AusLeisure

Global speedway and motorsport legend Ole Olsen was in Melbourne last week to begin the process of turning Etihad Stadium into a world championship track for a FIM Speedway Grand Prix event later this year.

Olsen, a three time speedway world champion, now heads up a group of specialists who will work alongside Etihad Stadium’s Arena Management and Operations teams, to design and construct both the track and a safety fence for the 24th October event.

The Danish former FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) World Champion visited Victorian quarries over several days to source 4,500 tonnes of the highest quality of a mixture of dirt and shale to build a track to cover a section of Etihad Stadium’s arena.

The grand prix – the last on the European and now Australian circuit – will be held under Etihad Stadium’s retractable roof and could well determine the sport’s world champion for 2015.

Forecasting a day of fast and furious action, Etihad Stadium Chief Executive Paul Sergeant stated “it’s said that speedway started in Australia and come October I believe the interest will just about be going through our roof.”

The challenge of the track specialists is to build and design a course that meets international standards – it will take five days to construct and two days to clear.

Olsen together with Danish architects Rambol and construction company Arkil, have been responsible for building tracks at venues including Millennium Stadium (Cardiff, Wales); Parken (Copenhagen, Denmark) and in Sweden at Ullevi (Gothenburg) and the Friends Arena (Stockholm).

In October last year, Etihad Stadium signed a five year deal with FIM Speedway Grand Prix rights holders, BSI Speedway, to stage the Australian FIM Speedway Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Sergeant says ticket sales are off to a strong start with interest coming from all over Australia and even overseas – with 63% of tickets purchased from outside Victoria and a further 7% from overseas.

Sergeant concludes “bringing speedway to Etihad Stadium has been on our agenda for many months and is a tremendous coup for Melbourne.

“We’re looking forward to an exciting five years of SGP action and we’re in no doubt that due to the atmosphere that it will become a massively popular event.

Click here for ticket information go to FIM Speedway Grand Prix at Etihad Stadium.

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