Sheikh to drive at Eastern Creek on Monday

MickAU · 26 Oct 2005, 01:00 (Ref:1443507)

I saw a release the other day where Sheikh Maktoum will drive at Eastern Creek on Monday and it will be free of charge to the public!

Once again, Sheikh taking A1 to the people, let's hope there's a big crowd that gets out and gets into the spirit!!

marcus · 26 Oct 2005, 07:29 (Ref:1443627)

what car will he be driving ?

hey the guy has put bucket loads into this series so i would say yeah give him 3 or 4 laps LOL , nothing like value for money

Kicking-back · 26 Oct 2005, 08:48 (Ref:1443688)

There is a test car available, he'll most likely drive that.

He does have some racing experience himself, from FIA GT

ss_collins · 26 Oct 2005, 09:11 (Ref:1443709)

not a lot of it, but he's driven the A1 car loads...

***MagnetON*** · 26 Oct 2005, 09:12 (Ref:1443710)

Well he certainly looked like he was having fun when he was thrashing the Irish car around Mondello for the launch

Kiwi3 · 27 Oct 2005, 02:43 (Ref:1444687)

Anyone down there in Oz know what promotion of the event is like? Is there a buzz about it? Are we going to see a bumper crowd like Brands or a few die-hards only like at the last two rounds? Are hotels sold out...?

MickAU · 27 Oct 2005, 03:29 (Ref:1444694)

The word in the local press was that all of the accommodation in the Blacktown area sold out a couple of months ago and that Parramatta is getting close at the moment as well.

I was at the motor show in Sydney and the A1 people had a stand there selling tickets and with the Brands Hatch coverage playing in the background. When I went through you couldn't get near the stand.

A couple of Sydney radio stations have been plugging it massively this week - hopefully ticket sales will reflect that and the local rag had a full wraparound on A1 this week

I reckon they're gonna get a crowd at least bigger than Portugal. I think people will support it, they should.

marcus · 27 Oct 2005, 07:05 (Ref:1444773)

well Im only 6 hours drive away from the Creek and there has no promotion whatsoever

but I guess they are aiming for the Sydney market which is fair enough.

Kiwi3 · 27 Oct 2005, 09:21 (Ref:1444872)

I hope that what MickAU has seen is a better indicator than what hasn't been done in Marcus' area then! Whereabouts are you by the way Marcus?

I had brief thoughts of going down for the weekend but it is a bit of a hike from China just for one event...Hopefully there will still be a few black flags in the crowd, there are more than a few kiwis in the Sydney area after all!

sizzle · 27 Oct 2005, 13:24 (Ref:1445080)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

I had brief thoughts of going down for the weekend but it is a bit of a hike from China just for one event...Hopefully there will still be a few black flags in the crowd, there are more than a few kiwis in the Sydney area after all!

I thought there were more Kiwis in Sydney than UNZED

D.R.T. · 27 Oct 2005, 13:56 (Ref:1445101)

I'm at the Blue Mountains which is about 30 mins from the track and promotion has been good. Tv, radio and print, didnt see the motor show stand or have details on local accomodation but I am liking the sound of what Mick has said.

Cant wait for the event, got my tickets thus arvo, with the addition of the 1 Hour Aus GT race, it was the icing on the cake. Probably going to be the highlight of my season.

silvervsix · 27 Oct 2005, 23:39 (Ref:1445583)

Not a word here is qld. They should be trying to get interstate travellers as well

MRJUCY · 28 Oct 2005, 03:38 (Ref:1445650)

There was an ad in the newspapers on the weekend offering buy one get one free tickets which I thought was an interesting move. There has been a few ads & the stand at the motorshow. I think alot of motorsport enthusiasts like us are keen but I don't think they've done much to attract the general public blow ins that often go to big sporting events.

Kicking-back · 28 Oct 2005, 06:23 (Ref:1445709)

It's virtually a sell-out I hear.

MRJUCY · 28 Oct 2005, 11:56 (Ref:1445989)

I don't think Eastern Creek has ever sold out & I doubt it ever would, it only has one grandstand tho so it could sell out but there is plenty more space to shove people there

D.R.T. · 29 Oct 2005, 06:06 (Ref:1446536)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

It's virtually a sell-out I hear.

Excellent news. Where did this news come from K-B

TSR · 29 Oct 2005, 08:43 (Ref:1446594)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRJUCY

I don't think Eastern Creek has ever sold out & I doubt it ever would, it only has one grandstand tho so it could sell out but there is plenty more space to shove people there

Did it not sell out or come very close for the first 500cc in the early 90's???????

