NASCAR Qantas Series *more tracks // April 25*

[1clkgtramg]

Well now that school is done for a while, I can focus on continuing my never ending concepts for my imaginary country of Tamaria. In case you don't know - which I assume would be most of you - I have an imaginary country designed up complete with nearly everything imaginable. Only recently I have been putting my creation to paper - or digital paper - so it's not complete but the idea is there. For more information, it can be found here.




So I've been working on a NASCAR series that runs in the South East (of the world) with a few races in Australia and New Zealand, but its based in Tamaria with a majority of the races occurring there. I figured the best sponsor would be Qantas as it is the most recognizable company from Australia, it provides air services for the series when needed and doesn't conflict with good/services that have many companies (such as a Busch series with Coors Light, Budweiser and Molson cars). Speaking of Alcohol, due to Tamaria's leniency towards Tobacco and Alcohol sponsoring in Motorsports, there will be plenty of popular designs you may remember form decades ago.
It is a 33 race season that runs on Thursday nights (because in Tamaria the weekend is Friday and Saturday rather than the traditional Saturday and Sunday) from mid-August to May with the final race being held in the first week of June. There is a 2 week break around Christmas time and occasional bi-weeks. The season is referred to as the starting year - for example, the 2015 season runs from August 2015 to June 2016. The reason for this is because back in the late 70's and 80's when the series was still young, the final race occurred the week after New Years so a majority of the season was in the preceding year. Here is a rough list of the dates and track info.



Here is a map of the locations of the track. The actual track designs will be up soon and once complete, I will get to the good stuff - the cars. The tracks are a mix of traditional ovals (D-Oval, Tri-Oval, Quad-Oval, etc) as well as some resurrections and tracks strongly influenced by famous tracks.



A little more info regarding the cars... I am planning to have about 50 or so cars even though the field is 42 cars.

The cars will have 2-3 different schemes per driver.

Most of the number logos are the same from Sprint Cup.

Race teams are made up of a minimum of 2 drivers and maximum of 4 drivers.
Each team must run the same manufacturer and other teams running the same manufacturer are considered semi-teammates and often use tactics to help each other out as there is a bonus for the manufacturer with the most points.
Cars will run in a V6 or V8 class. Specs remain the same, I just felt it was more appropriate for those companies with existing V6's and I6's to use their respective displacements.

The race in Thornhill features all throwback or fauxback liveries on the cars. Some teams opt to use different sponsors. The race is called Throwback Thursday at Thornhill and is where the term "Throwback Thursday" originated from

Cars:

V8's
Ford Taurus SHO
Chevrolet Lumina SS (Chevrolet SS)
Holden Commodore SS
Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe
Jaguar XKR

V6's
Subaru Impreza WRX
Nissan GT-R R35
Audi S5
BMW M4

and here is a timeline for all the cars ever used in the Qantas series since its foundation in 1978.



I know there is probably a lot I'm missing, it is a big task especially considering it's based in a fictional place so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

[macalesterscots]

I'm not a NASCAR fan by any stretch of the imagination, but it looks like you have everything very organized and this should be a very well-put-together series.

This must be a pretty safe form of NASCAR because as we all know:

[willmoen]

This is simply amazing. Not only does this look like an amazing series, to do it for a fictional country you made, that makes it even more exciting to see. Can't wait to follow all of this.

[CyGuy5]

Can't wait to see this! I am also creating a stock car racing series for my country, Cinnrania! Will you have current NASCAR drivers be drivers for any cars?

[1clkgtramg]

Don't want to spoil much (that's why I didn't post the link to my Google Spreadsheet that had all the info) but Jeff Gordon came over instead of retiring. Bobby Labonte drives his brothers old Kellogg's car. Paul Tracy drives his Player's car from Indy and Danica does as well. There are a few other forgotten NASCAR drivers that came to Tamaria and I also used some unknown drivers that I follow on Twitter but I made them from Tamaria so I could have more domestic drivers.

