Aussies could learn from Hamilton: V8 bosses

Australian promoters could learn a lot from Hamilton's V8 Supercar event, says the championship boss. Photo / Getty Images

V8 Supercar championship bosses believe race promoters in Australia could take a leaf out of what has been dubbed another successful Hamilton 400.

"No question about that at all," championship chief executive Cameron Levick said today.

Levick said he had been "blown away" by the level of support the Hamilton event had received from the local council and the community.

"The whole town is behind it," he said.

"The place is buzzing. For us, it means the show we put on is really well appreciated by the whole community."

Taking lessons from Hamilton back to Australia, especially to the two new events on the circuit, was something championship officials certainly wanted to do, Levick said.

"People are walking around here having a great time," he said.

"So we want to pick whatever we can to share with our other promoters to try to put on a great event, like what we're going to try to do in the Townsville 400 in July and, of course, the big one, the Sydney 500 in December."

On the much debated chicane on the back straight of the 3.4km street circuit, Levick said that would be part of the event review, but he did not consider it a priority.

All race tracks had aspects that created interest and conversation, he said.

The chicane was remodelled after driver complaints last year.

The controversy this time around relates to whether there should be tyre bundles in place to regulate the speed through the turns.

The bundles were taken out for the final practice session on Friday, but reinstated for the remainder of the weekend after safety concerns.

Last year's inaugural Hamilton 400 had a three-day attendance total of more than 170,000, including a full house of 60,000 on the final day.

To improve comfort for fans, the daily capacity was reduced this year to 50,000, and 37,100 turned up on Friday and 41,500 yesterday.

Promoter Dean Calvert, who was hopeful the 50,000 mark could be reached today, said he was "very happy" with the figures so far, given the economic environment.

He said organisers of any other event in New Zealand that had similar attendance figures on consecutive days "would be over the moon".

Last April's race meeting produced one major complaint with the fans - poor viewing lines from part of the main grandstand.

Calvert said that had been rectified and there had been no similar problems this time around, adding that security and catering had also been improved.

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock said restaurants and bars reported busy trading this weekend.

At the same time, police had reported no major incidents and "seem to be extremely contented", he said.

"I think they are putting it down to a more mature audience than usually drinks there."

- NZPA