Fertile ground for Aussie V8 invasion

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They say everything is bigger in Texas – and that may be true for V8 Supercars’ first event in the USA.

The Austin 400 has taken the V8s further afield than ever before and, in the lead-up to the Aussie invasion of the new home of Formula 1 in America, looked finally to have transplanted the series to fertile ground.

While previous international excursions to China, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi generated little local interest and even smaller crowds, V8 Supercars’ most ambitious foreign foray yet seemed set to play to an appreciative audience.

After months of nervously wondering attendances would be encouraging or embarrassing, V8 officials and the Circuit Of Americas track promoters were relieved by the healthy spectator turn-out for the Friday practice sessions (held in the early hours of Saturday morning AEST).

Although there was no official figure, the crowd was estimated at between 2000-3000, which is more than most regular V8 events in Australia attract on a Friday.

It certainly looked like a respectable opening day attendance, with several hundred in each of the main and outfield grandstands, hundreds more roaming around the 3.7 km course and a steady stream of ticket-holders in the pit paddock.

At least a few hundred stayed on for the evening pit lane entertainment, which included driver signings and a pit stop demonstration by the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes-Benz team.

Compared with the deserted stands and paddock areas at the Bahrain and Abu Dhabi events, the first day of V8 track action was a hive of activity around the track.

With pre-event ticket sales reportedly close to 30,000, the Friday rollup of paying punters indicated that the organisers’ expectation of 60,000 over three days was not as fanciful as some had feared.

The real test will be how many show up for the weekend’s racing and anything more than 15,000 on each of the two days will be a major achievement.

The first two of four 100 km races were run early Sunday morning Australian time, with the final pair scheduled for early Monday morning Australian time (Saturday and Sunday afternoons in Austin).

Despite the V8 Supercar racing being known only to hard-core American enthusiasts who follow it on Fox Sport’s dedicated Speed motor sport cable TV channel, there was surprising awareness and enthusiasm around the city.

The V8 drivers and teams have been impressed with the warm welcome, unexpectedly high local interest and the $400 million Circuit Of The Americas track, built for the return of the USA Grand Prix to the F1 world championship last November.

The series looks to have the potential to be much bigger in Texas than the previous attempts to export Australian V8 sedan racing to China, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, which didn’t have the local support to survive and all ended their contracts early.

The Circuit Of The Americas has signed up for five years and a strong start will establish a base on which to build a following and establish an Aussie V8 enclave on the other side of the Pacific.