Excitement continues to circulate in the ranks of the Wingless Sprintcar Division in the Northern Territory, as can be seen by the growth in the section over the past 3 years with the amount of cars now competing each race night.
Here at Darwin’s 7Mate Northline Speedway, the Division is expecting up to 20-25 cars to be racing each night for the upcoming 2023 Season.
According to Section Representative and NTWSA Secretary, Daniel Goldoni, the growth is no accident. When asked, what is the driving force behind the expansion, Daniel was quite emphatic in saying “simply it has come down to the great action on the track and the closeness of the racing which has generated interest from the people on the hill”.
Daniel also attributes the success in the Division to the vision of the NTWSA. “The future of the section is bright and the club is now running in one direction. It is now more professional and that shows by the way everyone is now talking about the Division” says Daniel.
“Everyone has lifted their game in the Division in order to be the best” Daniel explains. “You can go out and buy a Sprintcar from any of the top Sprintcar teams and put a Wingless motor in it and be competitive”.
Major news broke recently that the Wingless Sprintcar Division will be supporting the Chariots of Thunder Series for 2023. Daniel was quite excited with this news and claims that along with the regular 20-25 cars locally to race leading up to Chariots of Thunder, it is also expected that there will be several Interstate cars and teams who will base themselves in Darwin throughout season 2023 preparing for COT as well.
“Our vision over the next couple of years is to continue to increase our numbers on the track and to hopefully secure the Wingless Sprintcar Australian Title in the Northern Territory by the 2025 Season” Daniel states.
On his own racing, Daniel didn’t have quite the season he was hoping for in 2022, sustaining quite a nasty concussion injury following a major race crash which sidelined him for the majority of the season.
Now on the mend and looking forward to resuming his racing career, Daniel explains the only lasting legacy of this injury is some memory loss (which is a normal effect from this type of injury).
A quick canvas of some of the local stars in the Wingless Sprintcar Division shows plenty of support and excitement for Season 2023, and in particular the supporting role for Chariots of Thunder.
Asked two questions, 1 – What do you think is the reason for the success and growth of the Division and 2 – Your thoughts about supporting Chariots of Thunder in 2023, the answers were no big surprise.
Shane Norman – “I believe the success of the Division has been in large part due to the Committee and how the section is running now with new people onboard. Also due to how much cheaper the Division is to get into which results in more people turning up and more cars out on track. Chariots support is a really good thing for us in 2023. A race is a race after all but this will be great exposure for us around Australia and the World. A lot of people comment on the Division up here due to the closeness of the racing. Everyone wants to come up here to race and I think we will fill the nominations within 12 hours !”.
Zack Grimshaw – “I think the success of the Division is due to being surrounded by the people that we have now, and the fact that it is a relatively cheaper section to race. To support Chariots is awesome and it should be given it’s an open wheeler event. It’s also great for our Sponsors with the live streaming of the event across Australia. For us locally it’s the biggest event of the year and a real privilege to be racing in this event”.
Jamie McInnes – “The popularity of the Division I believe is due the fact that it is a very affordable and competitive section to race in. It’s a lot if fun to race in and the racing is always close. It will be awesome to race at Chariots as this will continue to grow the class here locally. In attracting more Interstate drivers as well this will add to our experience against these drivers too.”
Matt McLennan – “For me it’s the affordability of the section to go racing, and this will only continue to grow due to this. As for supporting Chariots, this is excellent for our section as we are the biggest section in the NT. It will be great to show what we can do and mix it with the interstate drivers which will be good for experience, and to see how quick they are on this type of track”.
Jacob Northey – “The Division is good and you are restricted on what you can do to the cars, for instance the motors etc, which keeps it affordable for most people and it results in close racing and is good to watch. It’s really good to be supporting Chariots in 2023, I’m pretty keen to get the Division out there on the Chariots campaign. To be honest I think the crowd were upset we weren’t in it this year but I’m sure we will get great support from the crowd in 2023”.