There will also be quite a few female drivers (I think it's 15 so far) and that is because Women were never oppressed of rights in the country and have been participating in the "male" sports since the beginning to the point that a "male" sport doesn't really exist.

I'm glad there is some interest, I hope I don't disappoint!

[1clkgtramg]

Las Venturas Motor Speedway is NASCAR Qantas Series' flagship track. Hosting the first and last race of each season (Las Venturas 500 and Qantas Cup 500), this track bears a few similarities to Daytona International Speedway in Florida but its distance is a little shorter at 2.3 miles long. The track design itself is unique for Oval racing. It is a fusion of a Quad and Tri-Oval as the front stretch has 2 turns yet has a continuous curve across the finish line allowing for maximum speed - despite being a hybrid, it is legally considered a Quad-Oval. Built in 1978, this track has been in use since the formation of the Qantas Series and has held the first and last race every year since. It is one of 2 tracks to have 2 dates in a season - alongside Peterborough Superspeedway - and is one of 2 Qantas Series tracks in the province of New Catalunya - alongside Circuit Capa Verde.

A great way to start off a new season, Marysville Speedway is a nightmare for most drivers but full of entertainment for fans. Nicknamed the “Parallelodome” due to its parallelogram shape, this track test drivers skills on 2 different types of corners that act as good practice for future races. Being the only racetrack of its kind, it has gained worldwide popularity since its creation in 1995 - so much so that a big-name sponsor from Japan has sponsored the race for the last 6 years - Sony 400. It is one of 2 tracks in the state of Indiana - alongside Altezza Superspeedway - however due to its close proximity to East Indiana and its Capital Region, the race track is often sponsored by and related with East Indiana and the Greater Princeton region.


In 2004, Nazareth Speedway in the Lehigh Valley region in Pennsylvania closed its gates. A Tamarian NASCAR team owner and millionaire Bill Sayton Jr. decided the track wasn’t going to be put to rest after nearly 100 years of operation. He built a nearly identical recreation of the timeless track in Advantasea - as well as a nearby residential area also named Nazareth. And thus, Nazareth Speed Resort was created in 2009 and has been used in the Qantas Series ever since it’s creation. Fans nicknamed it “the Phoenix” due to its resurrection of the original track. The track even garnered attention from IndyCar who has raced at Nazareth on occasion.


Located at the south end of Valencia Island in New Catalunya, Circuit Capa Verde overlooks the sandy beaches of Green Cape. The first road course of the season is also one of the most visually pleasing races and is one of the most viewed races worldwide. The track features 2 high speed straights, a section of esses, a complex section and of course, a hairpin - one that actually looks like a hairpin too. This road course tests drivers on a bit of everything and is a great way to get the drivers’ feet wet for future tracks. Although being relatively new to the Qantas schedule - since 2007 - it has been a welcome addition and is used every year. This track has also hosted the Formula 1 Tamarian Grand Prix in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010 and 2014.

With similar looks to a typical D-shaped Oval - such as Fontana or Michigan - Baltimora Motorsport Park is nearly a spitting image of Michigan with the only difference is that the track is 1.85 miles long instead of the typical 2 miles. Built in 1975, this track is one of the first tracks used in the Qantas series and has been used every year since its inception. This course also has a road course configuration but has never been used in NASCAR. Instead, the road course is used for occasional V8 Supercar races, the NASCAR Coors Light Truck Series and Grand Prix Racing of Tamaria (GPRT).

[willmoen]

Pure brilliance. I would love to see racing at Marysville Speedway just to see how many wrecks there are. Also, it's awesome to see that F1 is racing in Tamaria. Keep up the great work.

[mbannon92]

Some interesting tracks, especially Marysville. I'd love to see them try to get around that! I could see the trucks racing there too...would make for some good bumping and grinding.

[1clkgtramg]

Thanks guys, will probably have a few more up tonight.

Marysville is a haven for crashes too. Pairing the inexperience from the winter break and that dog leg on the last lap, it can get messy.

As for the Trucks, my idea is actually SUV's just to change it up as well as more options than 5 pickups.

