AS far as legacies go, Bob Jane’s mark on Australian motorsport is right up there with names like Brock and Brabham.

From his days behind the wheel, to owning teams and sponsoring them, perhaps his biggest gift to the racing world were his venues.

The Calder Park Thunderdome is an epic tribute to the vision of Jane – the only problem is that it was well ahead of its time.

For one overcast morning in April 2014, The Race Torque crew were fortunate to experience the Thunderdome first hand.

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So, Nissan Motorsport are having a ride day at Calder Park? …Hrmmm.

For this newly installed Jack Daniel’s Racing PR person, who had previously been embedded in Marcos Ambrose’s NASCAR adventure, the cogs in my head turned, probably all too slowly.

Why don’t we put a V8 Supercar on the Thunderdome?

Following a pitch to Rick Kelly, an email to JD, and a call to Calder Park, who were obliging with a $500 quote for facility hire, we are game on.

After a tough weekend at Winton, the team’s transporters headed overnight to Calder, a location far more accessible to the team’s corporate guests than rural Benalla.

When Richard Craill and I fronted to the venue early that morning, we went about inspecting and filming the high banks and decaying infrastructure.

The first task was to literally remove tumbleweeds off the banking, which was followed by a couple of cold laps of the track, getting a feel for the elevation changes and the scale of the venue.

I suggested to Rick that it would be prudent to do a recce in his road car – the question was, to run to the left in NASCAR trim, or right hand AUSCAR spec.

He subsequently completed some of the quickest circuits ever of the facility for a 4WD, with his Nissan Patrol swinging NASCAR style around the circuit – fulfilling an ambition of the former Series Champion to sample American racing, which almost became a reality in 2007.

The media side of the story were then briefed – Nissan snapper Dirk Klynsmith on the Canon, team PR ace Grant Rowley on the video camera, both placed up at NASCAR turns three and four, with Craill shooting from the pits, and the author running some GoPros, video and stills from the bank above NASCAR turn one.

One short side story that is brought up any time a beer is nearby, was the fact that Craill managed to run over the author (with the author’s car), as he attempted to make a Subaru shaped step ladder to climb up onto the impossibly steep concrete outside concrete wall.

(Editor Craill’s note: A few facts – Subaru Imprezas don’t make great step ladders. Mark Walkers are not very competent at getting out of the way of moving vehicles. Calder Park Thunderdomes are steep.. when you’re parked at the top of the banking you feel like you’re going to roll the car. What’s more, ‘Run over on the Thunderdome’ makes an awesome story so, but for some bruising, I feel like it was worth it..) 

After cussing out the driver, this road trauma victim realised that being run over by a car doesn’t actually hurt at all.

Handy life advice.

• WATCH: Here’s the original video produced for Jack Daniel’s Racing:
  
  

Ricko whipped around the ‘Dome for a few quick laps, with the whole deal done and dusted in under five minutes.

Some takeaways:

The Nissan Altima sounded simply awesome under power – the video doesn’t do it justice, and a full field in flight would be immense.

The track’s terrible condition wasn’t conducive to setting a new land speed record, although unofficially, they are the quickest laps ever turned by a Supercar. The surface is lumpy, bumpy, pocked with potholes, cracked with grass growing through the tarmac.

Supercars aren’t set up for high banked oval track use, although I guess with some effort, they could be. This particular car was configured for the ride day on the flat track next door, so ride height, cambers and gearing were far from ideal.

A Supercar transmission has two more cogs than a NASCAR gearbox, thus there were gear changes where you wouldn’t normally expect them.

…and yes, the front bar was thoroughly knackered from the bumps and lumps, a sin the composites department at Nissan Motorsport were not quick to forgive.

An epic experience, but at the same time, it was a sad reminder that the Thunderdome is a relic the wider motorsport community can no longer share on a regular basis.

Thanks Bob for the memories.

• WATCH: A raw edit for The Race Torque from Rick Kelly’s perspective. 

WORDS & IMAGES: Mark Walker
IMAGES: Mark Walker, Richard Craill, Dirk Klynsmith, Rick Kelly’s GoPro.

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