Qld Government needs to spend big for Townsville.

By Matthew Agius

The Queensland State Government has revealed that it may have to expend funds of over eleven million dollars to accommodate a suitable event for the proposed Townsville street-race for the V8 Supercar Championship.

State Sports Minister Tom Barton said that the initial findings of a due diligence study into the possibility of adding a Townsville race to the current V8 fixture has shown signs of requiring costs over what was originally expected to build a street circuit and other sporting amenities at Reid Park in the city-centre.

"We won't be able to make a final decision until we have the outcome of this study, but committing the funding is a major step forward to achieving a major V8 Supercar race for Townsville in north Queensland," he said.

V8 Supercar chief Tony Cochrane was initially pleased with the announcement of the survey, stating his intentions to bolster the tourism of that part of the country.

"This is a great step forward in providing the people of North Queensland with an event that will absolutely blow them away," said Cochrane.

"Queensland's strong motorsport fan base could support another V8 Supercar event and Townsville would be a leading contender."

However when initial findings from the report were revealed, Cochrane noted that this takes into account the funds required for other facilities.

"We're looking at a bigger picture for the city of Townsville, now we're not looking at the same, it's not comparing an apple to an apple and these new added facilities which we can use for the race weekend, but people of Townsville can use as sporting and recreational facilities for the rest of the year, really change the whole dynamic of the project," said Cochrane.

Queensland currently has two events on the V8 Supercar Championship calendar - the Queensland 300 at Willowbank Raceway, and the Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge at the Surfers Paradise Indy 300.