The new Hamilton street circuit looks fast. Photo / Sarah Ivey
Everything's on track for Hamilton's debut on the V8 Supercar circuit.
"The resource consent went pretty well," said Steve Vuleta, organiser of the April 18-20 event.
"It's been two years in the planning and now it's all coming to fruition."
No one's been around the circuit in anger
yet, so it's going to be a level playing field for all the drivers.
The 3.4km street circuit looks fast and Vuleta said the original speed curve analysis for the track may have been on the conservative side.
Vuleta is pleased he's put together a circuit that's wide and quick with corners allowing for high exit speeds. The wide exit from turn eight on to the pit straight will enable drivers to get on the gas early allowing speeds up to 250km/h before breaking.
"The width, the huge width of the front straight is amazing," said Greg Murphy, the leading Kiwi driver this year.
"There's plenty of room and anywhere there's really fast bits going into slow corners will have good passing opportunities."
After a frustrating 2007, Murphy is looking forward to having a new Tasman Motorsport car at Hamilton for his home race.
So far this season Murphy and fellow Kiwi driver Jason Richards have been battling on with last year's older Commodores, and although doing better than last year, will be looking forward to challenging the front-runners around the streets of Hamilton.
"The positive from the AGP was my car had plenty of speed heading into the street race in Hamilton," said Richards.
Jamie Whincup arrives in Hamilton with a handy points lead but it is James Courtney who has shown really quick pace. However, he needs to finish more races to challenge for the title. Will Davison, the Dick Johnson Racing saviour, could be the dark horse as he's been in the points all season.
Now that Garth Tander's front suspension problems have been solved he'll be back at the front of the pack looking to close the point's gap on the leaders.