[jaker52]

everything looks great. Looking forward to this.

[Antrodemus]

Its an interesting idea to build ovals in Oz/NZ where there isn't any history of paved oval racing. I doubt NZ would be able to handle your races financially either, given none of the circuits (outside maybe Pukekohe) have the facilities required for top-level motorsports. That might be something you can overlook though. I'd also look at track densities too, as outside Bathurst, no circuit in Oz or NZ could take 42 cars. Most will struggle with 30.

Have you considered borrowing from the Aussie racing scene? eg. these guys:

Or running V8Supercars in parallel or combined with the Australian series. You need Volvos

[1clkgtramg]

Its an interesting idea to build ovals in Oz/NZ where there isn't any history of paved oval racing. I doubt NZ would be able to handle your races financially either, given none of the circuits (outside maybe Pukekohe) have the facilities required for top-level motorsports. That might be something you can overlook though. I'd also look at track densities too, as outside Bathurst, no circuit in Oz or NZ could take 42 cars. Most will struggle with 30.

Have you considered borrowing from the Aussie racing scene? eg. these guys:

Or running V8Supercars in parallel or combined with the Australian series. You need Volvos

I have realized that NZ appears to be financially unstable in all forms of racing. But it is only 4 million some-odd people there (not odd people lol) so it can be forgiven.

I chose 3 tracks from there because I wanted to use the financial stability of the Qantas Series and the relationship with the V8 Supercars and Utes in both Australia and New Zealand to help each other out financially. Plus I have a sft sport for Invercargill for some reason so I have to give them a permanent spot. Pukekohe was a strong possibility as the first race in NZ but I decided to make it a past event that was replaced by the Alternation of a fictional track in Auckland and Mansfeild.

As for Australia, I believe they only have 2 true ovals, Adelaide and Calder Park and unfortunately Calder Park is a dump right now. I don't thing anything runs there except for Steve from Geelong who likes to take his 1978 Falcon out for some hot laps. But don't worry, I put a lot of effort in getting Aus/NZ some love in the series as well as connections to V8SC.

As for Volvo, since they only have one car? in the V8 Supercars, I figured it wouldn't be financially sound of them being in the Qantas series - that and there would just be way too many manufacturers - I do love Volvo's though, I also love Chrysler 300's but I left that out as well.

As for the Utes, that is another reason I wanted to use SUV's instead. It doesn't flood the market and it keeps an Australian niche an Australian niche.

I have put quite a bit of thought into pit lane sizes, small edits for the larger car field, track lengths etc. That's why I went with 2 "fantasy" tracks in Aus/NZ. If NASCAR can fit 40+ cars on a half mile oval, it should be fine, it will just add to the intensity of the race.

I believe I answered everything

[CyGuy5]

I love the tracks!! Nazereth Speed Resort would be an awesome track to watch a race at! I want to see some cars!

[Antrodemus]

I have realized that NZ appears to be financially unstable in all forms of racing. But it is only 4 million some-odd people there (not odd people lol) so it can be forgiven.

I chose 3 tracks from there because I wanted to use the financial stability of the Qantas Series and the relationship with the V8 Supercars and Utes in both Australia and New Zealand to help each other out financially. Plus I have a soft sport for Invercargill for some reason so I have to give them a permanent spot. Pukekohe was a strong possibility as the first race in NZ but I decided to make it a past event that was replaced by the Alternation of a fictional track in Auckland and Mansfeild.

As for Australia, I believe they only have 2 true ovals, Adelaide and Calder Park and unfortunately Calder Park is a dump right now. I don't thing anything runs there except for Steve from Geelong who likes to take his 1978 Falcon out for some hot laps. But don't worry, I put a lot of effort in getting Aus/NZ some love in the series as well as connections to V8SC.

As for Volvo, since they only have one car? in the V8 Supercars, I figured it wouldn't be financially sound of them being in the Qantas series - that and there would just be way too many manufacturers - I do love Volvo's though, I also love Chrysler 300's but I left that out as well.

