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The Motorsport Brief: Motorsport CEO Eugene Arocca on Melbourne's Super Circuit · Rusty's Garage

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  A listener production.
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  A brand new, world-class, permanent motorsport complex in Australia has, in principle, been given the green light.
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  And today, we're going to learn more about it.
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  Hi everybody, Greg Rust with you for another edition of our Rusty's Garage Shortcast.
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  We're also releasing the latest of our traditional long-form episodes.
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  James Small, the Aussie Crew Chief in NASCAR, is out now.
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  That is a fantastic story of a determined young racer who could have actually made a career behind the wheel, a successful one.
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  But he turned a corner with an engineering degree in hand and is now competing on the
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  other side of the pit wall in one of the biggest series there is.
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  James's release is hot off the back of Damon Hill too so you might enjoy some reflections with the 1996 F1 world champion as the sport gears up in a couple of weeks time for round four of F1 in Azerbaijan.
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  Now
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  You can also find in our library Eugene Araka too, a lawyer with a proud AFL background with time at Collingwood and significantly with the North Melbourne Club.
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  He has been the CEO of Motorsport Australia for over a decade now and he knows this project that we're detailing today in the Motorsport Brief very closely.
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  He's intimately connected with it huge.
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  Welcome back to Rusty's Garage.
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  Always a pleasure, Rusty, and thanks very much for having me on, mate.
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  Tell us about this and how long has it kind of been bubbling away?
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  Well, I think it certainly predates COVID.
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  I remember going out to Fiskville back in 2018.
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  Fiskville is a site just in the west of Melbourne, which was operated by the CFA, the Country Fire Authority.
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  And we've recognised for some years, Rusty, that there was a need for us to find something in the west, but more importantly, prepare for the inevitable closure of Sandown, which has been on the cards for a number of years.
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  And so we started with Fiskville, but it became apparent after COVID that that wasn't going to happen and we weren't able to get access to that land.
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  And as fate would have it, we're able to, through government, through the Victorian government, connect with the Fox family and Avalon and be able to secure an in-principle agreement for us to take land at that site.
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  And now we've got the government support behind us in conducting a feasibility study, which I hope and we hope will ultimately lead to
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  significant government funding to build this world-class track.
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  So it's been four or five years in the making.
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  Still got a few more years ahead of us, but this is a really important day for us as a motorsport industry for the development of this new track.
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  Congratulations.
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  It's been badged by some colleagues I've seen as a bit of a super circuit that I think on paper will cater to two, four-wheel, bit of a driver training element, and beyond the racetrack, too huge.
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  Probably at concept stage, but what sort of things can you tell us more broadly about what this will hopefully become?
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  Yeah.
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  Well, look, we've got a very long laundry list of things we want to put onto this site, everything from a university to a centre of excellence to an international training facility.
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  So it's not just about the asphalt and the tar.
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  It's more about what we can create as an industry-changing technology
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  test you for development and innovation and training for motorsport generally, but it will also serve as a really important element of the whole Avalon precinct.
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  So we would like to think that motorsport would be the jewel in the crown of the development of the whole precinct in Avalon.
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  And for those of in the western suburbs who live between Melbourne and Geelong,
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  everything from the railway line to the whole western suburbs would get behind this project.
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  But in our vision, Rusty, it's about putting motorsport front and centre, having the events, but having all of the bells and whistles, as I talked about, you know, the universities...
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  girls on track, first gear training, officials training.
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  We envisage trainers from officials coming from all over the South Pacific or South East Asia region to come and train at this super centre.
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  And of course, great events, great motorsport events, and not only national level, but everything down to club level and international level.
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  So
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  The government really has got an appetite to support us with this, and we've just got to get this feasibility done over the next nine months so we can actually get the government to reach into its coffers and put some money on the table.
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  Cool.
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  Just to tap into what you said a moment ago there about Sandown, it has been under a cloud for some time.
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  Lots of great history there, you just, as you know, but a prime location for Melbourne housing or real estate.
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  What is your understanding of its current life expectancy, if you can share that?
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  Well, it's been like the Lazarus of the motorsport world.
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  It just keeps coming back.
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  Every time we hear that it's about to close, it seems to be another three years.
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  I would think from the information I have and from reading what I've read and seeing what I've seen that the government's very keen to support 2024 as the 60th anniversary of the Sandown event that goes back to 64.
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  And I personally can't see much of a future beyond three years of that.