Mark Webber · 30 Oct 2005, 10:10 (Ref:1447329)

I hope it is a sell out the creek looks great packed out . BTW the mods to the track are awesome. when I raced they 2 mounth ago the mods to turn 11 and 12 made it so much easy to drive

you going TSR?

D.R.T. · 30 Oct 2005, 10:51 (Ref:1447365)

I am heading down for the Fan day/ Sheik test drive tomorrow. My old man has stocked me up with all his Alan Jones merch for him to sign. Should be a good day.

**GTRMagic** · 30 Oct 2005, 11:52 (Ref:1447421)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRJUCY

I don't think Eastern Creek has ever sold out & I doubt it ever would, it only has one grandstand tho so it could sell out but there is plenty more space to shove people there

15,000 is a sellout for the Creek

... on a more serious note.... the usual sources of free entry have dried up too... so perhaps the usual 'hangers on' have to buy their tickets like a paying punter?

Meantime... the promotion has been very heavy, on the teev, on radio, in the press...

The motor show stand was ok too, but they had only the teev running in the background... would have been better if a car was there. Mr Davison was meant to show the day I went but he didnt appear... strange...

inpitlane · 30 Oct 2005, 13:00 (Ref:1447486)

Speaking with one of the local organisers last week he said that they were hoping for 35'000. I'm thinking 20'000 plus would be pretty good.
Outside of Sydney there's been no hype or much media coverage at all. TEN ran highlights of the last round in RPM and then sort of mentioned next week almost as an afterthought.
As for local accomodation I had no problems at all yesterday when I booked for the In Pit Lane crew the chick on the reservations desk said that there had very little interest in rooms for the weekend and that they had substantially dropped prices. One reason might be the extrordinarily late notice of accreditation for the local media, we only found out for sure that we had been accredited yesterday so getting cheap flights up was a real hassle.
We got our $280 rooms for $170 in Parramatta. BTW to any of the Sydney locals, what's the nightlife like in Parramatta?

MRJUCY · 31 Oct 2005, 11:37 (Ref:1448272)

Lots of good outdoor restaurants in Church Street to watch the fully sick mate brigade do happy laps & a variety of pubs etc

D.R.T. · 31 Oct 2005, 12:38 (Ref:1448332)

Was treated to some Alex Davison happy laps at Eastern Creek today in the A1 test car. Sheik was no where to be found. The car had a few troubles aswell but was enough to wet my appetite untill sat/sunday.

Will Davison and the two Lebanon drivers were present signing autographs and answering questions. Alan Jones remained in the pits and sadly didnt come out and meet a few fans.

bocster · 1 Nov 2005, 04:50 (Ref:1449025)

the free day at Eastern creek yesterday was pretty good..no Mr Sheiky though.its going to be a great race. Its loud ,its quick and seeing 24 of them go around eastern creek is gonna be brilliant.
Got an interesting story.

khalil Becshir was their (the guy who rolled it in the brands hatch race) and because I have abit of that car i bought on ebay,i was spewing,i couldve got it signed with no effort at all.I told the guy next to me about it ,just voicing my frustration,and suddenly he goes.."hey khalil,this guys got a bit of your car from brands hatch" Anyway, as the story goes,the guy standing next to me was Roy Pater, CEO of Team Australia.He gave me his business card and said give him a call on Saturday and he'll fix it all up for me.We chatted for awhile and heres some news

*offical merchandise for team australia will be available ontrack as of Thursday.

*season ticket holders(3 day pass people), will be able to go the paddock area behind the pits at some stage.

*Will Davison is onboard for AUS for 6 races .(then to the V8's i think)

*Will Power has been invited to race the rest (dunno if he will)

*he said the AUS car had alot of setup problems at the last race but should be firing for Eastern Creek

(btw..they are predicting that the lap record at Eastern Creek will fall by 3 seconds..it is currently held by an formula holden at 1:22.51,second is a F2 at 1:25.3 and the V8 Supercar record by Skaifey is 131.7)

so i guess if yah looking at how your team is going look for 1:20's as being onpace. this could all be wrong though

strider · 1 Nov 2005, 11:14 (Ref:1449274)

Interesting stuff, bocster, and welcome to the forum. I think that Formula Holden record was set a few years back, so I'll be disappointed if the A1GP cars don't beat it comfortably. They should be well into the teens, but we'll see.

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