As for the Utes, that is another reason I wanted to use SUV's instead. It doesn't flood the market and it keeps an Australian niche an Australian niche.

I have put quite a bit of thought into pit lane sizes, small edits for the larger car field, track lengths etc. That's why I went with 2 "fantasy" tracks in Aus/NZ. If NASCAR can fit 40+ cars on a half mile oval, it should be fine, it will just add to the intensity of the race.

I believe I answered everything

I'm not sure AIR (Adelaide) is in any better condition to Calder tbh.

Volvo have two cars, so if they're happy with two why argue? You also have the Chevy SS and Commodore, which are the exact same car. With a 40-50 car entry, you could easily support 7-8 manufacturers. The GT3 class has a dozen manufacturers!

Anyway I do look forward to seeing where you take this. Are you going to be simming the races?

[1clkgtramg]

I love the tracks!! Nazereth Speed Resort would be an awesome track to watch a race at! I want to see some cars!

This video here should give you a pretty good idea of what it would look like. In my opinion this is 10 times better than Pocono.

I have realized that NZ appears to be financially unstable in all forms of racing. But it is only 4 million some-odd people there (not odd people lol) so it can be forgiven.

I chose 3 tracks from there because I wanted to use the financial stability of the Qantas Series and the relationship with the V8 Supercars and Utes in both Australia and New Zealand to help each other out financially. Plus I have a soft sport for Invercargill for some reason so I have to give them a permanent spot. Pukekohe was a strong possibility as the first race in NZ but I decided to make it a past event that was replaced by the Alternation of a fictional track in Auckland and Mansfeild.

As for Australia, I believe they only have 2 true ovals, Adelaide and Calder Park and unfortunately Calder Park is a dump right now. I don't thing anything runs there except for Steve from Geelong who likes to take his 1978 Falcon out for some hot laps. But don't worry, I put a lot of effort in getting Aus/NZ some love in the series as well as connections to V8SC.

As for Volvo, since they only have one car? in the V8 Supercars, I figured it wouldn't be financially sound of them being in the Qantas series - that and there would just be way too many manufacturers - I do love Volvo's though, I also love Chrysler 300's but I left that out as well.

As for the Utes, that is another reason I wanted to use SUV's instead. It doesn't flood the market and it keeps an Australian niche an Australian niche.

I have put quite a bit of thought into pit lane sizes, small edits for the larger car field, track lengths etc. That's why I went with 2 "fantasy" tracks in Aus/NZ. If NASCAR can fit 40+ cars on a half mile oval, it should be fine, it will just add to the intensity of the race.

I believe I answered everything

I'm not sure AIR (Adelaide) is in any better condition to Calder tbh.

Volvo have two cars, so if they're happy with two why argue? You also have the Chevy SS and Commodore, which are the exact same car. With a 40-50 car entry, you could easily support 7-8 manufacturers. The GT3 class has a dozen manufacturers!

Anyway I do look forward to seeing where you take this. Are you going to be simming the races?

AIR is pretty rough too but at least it does get used (the full track).

Volvo will be in the GPRT - that series will have plenty of manufacturers but I don't see myself tackling that, at least not now.

Not sure how much you know about NASCAR in North America but in the 80's NASCAR had about 4 cars that were pretty much the same thing, the Oldsmobile Delta, Buick Regal, Pontiac Grand Prix and the Chevy Monte Carlo. In the late 90's early 00's the Pontiac Grand Prix an the Chevy Monte Carlo were both used and were pretty much the same cars. Also if you look at the manufacturer timeline I made, you can see that the Holden Commodore actually replaced the Pontiac in the Qantas Series. I wanted to keep that tradition alive as that's what I grew up watching. Currently only 3 cars are usedin the actual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Toyota Camry, Chevy SS, and Ford Fusion so its not really common for NASCAR to run more than 6 or so manufacturers and I already have 9 manufacturers in a 43 car field - the 50 cars was just because some may not qualify for the top 43.