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  We've gone out to Sandown as part of the FIA track inspections, and it needs upgrades and further work that would cost a considerable amount of money.
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  That always becomes a sort of fork in the road for any operator of a venue as to whether they're going to spend more money on a track.
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  when it doesn't have a long-term future, or whether we're just going to try and keep it going until such time as they move on.
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  So, look, crystal balling on sand down is like shooting, you know, it's just almost impossible.
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  History tells us that every time we talk about it, it seems to get another kick along, but I would think that three to five years would be the absolute max.
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  What's the commitment?
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  You talked a little bit about it from the Victorian government as far as the Avalon project is concerned.
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  Just kind of explain if you are able to what the next steps would be to kind of turn this into a reality.
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  And the target huge is is I think 2026.
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  Is that correct?
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  That would be right.
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  I mean, look, as I said, this has been a four or five year project, but critical to getting funding from government.
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  And the clear objective is to get funding from government.
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  And they have not shied away from the possibility of that or probability of that.
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  But working through Treasury and finance in any government, you need to put together a business case.
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  and present it to government.
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  And over the next nine months, a fellow called Tim Bamford, who's well known to motorsport circles, is leading the project on our behalf to put together a feasibility and design stage to put to the government either late this year or very early next year.
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  Our hope, Rusty, would be that it will be such a compelling argument that in 2024, the government would allocate funding to support the Victorian home of motorsport.
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  We see it as a national home of motorsport, given what we'd be seeking in terms of funding.
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  Then once that's been achieved, and that could be in 2024, one would hope.
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  there would be a lot of work to be done in terms of actually developing and designing the tracks and the areas surrounding it.
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  I think the earliest you could expect this track to have a ribbon cutting ceremony would be late 226 or early 227.
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  And that's based on my experience with other tracks that have been built around the country and in particular Tatum Bend, but also recognising that at the moment we don't have funding for the actual track build, but we believe that will
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  Many long-termers that are attached to the sport have worried for some time about kind of striking that balance huge between street circuits, which are fantastic at taking the sport to the people, but they do chew up a lot of government funding and they're temporary.
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  They don't have the facilities that then can cater year-round to our members for other purposes.
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  We've got venues at capacity in other parts of Victoria
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  Were all of these things together and naturally its position to a lot of our constituents, our people that love motor racing, were they all the kind of factors that have ultimately led you to land the pin fundamentally with Avalon?
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  since day one, since I started in this job, I was a strong advocate of both street circuits, but for a screaming need for us to have more facilities.
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  It costs money.
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  And whilst it's a fantastic event promotion for a particular week in any particular state at any particular time, may pack it all up, it gets put away for another 12 months.
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  And what we found is that
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  We need to be able to feed the demand for motor sport, which is continuing to grow.
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  And having a street circuit set up for two weeks in one location at the highest level of sport and then packing it away doesn't serve that need.
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  And so the government recognises this.
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  but it also recognises that the west of Victoria, or western suburbs of Victoria, is a large demographic area for motorsport, and we have no tracks in the west of any note.
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  So I'm a big fan of street circuits.
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  They drive attendances, they drive... You know, we have a third most attended sport, fourth most attended sport.
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  That wouldn't happen without street circuits in major capital cities, but we need to capture and take advantage of that exposure and create permanent facilities year-round and...
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  that will actually feed the demand for the sport, which is continuing to grow.
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  As you do this next phase of research of due diligence, what kind of challenges do you think you need to be mindful of?
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  And I ask that huge knowing that automotive and motorsport has and is going through change around things like environmental expectations from our members, our constituents.
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  I guess some of that stuff is going to be factored in here, knowing that the target is 26, 27.
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  Yeah, we want to build a track and we want to invest in a track with the support of a government that is for the future and therefore building a track that is simply going to be the traditional asphalt and tar and not much around it is not on the agenda.
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  What we want to build is something that...
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  educates, promotes, grows, innovates, and moves into the space around e-vehicles, electric vehicles.
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  So, for example, we would be looking at charging stations.
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  At the moment, there are too many venues in this country that have got electric charging facilities for a field of cars, and they're not exactly high speed.
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  So we would be looking to put to the government that this is actually going to be a forerunner
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  for world sport so that we can actually use this as an example to the FIA to show them what the tracks of the future are going to be and that's more as I said than asphalt and tar you know we are in discussions with universities we would love to have major university on site supporting what we want to achieve in motorsport beyond just competitive racing so I think it's going to be a
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  build, it's going to be like nothing else before, and therefore we need to be able to look at all the elements around sustainability, the environment, innovation, e-vehicles, and the future of a sport generally.
