Winton Motor Raceway could be set for a raft of significant changes as part of a staged development plan.
The Benalla Auto Club has cited a new pit facility as the centre of the redevelopment plans, as this would not be restricted to a simple upgrade of the current pit facilities.
Speaking with the Parked Up podcast, Winton boss Jeff Grech said the pit facility could be moved elsewhere as part of a wider re-design of the circuit.
“[A new pit building] could incorporate more changes to the circuit, because we are looking at a new location for the pit building and to have, like other tracks, corporate facilities on top of the pit building.
“And good changes, if we can, where we can put a couple of fast corners with heavy braking to make it a bit more challenging for drivers and allow a bit of passing.
“All of that is on the table with our development plans. It’s just a matter of, at the moment we’ll just see how the world comes out of this COVID-19 pandemic, and then we’ll see where we can fit in short, medium and long-term parts of that development.
“Our mission is the future-proof the facility for the region for the next 50 years. Next year Winton passes its 60th year of being in business, so I’d like to think we can make another 60 years. [We can] modernise a lot of it and keep big and good events coming to the place.”
Grech also commented on other potential changes to boost tourism in the region, including improved camping areas and building “car condominiums” similar to those at Hampton Downs.
“We’re looking at what we call car condos. Over in America, they’ve become a big thing now, and Hampton Downs in New Zealand has got them.
“We want to be able to have a premium car condominium, and more of a second-tier private garage where families can leave their vehicles here and enjoy staying here on site. So the car condominium is a big thing we’re looking at, and we’ve got a site marked out for where that will sit on the property.”
Changes to the circuit have already been made, with improvements to the kerbs at turn three and four completed shortly before the racing stoppage brought on by the pandemic.
Grech says a five-year period is preferred for these changes to be complete, although the pandemic could bring a delay to this timeline.
“The committee would love to have looked at a timeline from now to year five, if we could, to have it complete.
“But the world at the moment is a changing place, and with that change will come changes to motorsport, I would imagine. It’s a bit of a wait and see at the minute.”
Winton is set to host the third round of the revised 2020 Supercars Championship on July 18-19.