As for simming, I have no interest in that. All this is is a small section of my Tamaria Megathread where there will be many different sports leagues and various things about the country so to sim things would just take up too much of my time unfortunately.

[1clkgtramg]

The second road course on the schedule is a flat and fast track located on the old Plymouth Int’l Airport. Plymouth International Motor Speedway takes up half of the airport, however, a small section is still used to regional operations as well as for possible safety measures. The track is nicknamed the “Sebring of the South” - due to it being situated on an airport as well as being owned my Panoz, it also features the 12 hours at Plymouth in the GPRT - as well as “the Dinosaur” due to the shape vaguely resembling a dinosaur. Since it’s opening in 1992, it has been used in the Qantas series. From 1995-1999, they raced there twice but the first race was on a different layout and the second race was on the current layout. From 2000 onward, the current layout is used just for NASCAR.


After a week break - partially to deal with the bigger than usual travel distance - we visit the first real track. The first track on the AusZealand Tour is the Super Bowl at Adelaide International Raceway. Built in 1970, this layout of the race course was used for the short lived AUSCAR series. What seems to be a simple oval is actually 2 types of stretches. The back stretch has slight banking where the front stretch has no banking due to the frontstretch being a drag strip. When this track was not being used in the Qantas series after 1999, there were some talks about moving the drag strip farther down and repaving the entire bowl with more banking. After endless discussion, NASCAR and the AIR decided to leave the track as is to keep its quirkiness.


After a few brief stints in AUSCAR and NASCAR, Bathurst - or Mount Panorama Circuit, as it’s officially named - was finally a regular, well semi-regular event in the Qantas Series. It replaced the Hidden Valley Raceway event in Northern Territory in 2003 and up until 2013 it was used every season. Starting in 2013, it alternates with the newly built oval nearby. Arguably the most popular Australian race track, its addition to the series was long debated as it is also one of the busiest tracks so fear of low attendance was a factor. In 2000, the city of Bathurst doubled in size and so bringing an event to the track full time had a better chance at becoming a reality.


Even with the over-saturation of races at the track, an oval track was built next to the existing Mount Panorama Circuit and was named Llanarth Motor Speedway. This tracks shape is unique for ovals - the Qantas series works hard on making each track different to avoid the criticism NASCAR in America gets with similar track spec. Nicknamed “the Loaf” or “the Bread Oval”, its shape is reminiscent of a loaf of bread. With slight separation from turns 1 and 2 and turns 3 and 4, as well as a Talladega style finish line, this track tests drivers to find the optimal race line. It is the only oval track to be used in V8 Supercars. Since its creation in 2013, it was alternates with Mount Panorama every year.

[Antrodemus]

A taste of what to expect

AUSCAR at Adelaide International Raceway, 1998 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQN1YC3RElQ

NASCAR 100, Bathurst, 1998 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB-ttCmHyZY

[1clkgtramg]

For the final race in Australia, its off to the Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne, Victoria. Built in 1987, it was Australia’s first purpose-built oval and has hosted events for the Qantas series from 1987-1994, 1999-2004, and 2006 to present. The track is designed to be a miniature version of Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. Being the most popular race in the AusZealand Tour, Goodyear has been the sponsor for the event since 1987 - Down Under Thunder 500 presented by Goodyear. There is a road course variant is used for V8 Supercars and is used as a drift event in the Southern Cross Formula Drift (SCFD).


In the mid 1990’s, the Qantas Series decided it would run one race every season in New Zealand at Manfeild Autocourse. Proving to be fairly successful, more events were held at Pukekohe Park in 2000-2004 and Teretonga Park in 2001 to present. Manfeild would remain the flagship race in New Zealand and would host a race week called the Manfeild Motorsport Festival where it would start with V8 SuperTourers, Qantas Series, Coors Light Truck Series and end with SCFD. This move in 2007 proved to be extremely successful as fans travelled from farther distances to see this week long event. It has become New Zealand’s largest motorsport event.

