Novocastrian Motorsport is an Australian

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

team based in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

History

Privateer entry (1994-1998)

The team made its competition debut at the

1994 Bathurst 1000 The 1994 Tooheys 1000 was a motor race held on 2 October 1994 at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the 35th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. The race was open to cars complying with ...

, with owner Wayne Russell and Bernie Gillon driving a

Holden VL Commodore The Holden Commodore (VL) is a mid-size car that was produced by Holden from 1986 to 1988. It was the final iteration of the first generation of the Holden Commodore and included the luxury variant, Holden Calais (VL). Between February 1986 and ...

. The car retired after 71 laps with a well-publicised crash at Griffins Bend. Russell entered the car in the next season of the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...

, entering 5 of the 10 rounds that season. He finished a best of 14th at both

Phillip Island Phillip Island (Boonwurrung: ''Corriong'', ''Worne'' or ''Millowl'') is an Australian island about south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria. The island is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer ...

and the final race at Oran Park. The car finished 15th and the last classified car at the hands of Russell and Ric Shaw at the

1995 Bathurst 1000 The 1995 Tooheys 1000 was the 36th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 1 October 1995, at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was held for cars eligible under CAMS Group 3A 5.0 Litre Touring ...

, despite coming home 32 laps down. Now in a VP Commodore, Russell entered 4 rounds plus Bathurst in 1996 - Eastern Creek, Bathurst (sprint), Mallala and Oran Park. He managed a best result of 13th in race one at Mallala. The same combination as the previous year only managed 4 laps in the wet

1996 Bathurst 1000 The 1996 AMP Bathurst 1000 was an endurance race for Group 3A 5.0 Litre Touring Cars held on 6 October 1996 at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst, New South Wales, Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the 37th runn ...

before John Trimbole crashed into Russell behind the safety car. 1997 began the teams' decline, with entry for only three events (Sandown, Eastern Creek and Oran Park) and cracking the top 20 once all season. Russell and Shaw's final Bathurst appearance ended in a tangle with Kevin Heffernan at the Chase on lap 126. A diminishing budget led to entry for only two rounds in 1998, at Phillip Island and Mallala respectively before the team moved to production car racing, running

BMW Z3 The BMW Z3 is a range of two-seater sports cars which was produced from 1995 to 2002. The body styles of the range are: * 2-door roadster (E36/7 model code) * 2-door coupé (E36/8 model code) The Z3 was based on the E36 3 Series platform, whil ...

Development series (2007-2015)

Novocastrian Motorsport re-surfaced in the Development Series in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

with Wayne's son

Drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas * ...

running a

Holden VX Commodore The Holden Commodore (VX) is an executive car that was produced by Holden from 2000 to 2002. It was the second iteration of the third generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VX) and Holden Calais (VX) ...

. The team over the course of the next few seasons began the long climb up the grid, which was boosted by the introduction of a second car for Drew's brother Aaren in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, with the team also switching over to a pair of ex-

Brad Jones Racing Brad Jones Racing is an Australian motor racing team owned by Brad Jones based in Albury. The team competes in the Supercars Championship and the Super2 Series. Recently they have also returned to Australian Formula Ford where Brad and Kim be ...

Ford BF Falcon The Ford Falcon (BF) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 2005 to 2008. It was the third and final iteration of the sixth generation of the Falcon. The station wagon body design continued until 2010, alongside the new se ...

s. 2010 saw both brothers finish inside the top 10 in the championship, despite a heavy crash for Drew at Bathurst. The team began to regularly challenge the established runners in the top 10, while also providing support for a third car run by privateer Michael Hector. Drew scored the team's best ever result with a second place at Queensland Raceway in 2013 before the budgetary constraints led to him giving up his seat as the team downsized to the one car for Aaren. Aaren subsequently endured his - and the teams' - best season with three podiums and seventh overall in the championship before the team's final DVS season in 2015. The sole podium at the opening round in Adelaide was all the team had to show before the team's focus shifted to moving back up into the top tier of Australian

touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not move ...

Return to V8 Supercars (2015-2017)

With the backing of gym chain Plus Fitness, Novocastrian Motorsport made its return to V8 Supercars with a wildcard entry in the

2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 The 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was a motor race for V8 Supercars held on 11 October 2015 at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It was the twenty-fifth race of the 2015 International V8 Supercars Champio ...

with a

Holden VF Commodore The Holden Commodore (VF) is an executive car that was produced by Holden between June 2013 and October 2017. It was the second and last significantly restyled iteration of the fourth (and final) generation of the Holden Commodore to be manufa ...

leased from

Dragon Motor Racing Dragon Motor Racing is an Australian motor racing team, established in 2014. History Dragon Motor Racing was founded in 2014 by Tony Klein with the aim of competing in the V8 Supercars Championship. It made its first race appearance at the ...

. The entry managed to stay on the lead lap throughout the race, resulting in a 17th-place finish. With the support of Plus Fitness, the team took a 50% stake in the second

Erebus Motorsport Erebus Motorsport, (formerly known as Erebus Racing,) is an Australian motor racing team. The team competes in the Supercars Championship with two Holden ZB Commodores. The team's current drivers are Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki. The team is ...

entry before the 2016 season, enabling Aaren to participate in the championship full-time. Despite Aaren's consistent results amid a steep learning curve, conflicting interests between the team and Plus Fitness saw the outfit's contract terminated after the 2016 Townsville 500, with

Craig Baird Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australian Supercars Championship. Honours In the 2010 New Year Honours, Baird was appointed a Member of the New ...

(and later

Shae Davies Shae Davies (born 8 March 1990) is an Australian professional racing driver. A Super2 Series veteran, Davies briefly drove for Erebus Motorsport during the 2016 V8 Supercars season. He currently competes in the S5000 Australian Drivers' Champ ...

) taking over the #4. Aaren returned with André Heimgartner and the

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. The team was sold to Phil Munday and re-branded as 23Red Racing at the end of 2017. Background Lucas Dumbrell comes f ...

team for the 2016

Enduro Cup The Enduro Cup (formally known as the Pirtek Enduro Cup for sponsorship reasons), was an award given out to the highest points scorers over the three endurance events in Supercars; the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast 600. Format Q ...

, and later six events of the 2017 season, including the teams' inaugural home race in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. The team planned to purchase the #3 Racing Entitlements Contract from LDM at the conclusion of 2017, however sufficient funding could not be found and the team disappeared from the grid.

ATCC/V8 Supercar drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in V8 Supercars, in order of their first appearance. Drivers who only drove for the team on a part-time basis are listed in italics. * Wayne Russell (1994-1998) * ''Bernie Gillon'' (1994) * ''Ric Shaw'' (1995-1997) *

Aaren Russell Aaren Russell (born 22 August 1991) is an Australian motor-racing driver in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. Career history Junior formulae In 2008 and 2009, Russell competed in the NSW Formula Vee championship, a stepping stone t ...

(2015) * '' Drew Russell (2015)''

Super2 drivers

The following is a list of drivers who have driven for the team in Super2, in order of their first appearance. * Drew Russell (2007-2013) *

(2010-2014) * Michael Hector (2012-2013)

Results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Complete Bathurst 6 Hour results

References

{{Newcastle Sports Teams, state=collapsed Auto racing teams in Australia Sports clubs and teams in Newcastle, New South Wales Supercars Championship teams