City of Newcastle debates future of Newcastle 500

The future of the Newcastle 500 Supercars street race is in the hands of the local community as a council meeting takes place this evening to discuss the way ahead for a new long-term deal for the event.

The existing contract with Supercars for the Newcastle 500 ends with the upcoming 2023 season opener.

The Newcastle 500 is considered to be Newcastle’s most prominent event and operates under a three-way agreement between the NSW Government, Supercars Australia and the City of Newcastle.

The seaside street race arrived on the Supercars calendar in November 2017 and immediately hosted one of the most dramatic season finales ever when Jamie Whincup famously won his history-making seventh championship title after beating Scott McLaughlin.

Jamie Whincup leads the field in the most recent Newcastle 500 in 2019.

McLaughlin completed his road to redemption in 2018 by securing his first of three titles, while others to win races on the streets of Newcastle are David Reynolds and Shane van Gisbergen.

Despite creating many memorable moments, the race has not been held since 2019 having been annually postponed and cancelled each year since due to COVID-19, but is scheduled to roar back to life to open a new era of Gen3 racing on March 10-12.

In a formal third party research from Newcastle Major Events Evaluation, EY Sweeney in 2021, it was found the Newcastle 500 produced an average of $36 million in economic output per event, whilst attracting tourists from not only the state, but all over Australia and the world.

Whilst there is no suggestion at all the event will not go ahead beyond next year, there is some speculation that one of the major event partners, Destination NSW may not be continuing its involvement.

There is an option to extend the Newcastle 500 for a further five years following the 2023 race, which is the final event under the existing contract.

Touring Car Masters will be back charging up the Newcastle streets in 2023.

The extension of a contract for future events will be debated in tonight’s City of Newcastle council meeting as item 110 on the agenda.

If the NSW Government and Supercars Australia first agree to extend the event, City of Newcastle’s elected Council will have the opportunity to decide if Newcastle continues as host city on terms equivalent to the current agreement.

Under the council bylaws, the council has a strict Community Consultation Strategy for the event.

The consultation process provides strategic direction for the long term, and identifies the main priorities, aspirations and future vision of the community and directly engages the local community for feedback.

The extensive and community based consultation and analysis process is outlined in a publicly available 27-page document, follow link here, created by the City of Newcastle, who have a mantra of inform, consult, involve and collaborate. 

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