Over the past month rapid progress has been made in the planning and development of the new Western Sydney drag strip, with concentrated work by a number of New South Wales Government departments to ensuring it happens at the earliest possible time.

Under the auspices of the NSW Department of Sport and Recreation, a Co-ordination Committee has been established, chaired by that Department's Director-General, Brendan O'Reilly. This committee is designed to deal with the many issues involved in the planning of the venue and to steer it through the maze of approvals necessary to its construction.

A formal Development Committee has been set up, representing ANDRA's NSW Division to steer the project from the drag racing side. The committee is comprised of Tony Beuk as chairman and secretary, Jim Read, David Cook, NSW Division Director Geoff Crisp, Larry Sullivan and Don McQueen.

The Development Committee deals directly with the Coordination Committee, through Project Manager Neil Adams.

Both groups meet on at least a fortnightly basis. There is, however, a meeting of some form to do with the drag strip involving members of the Development Committee at least every second day, and numerous other meetings between various Government agencies on a daily basis.

"Quite frankly this is all moving at light speed right now," said drag strip principal lobbyist David Cook, "It is difficult to sustain the level of progress which the Government is willing to make, and while they are eager to push forward at this pace we will take everything we can get. It's all a vast cry from the difficulties of the past, but the enthusiasm of the team under Brendan O'Reilly has justified all our efforts so far."

The Development Committee's technical adviser, Don McQueen, a senior Government engineer and a keen drag racing fan, is in the process of establishing a gant chart, which plots all the inter-related tasks involved in a major construction and allows tracking of progress and prediction of dates for all stages of planning and construction.

The often-asked questions regarding the likely date for the commencement of construction and when racing can begin remain unanswerable at the moment, except in the broadest sense.

"Quite frankly we think we could build this in three months if we could start today," said fellow principal lobbyist Jim Read. "However, we understand the necessity of meeting all the planning and approval requirements. We wanted to have the process fast-tracked, and that's what its getting. In the near future we hope to be in a position to predict a possible start date.

"There have been some very optimistic dates put forward, but we honestly doubt the system's capacity to deliver a finished track as quickly as has been suggested. But I must say that given the current positive approach almost anything seems to be possible."

The NSW Government is again sending a delegation of observers to the Winternationals. The 2000 Konica Winternationals rerun, last October, was attended by two senior bureaucrats from the NSW Department of Public Works. This was an integral step in ensuring the sudden turn-around in the fortunes of the until then struggling proposal for a new drag strip in Sydney.

Both public servants commented on the family atmosphere, and the happy and friendly nature of those present. Both came prepared for a four-hour stay, from 10 am to 2 pm, but ended up staying until after midnight, enjoying the hospitality offered by the racers in the pits.

One, who was also present at the opening meeting of the Kwinana Motorplex in Perth, was overheard to comment to a Western Australian minister, that he'd enjoyed himself more at the Winternationals than at the Olympics.

This year the Willowbank event will be attended by Department of Sport and Recreation Director-General Brendan O'Reilly, Project Manager Neil Adams, Sport and Recreation Facility Development manager Phillip Keady and the ALP's IT officer Tony Beuk, who is also the chairman of ANDRA NSW's Development Committee.

The most recent meeting of the Co-ordination Committee, held in Rocket Industries' boardroom, as a handy location adjacent to the proposed site, signed off on the boundaries of the track property, securing approximately 70 hectares for the development of a stand-alone drag strip. This is approximately double the area on which the Willowbank track has been built.

The proposed track, at this stage, allows for over 7400 car parking spaces, pit space for over 600 race vehicles, up to 48-row seating on the western side of the track and 25 rows on the eastern side, space for over 50 garages, plus food service areas and other amenities under the eastern grandstands, a full quarter-mile strip built on a post-tensioned concrete raft (concrete surface to 660 ft and asphalt surface to the finish line) and over 2000 ft of braking area, plus emergency run-off.

Already the level of excitement is starting to rise rapidly in the Sydney drag racing scene.

What's Proposed

There has been some confusion being expressed over just what is proposed for the operational set-up of the new Western Sydney drag strip. The basic proposal, which has been in place since the first submission was put before the NSW Government in August 1998, has been for a non-profit structure, with all operational surpluses to be ploughed back into the further development of the venue, in much the same way as Willowbank operates.

This has been a condition of the Government dealings with the proponents, and the set-up of the management body, which is currently being directed by the Government's own probity advisers in negotiations with the proponents' legal adviser, Helen Russo.

It is intended that the body will be affiliated with the NSW Division of ANDRA, and that the current ANDRA Division Director or his nominee will always have a position on the management body.

Rumours of all financial surpluses being returned to Government are incorrect, and while a lease will be paid to Government for the use of the land, the balance, other than that required for operating expenses and wages, etc, will be used to continue the development of the property, and an extensive schedule of ideas is already on hand.

Deatils of the lease are as yet undetermined and will be resolved in negotiations in the coming months.

Booming Garage Scene

The positive news coming from the planned new Western Sydney drag strip has begun to encourage a rash of new and revamped race vehicle activity.

Chassis shops are already starting to be booked out for work, and Chief Steward Greg Schultz reported that he had 10 tech inspections to do on cars that were wanting to run at the Winternationals and which needed checking because they had not been on a track for some time.