The Coates Hire Newcastle 500 will be held from November 22 to 24. This V8 Supercars event has become an attractive incentive for tourists visiting Newcastle.
The circuit encompasses a good portion of Newcastle’s CBD, with Watt Street being used as a high-speed straight through which race cars will zoom from foreshore to foreshore – South Newcastle Beach to the opening of the Hunter River. Of course, as the revs increase, as does the engine volume.
The area features a mixture of commercial, civic, educational and residential use buildings.
iEDM, the contractor who oversees and implements circuit design, motor sport engineering and circuit safety for several events, were again employed to manage Newcastle’s event.
In the lead up to and during previous events, organisers received noise-related complaints from occupants of nearby residential areas, so the council made it a requirement that attempts be made to attenuate it at various points on the circuit.
Based on a successful installation in 2018, iEDM again commissioned Sydney-based height access and site safety supplier SafeSmart Access for another shipment of their acoustic curtains for the 2019 event.
In 2018, the panels were attached to the fence in a continuous row above concrete barriers, in sections of the track that were close to residential areas. Representatives from iEDM and residents identified a noticeable attenuation of motor car noise within vicinity of the track.
iEDM are happy with the effectiveness of one of SafeSmart’s flagship acoustic curtains. SafeSmart themselves also took the opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of properly implemented attenuation systems at public events, and to make it easy for installers to identify where stock is kept on site by delivering the products in newly branded crates.
After Newcastle, iEDM’s next motor sport event project is the Superloop Adelaide 500 on February 20, 2020.
Curtains installed in Newcastle’s CBD
Several truckloads of noise attenuation products made the journey to Newcastle for the Newcastle 500 race.
