Sandown Raceway

Sandown International Raceway
Location	Melbourne, Australia
Events	V8 Supercars, Easternats
Length km	3.1
Turns	13
Direction	anti-clockwise
Record time	1.10.8251
Record driver	Marcos Ambrose
Record team	Stone Brothers Racing
Record year	2004

Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, approximately 25 km south east of the city.

History

It was first opened in 1962 and held the Sandown 500 (now called the Betta Electical 500) in 1984. This race is one of the 'endurance' races in the V8 Supercar calender.

Motor Racing

When Sandown first opened in 1962 it held the Sandown International Cup, which featured world-famous drivers such as Stirling Moss and Bruce McLaren. Throughout the 1960s and 70s the race meetings continued to attract international stars along with the best of Australia's drivers.

Australia's traditional Holden/Ford rivalry really surfaced at the track in the late 1960s and through the 1970s until Peter Brock won seven meetings in a row, out of a total of nine.

1984 saw the introduction of Group A rules and an extenstion of the track to 3.9 km. It also saw the first 500 km race, named the Castrol 500. In 1989 the track reverted back to 3.1 km.

The 1990, 1993 and 1994 events had no major sponsor and was underwritten by Jon Davison.

V8 Supercars

With the creation of the V8 Supercars series, they included the Sandown event as part of their calendar, although V8 races didn't participate from 1999 to 2002. They returned in 2003 and have been a large part of the series since.

EasterNats

Easternats is a car festival held at the race track annually. It attracts a large number of entrants for the show'n'shine and various other events. It comprises usually a turn out of 750 entered vehicles.