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  And we know it's got a future.
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  We just need to be a part of that discussion.
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  There's been rumours in recent months about a possible renovation or reinvigoration of Calder Park.
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  Does that kind of end the possibility of that, or is that something maybe that I need to have a conversation with perhaps the Jane family about?
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  Oh,
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  I think you'd probably have to have a conversation with the Jane family.
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  They were approached or they did approach government, as far as I'm aware, to talk about the possibility of that venue called the park being the potential future home of...
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  Motorsport in Victoria.
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  The government, having conducted a variety of different investigations and due diligence, has opted for what we believe to be a better fit for us.
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  And critical to this project is the government's absolute insistence that this venue is for the sport.
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  run by the sport, managed by the sport, invested in by the sport, and the funding that comes out of it goes back into the sport.
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  I don't think that there are many private operators that could deliver that in the current and given that current requirement of government.
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  So I think the Jane family may be disappointed.
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  They've also got an issue around location and that they're
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  not too far from the edge of urban sprawl.
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  We're building at an airport.
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  It's always going to be an airport and it's not going to have any environmental and noise issues that you would otherwise expect.
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  And it's 50, 60 minutes, 50 minutes from the CBD of Melbourne.
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  So it's reasonably close.
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  So I think you'd have to speak to Rodney and I do know that he was in discussions with government, but ultimately the support of government for this venue has been pretty strong based on that very important element about control.
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  Cool.
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  Finally, and this may not have been necessarily a factor for you, but this is potentially a significant legacy project for you here, Yuge.
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  Have you stopped to kind of think about that?
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  Well, it's really a legacy for the organisation.
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  I think everyone from the board down has been a part of this ideal and this motivation around the track.
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  And look, you know, I'm the CEO.
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  I happen to be a bloke who's sort of at the steering wheel, but there's a lot of people keeping the wheels moving from,
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  from the wonderful staff that we have and the industry generally.
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  So you don't want to be talking about legacies before it's actually built.
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  We're a long way from that.
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  But everything I've done for this organisation has been about the organisation and about the sport.
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  I love the sport and I love the people in the sport.
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  I love the officials in the sport and I love our members.
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  This is what we believe they need and hopefully it will set a template, not just for Victoria, but for every other state, particularly New South Wales, it's only got one venue of note and needs another two or three venues to be brutally honest.
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  So for me, it's about the legacy for the sport.
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  sets a very strong example that is supported by government that tells a compelling story for every other government, not only in Australia but around the world.
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  So we're really excited and my focus is on getting this thing up and running and hopefully that's going to happen in the not-too-distant future.
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  But it's a nice thought, but it's all about the organisation, Rusty.
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  It's a breaking story.
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  We're delighted to be talking about it here on Rusty's Garage.
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  Eugenio Rocker, CEO of Motorsport Australia.
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  Thank you very much for coming back on the podcast.
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  Always a pleasure, Rusty, and I look forward to catching up with you in person somewhere soon.
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  There he is, Eugenia Rocker.
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  Before we go this week, congratulations to Jadon Ojeda and Simon Hodges on their win at the Bathurst Six Hour over Easter in a BMW.
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  After 11 safety cars, the team in race control did a super job too to quickly turn things around, enable the competitors to sprint to the flag.
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  Lots of great class winners in that event.
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  kind of bathys as it used to be with production cars.
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  And you can find out more about the move to GT4 machines, which is cool, and all the class winners there via the Speed Series website.
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  That series backed by Shannons, who've been great partners along the way here with us at Rusty's Garage too.
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  Coming up, the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
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  That is on this weekend for IndyCar on two wheels.
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  MotoGP also in the United States, heading to the Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
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  And a quick shout-out to Sebastian Eskandari Miranda.
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  He is 10.
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  He is the first Aussie since James Courtney to be a factory driver for the Tony Kart team overseas.
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  He's fundamentally basing himself in Europe and karting internationally at age 10.
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  And you can say a similar story for young Will Collegia, who is 11 as well.
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  Two bright young stars with a huge future in Australian motorsport.
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  And from all of us here at the podcast, we wish them well.
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  That is it for this edition of the Motorsport Brief.
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  We'll catch you very soon with another edition of Rusty's Garage.