Trackside

Stan's spectating Tips

The ‘Creek’ round is going to be a very interesting affair. Whatever entertainment the promoters, the ARDC, serve up, is sure to be compared to the circuit’s end-of-season AVESCO-promoted Main Event. Tony Cochrane’s mob went to much trouble to add atmosphere at the Sydney track’s late-year meeting, in a bid to encourage other promoters – including the ARDC – to up the ante. So will the ARDC respond with bells and whistles? Let’s hope so, as the drama of the ‘Skaife-Ingall Bingle’ meeting is going to take some beating. Anyway, an Eastern Creek ‘must do’ is to lean on the fence, near the start-finish line, (in the grandstand if you can afford it) and listen to the bellow of a V8 at full tilt. It’s music, sweet music – especially when the noise bounces off the pit building!

Best Seat in the House

If the weather is dodgy, the 4,000-seat grandstand is the place to be. But be warned, parking your butt on a plastic seat will cost $20 more than the one-day general admission price of $40.

Stan’s Secret Spot

Stuff going to the Himalayas to go mountain climbing! Just climb the big hill overlooking Turn Two, and you’ll get views few trackside fans see – namely the inevitable first lap hairpin shenanigans. The first corner is invisible from the main spectator spots on the front straight. If ever I find the bloke who designed it – pow, right in the kisser!

Up the Creek

The ARDC has a lot to live up to. Let's up they're up to it

Seems like we were only at Eastern Creek a few weeks back, but here we are for Round Two of the 2004 V8 Series, and Round One on the EC Cup. Last year's two event EC Cup was dominated by Marcos Ambrose, the Pirtek Falcon driver using the April round to kick-start an amazing run of five wins in six rounds and set the foundations for the championship win here in the final round.

Up until that round this place had never been kind to the Ford product, so you can imagine the Ford glee generated by its podium clean sweep in six years. The clinical manner in which Ambrose and SBR cut and diced their opposition was enough to declare a new era had arrived and that the BA Falcon could, in fact, deliver the goods.

This round will more than likely be a 300km race again, and if it is as good as either race last year we will be well served. Yes, Ambrose ran away and hid but there was so much drama going on behind you almost forgot he was even there.

What frustrates about this place is that it has such good facilities, just a pity it struggles with a track layout that is not complimentary to the crowd or the cars (there's a couple of other issues too, but the new BigPond Media Bus will fix that.) That said, it is not an easy track to get on top of and if your set-up is not spot-on you will look ordinary no matter what your previous form – just look at Murph last November.

The track layout is OK, but you can tell it was designed for much narrower motorcycles – little kinks heading into corners is not going to encourage passing in a 1400kg Falcon on Commodore.

So you can get a bit of single file out the back, with only a couple of true overtaking points. The hairpin where Skaife and Ingall clashed is one that often sees action, coming out of the fast sweeper is the key to this spot ... just a pity there is no crowd there.

The other spot is drafting through Turn One and into the deceptively tight Turn Two – the latter right in front of the biggest crowd concentration.

Racer's Eye Richo's inside word This is a bit of a tyre torturing track and is very critical on set-up – if you get it wrong you’ll tear up your rear tyres and have a bad weekend. It is fast, but it doesn’t seem to really flow, the car always seems to be a bit on the ragged edge. It is a very tough track to pass on, but it isn’t too taxing on the driver. You are always busy, but you’ve got the long straight to relax a little bit.

Flashback Fords 1-2-3 Eastern Creek was the third round of the series, and the new cars were settling into a rhythm, the most impressive beat being the SBR drum being driven by Marcos Ambrose. His form was astounding, and it set up a run of wins that would ultimately take him to the crown. He dominated what was actually a fascinating meeting, the race behind him was as good as any. In the end, it was three Fords on the podium - Ambrose, Lowndes and Ingall - for the first time in six years. Jason Bright was fourth and continued to lead the series. 2003 round results 1 Marcos Ambrose Ford 2 Craig Lowndes Ford 3 Russell Ingall Ford 4 Jason Bright Holden 5 Greg Murphy Holden 6 Garth Tander Holden 7 Simon Wills Holden 8 Steven Richards Holden 9 Rick Kelly Holden 10 Paul Morris Holden

Be prepared Guide to a good time Take a comfy chair – not much soft grass. Bring nose plugs. Circuit is often down wind from the neighbouring ‘waste management centre’. Venture beyond Corporate Hill for a look at the brand new Western Sydney International Dragway. Bring extra bucks so you can get the latest merchandise at the start of the season