racing Team started in 1990, but it is a direct descendant of the Holden Dealer Team, which was formed in 1969.
At a stretch, former Ford factory team Prodrive Racing can thread a broken line back to the Blue Oval-backed touring car team in the 1960s.
V8 Supercars' plan to make the Sandown 500 its annual heritage round event bodes well for the future of car racing at the MRC-owned complex, which has been under threat of sale for residential redevelopment. But according to insiders, after recent positive talks, V8 Supercars is on the verge of an agreement to take up its option to extend the 500 for another three years or more, secure in the knowledge that the track will be available through 2019.
V8 executives are understood to be keen to sign a four- or five-year deal if the MRC guarantees tenure.