Central Coast event organisers are hoping a drag-racing style event will be cleared for take-off at Mudgee Airport.
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The event – which sees drivers race the clock over a one-kilometre strip – ran for six years at a private airport in Cooma, and the organisers are looking for a new home for the ‘Snowy Mountains 1000’.
Organiser Adam Drake met with Councilors and emergency services at the airport on Friday to discuss the proposal.
He described the meeting as ‘frosty’ with questions based on safety and the attracted crowd but ‘walked out of it feeling pretty confident’.
Mid-Western Regional Council will consider the proposal at the monthly general meeting on Wednesday.
The initial inspiration for the event was from UK TV show Top Gear.
“We watched an episode of Top Gear about seven years ago, where they were doing something similar in the United States over a mile, we decided to replicate it here,” Mr Drake said.
“Unfortunately, we’re very restricted on the runways that we can use.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a runway but we need a minimum of 1.7 kilometres, so the cars can pull up safely.”
“When you have [Nissan] Skylines and Lamborghinis cracking 300 kilometres an hour, you don’t just pull up immediately,” he said.
Mudgee was chosen for the event due to the layout of the airport and proximity to Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst and Sydney.
The event was rejected by Orange City Council in August due to the NSW Ambulance’s 24-hour rescue helicopter and a fixed-wing air ambulance being are based at the airport. Mudgee Airport does not have the same emergency restrictions.
The drag-racing style event will be staged at Mudgee Airport sometime between March and May next year if approved by Mid-Western Regional Council.
The economic impact of the weekend-long event, which is being relocated from Cooma, is estimated to be up to $120,000.
Mr Drake explained they have drivers and spectators attend from all over Australia.
“We usually have between 120-150 competitors, bringing with them race crew, family, and friends, in total around 500 people associated with the entrants of the event,” he said.
“We usually expect several thousand spectators and our numbers have been steadily increasing since our first event held over 5 years ago.”
Council will consider the proposal on Wednesday.