Motorsport: Keeping the whole show on the road

The organisers of this weekend's New Zealand round of the Australian V8 Supercar championship have taken heed of the feedback from last year's inaugural event.

Hamilton 400 event director Steve Vuleta always maintained he would listen to - and act upon - any good advice the fans or drivers put forward to improve the quality of racing and viewing.

As a result, there have been some modifications to the track and changes to some of the grandstands.

The qualifying rules have been changed since Adelaide and this weekend, tomorrow and Sunday's races will have separate qualifying sessions.

"It was a bit of an arm wrestle to begin with to get it all done to allow for the extra time needed on Sunday, but we did it at the demise of absolutely nothing," said Vuleta.

"All the support classes are able to run."

Another bump in the road for Vuleta was the chicane down the back straight where the drivers were hitting the third apex so hard that front suspension points were being bent or broken.

"I studied the video tape from last year and the biggest issue was the removal of the fourth apex in the chicane. Drivers were hitting the third apex really hard to avoid the fourth.

"Jason Richards took me out on the Friday night at speed and physically showed me what it was really like. It was a bit of an eye-opener for me," Vuleta said.

In other modifications, turn three has been sorted out to increase car stability, the stretch of road along King St has been smoothed out and the entry into Empire St has been widened.

The crowd numbers allowed on to the circuit have been reduced to make for better access around the track and viewing. The organisers are still expecting a sellout with up to 140,000 people expected over the three days.

"As well as the circuit amendments we've improved the seating, especially the stands along the front straight," said Vuleta.

"The view in front of them is now spot-on and spectators now can see right to the bottom of the cars.

"We pulled the wall back into the footpath by 1.2m, so the race track stays where it is but we've pulled the wall away from the cars."