In the early 2000’s, due to the success of Qantas Series in New Zealand, the city of Auckland wanted to get it’s feet wet with an oval course of its own, the first one in New Zealand. In 2004, with heavy influence from Darlington and Motegi, the Auckland Autodrome was created. The Autodrome replaced the nearby Pukekohe Park race and in 2006 it alternated with Teretonga Park. However, talks are for New Zealand to have 3 races once again to use the Autodrome to its full potential. The track has garnered attention of numerous race series’ in New Zealand.

Qantas Series came to Teretonga Park in 2001 and has been running there every year until 2004 when it began alternating with the Autodrome. Every event has been sponsored by Canterbury for the Canterbury 400. Despite being in such a remote location, it is both a fan and driver favourite and is being discussed to be a permanent annual event, alongside Auckland and Manfeild.

After a week break from the AusZealand Tour, Qantas Series returns to Tamaria for the Maze Bank 450 at Doughsborough Superspeedway. This track was built in 1987 to replace the smaller Greenfield-Hamilton Raceway that ran in the Qantas Series from 1978-1985. It is nearly identical to Daytona International Speedway but is 0.1 miles shorter. It is one of 3 race tracks in the province of New Ontario - alongside Mid-Field and Johnstonville.

[raysox]

I love the Parralellogram track and the mile and a half with the extended finishline, those woud be so cool to see in real life. Very cool work.

[1clkgtramg]

The Oklahoma Motor Speedway is a fairly new track. Built in 2004, this track was primarily built to replace the old track just outside of Port Yukon. The design is identical to Loudon as it is your basic paperclip shape. Because of the shape of the pit lane, the track closely resembles a paperclip and has earned his its nickname “The Paperclip”. The track is exactly a mile long and is only slightly banked with grass infield which has caused a few cautions when cars cut the corner too much and toss dirt on the track.

Built in 1940, Deep Forest Raceway is from the Gran Turismo series, is one of the oldest tracks in Tamaria. It was repaved and slightly modified in 1980 and was later added to the Qantas Series 2 years later. The track was appropriately named as it is nestled in a heavily forested area just outside of the Greater Grand Falls Area. It is the hub for the Grand Prix Drifting (not to be confused with D1GP in Japan) and is one of the most popular tracks for drifting. This track also gets plenty of use in GPRT, Coors Light Truck Series and Triple T (Tamarian Tourist Trophy of Motorcycle Racing) as well. The front stretch is home to RockWood Festival - despite it’s name, it is a music festival - and due to the auditorium style seating, makes the venue perfect. Bands perform in the pit lane and front row standing areas are on the racetrack.

// Burnhamthrope is missing at the moment - my friend was going to design it but he is busy so I decided to just pass it for now //

For NASCAR fans that love big superspeedways, Peterborough Superspeedway must be heaven. Built in 1980, the track’s primary goal was to be bigger than Talladega, secondary goal was to replace the accident prone tri-oval Barrie Speedway in Barrie, Noranda. Although the speedway in Barrie has since been reworked and meets safety standards, the much larger and entertaining “Big Pete” became one of the Qantas Series’ flagship tracks. 2 races are hosted here every year. The first race occurs right after New Years and kicks off the tour in the west of Tamaria. After a handful of races around the west, the event comes to Peterborough again in late March. The track is reminiscent of Talladega as it is a long tri-oval with a delayed start/finish line and is 3 miles long.

Even after a big flagship race, there is another one immediately following it. Thornhill Superspeedway is famous for its Throwback Thursday at Thornhill - or currently known as the Throwback 399 (presented by IBM). This race is very unique in the fact that all cars must have a retro design dating back to a minimum of 10 years. Some teams opt to use old sponsors for the race. Some exceptions include late driver changes due to injury, etc. It is the 3rd most watched event on the schedule and makes for pretty interesting pictures and video. The track is a fairly typical D-Oval shape at 2 miles long but what makes the track even more special is that the start/finish line is on the “backstretch” but of course, it is now the front stretch due to the pits being there as well.