Sydney’s lost speedways: Gone in 90 years

ALL eyes are on Mount Panorama this weekend but Sydney’s revheads once got their racing fix a lot closer to home.

Frank Gardner steers a Corvair around Oran Park raceway in August, 1976.

THIS weekend, the eyes of Sydney revheads turn reverently west to Mt Panorama for the Bathurst 1000, one of the biggest events on the Australian motor racing calendar.

With more than 50 years of tradition behind it, the big race draws thousands to the mountain itself, while millions more watch on TV.

Although Sydney is still host to the annual Sydney 500 on a street track at Sydney Olympic Park, many of the city’s tracks are now gone. In the glory days there were tracks from one end of the city to the other, where fans flocked to hear the roar of the engines, inhale the petrol fumes and cough out the dust stirred up by the racers.

Olympia Motor Speedway

Opened in 1925, this track was built in the Maroubra sand hills and was capable of holding a crowd of 70,000. It was little more than a concrete bowl with banked edges meant to prevent cars flying off the edge, although several competitors did die after doing just that. Falling attendances resulted in closure in 1927 but reopened in the 1930s. By the 1940s it was crumbling and closed for good in 1947 to be turned into a residential development.

Mt Druitt

In the wake of World War II the Australian Sporting Car Club purchased an airstrip that served a munitions factory in Sydney’s West at Mt Druitt. In 1948 it opened for its first race meeting, with a straight course mainly for drag racing. In 1952 a local businessman rented out land adjoining the airfield to create a circuit running about 3.6km. Jack Brabham won one of his first races there. Disagreements between race organisers and the businessman saw the track cut back down to the airstrip in 1958, confining events to sprints and drag races. The Speedway Public Safety Act of 1969 forced its closure in 1970. Part of the course was converted to sports fields and the rest is now suburban streets.

Oran Park

Opened in 1962, Oran Park — near Narellan in southwestern Sydney, was an exciting track with sharp turns and changes in elevation, with great vantage points of a large part of the track for spectators. It hosted the Australian Grand Prix twice and for a time held touring car championship and V8 Supercar races. After the area was rezoned for housing in 2004 the track was sold to the state for a housing development. It closed in 2010.

Frank Gardner steers a Corvair around Oran Park raceway in August, 1976.

Liverpool Raceway

Opened in 1967, this was an enormously popular speedcar track famous for Australian Speedcar Championship races. It closed in 1989 to make way for housing.

Penrith Speedway

Created out of paddocks on land near Penrith railway station, Penrith Speedway opened in 1924. Once deemed to be the “world’s greatest dirt track” by international drivers who raced there, its dirt was such a problem that sprinklers were installed to control the dust. Floods and deterioration of the course caused it to close in the 1930s. It reopened in 1936, but during World War II was shut down and the land resumed by the Department of Defence. Today it is a new housing development and an industrial area.

A modified Ford T racing car ready for action at Penrith Speedway, 1925. Picture: State Library of NSW

This photo of Penrith Speedway in 1938 shows the town’s railway platform in the background (right).

Sydney Showground Speedway

Sydney Showground once had a dirt motor racing track variously known as Speedway Royal or Sydney Showground Speedway. It opened in 1926 and hosted many motorcycle, sidecar and speedcar events. There were also novelty events like Reg Kavanagh’s stunt racers, creating spectacular crashes. It held its last race in 1996 and the Showground was redeveloped into what is now the Moore Park Entertainment Quarter.

Reg Kavanagh creates a stunt car crash at Sydney Showground Speedway in 1938. Picture: State Library of NSW

England and Australia riders line up at Sydney Sportsground Speedway in 1937. Picture: State Library of NSW

Warwick Farm Raceway

Built in the middle of Warwick Farm Racecourse, the raceway opened in 1960. It would host some important races including the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1968 and the Australian Grand Prix in 1963, 1967 and 1971, and the Tasman Series. It was closed in 1973 when the Australian Jockey Club finally decided to no longer renew its agreement with the Australian Automobile Racing Club.

Working hard in the pits at Warwick Farm Raceway in 1965.

Westmead Speedway

Operated in the 1950s and ’60s at Parramatta Showground. It closed in 1968 and the showground was taken over by Westmead Hospital.

Speedway star Jeff Freeman in action at Westmead Speedway in 1965.

Originally published as Sydney’s lost speedways: Gone in 90 years