During Seven's telecasts of the AMSCAR series at Amaroo, many minor race series for other CAMS categories were also telecast, including: Sports Sedans, Formula Fords, Formula Vee, Sports Cars, Appendix J Touring Cars, and Series Production cars, with many of the categories running their own series at Amaroo outside of the national championship series. While the championship still makes its annual stop at the Surfers Paradise street circuit, little evidence remains of Supercars' former home on the Gold Coast. Although I now live in Adelaide, when I get back to Sydney to visit family, I always go back to Amaroo. Without hesitation he announced that it was because she was always so very far out in front!Unfortunately, Laurie was to crash Sabrina at Hume Weir two months later, putting him and the car out of commission for some time. Order a Photographic Print or a Download. It was revived in 1997 and held at the ARDC's two circuits, Amaroo Park and Eastern Creek, but with the major teams holding exclusivity to V8 Supercar events, the mostly Sydney-based privateers were not numerous enough to make the series viable and the series folded after 1997. Into the 1990s, the New South Wales government began its quest for a world-level motorsport event and was prepared to fund the construction of a new circuit in Sydney. . Minus a body, she might well have been unfinished, but she was a mechanical delight! Supercars.com takes a look back at five iconic circuits from the championships past, each holding a special place in its history. Enjoy this four way tussle with Steve Masterton's amazing Ford XE Falcon, Garry Scott. Fears that the growing number of Sydney-based privateers moving into outright class cars would result in a sharp decline in grid numbers prompted the ARDC to remove the 3.5-litre capacity limit for the 1982 series, which was promoted as the Better Brakes AMSCAR Series. He was about the tenth last car knocked out the fuel pump fell out of its bracket and shorted out!One day, in what John Medley would refer to as an 'alcoholocaust' we - the demo derby guy, his mates, Wally Gates and myself, stripped out the bits and the engine went away to become the basis for what Sabrina wore for her return.For the benefit of the Yanks reading, Sabrina was a lithe sports car on a fabricated twin-tube chassis she had the engine as described, together with a huge crank-driven air-pump up front with twin SUs (those 'jugs') something of an 'Old Yella' look and attraction about her she was yellow, and she went like stink. The final race held at Amaroo Park was a "Butchers Picnic" which included the top 3 cars from the competing classes all in one final race. Always tight racing, views over a great part of the circuit, very close to the cars at, what 65% of the track, terrific atmosphere.So glad I arrived in Oz in time to see racing at Amaroo and Warwick Farm. Amaroo Park was located in Annangrove, on the outskirts of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia. Eventually, property developers acquired the land for $4 million and began tearing down the infrastructure. Demanding and dangerous, Lakeside held the mantle as Queensland's premier circuit for several decades. Most race wins: Jim Richards, John Bowe, Mark Skaife (three apiece). I have the 82 programme and the number matches. After the turn at Honda, there was another short right hand kink leading up to the tight right hand Stop Corner (sometimes called the Lake Corner). This shot shows the braking area into the Lake Corner (Stop Go corner/ Speedway corner) In the top left of the photo you can see the track going over the top of the hill. In afinal ignominy, it was sold off to developersto make way for a housing estate for the well-heeled. This was the 84 Historic meet. Championship races held: 40 It would've been a hell of a track, quick lots of elevation and next to no run off. What a waste of a race circuit, that is an absolute disgrace. amaroo park races from the 1960. It certainly does bring back many a memory. Well, I did lie a bit to be honest (after looking back at some old Street Directories) MALLORY PARK, NR HINCKLEY, LEICESTERSHIREMallory Park, VSCC racing at its best. or did the body match the name? The dirt circuit was off to the upper right of that photo. Neil Crompton won Round 7 and Simon Kane won Round 8. Rare as hens teath footage of a 1981 AMsacr race from Sydney's Amaroo Park Raceway Australia. Summarize this article for a 10 years old. Fred Gibson's win in Round 3 of the 1983 series was the first win in Australian touring car racing for a turbo powered car, and Nissan's first turbo charged touring car win anywhere in the world. Uncategorized ; June 21, 2022 amaroo park races from the 1960 . The last race meeting thus take place on August 23, 1998, with a meeting billed as the 'Goodbye to Amaroo State Open Meeting'. Credits & Thanks; Another innovation came with the Willoughby club's introduction of Superbike racing, years before the name caught on worldwide. The circuit will forever be linked with Craig Lowndes' terrifying rollover during the 1999 event, while its final championship round in 2001 delivered an underdog victory for Paul Morris. There was a very old thread about Amaroo from a few years ago where member Buckshot went in and took a bunch of photo's, and all he found that remained of the circuit was a toilet block. Primitive! Ray Lintott in a Porsche 911 Turbo entered the history books as the victor of the very last race. Most race wins: Mark Skaife (15). I couldnt take my eyes of her two beautiful big jugs . By now however, the Sporting Club was in serious financial trouble. Can you list the top facts and stats about Amaroo Park Raceway? Johnson won four races from 37 starts, including in 1981 where he clinched his first title in a thrilling race with Peter Brock. The AMSCAR Series had its origins in Amaroo's own Sun-7 Chesterfield Series for touring cars, first held in 1971 and was won by Sydney's Lakis Manticas driving a Morris Cooper S. This would continue, under various names relating to series sponsorship, through to 1981, with a 3-litre maximum engine capacity limit being applied from 1975 to 1980. Order a Photographic Print or a Download. A 10-minute drive to the iconic Penguin Parade, discover the natural wonders of the Nobbies or drop into the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The official fastest race lap records at the Amaroo Park are listed as: Last edited on 13 December 2022, at 21:54, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "ASTC 1997 Amaroo Park Round 8 Results", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amaroo_Park&oldid=1127283407, This page was last edited on 13 December 2022, at 21:54. Just as Amaroo had before it, Oran Park succumbed to Sydney's suburban sprawl. Originally posted by Andrew Fellowes Did many internationals race there? Championship races held: 20 At fourteen years of age, and with my hormones in a tangle, I was lucky enough to be at the pit counter, directly opposite the VIP stand where she was guest of honour, at Albert Park. In Group C, the factory backed Nissan team also contested the series with Sydney-based team driver Fred Gibson (the Bathurst 500 winner in 1967 with Harry Firth in a Ford XR Falcon GT) and his wife Christine (regarded as the "fastest female in Australia") driving the team's second Bluebird turbo and its powerful, but evil handling, front-wheel drive Nissan Pulsar EXA respectively. Fittingly, the record crowd saw yet another piece of history made. Ready for inspection in February 1962, it would take another six months for the necessary licence to be granted. Its a long list: - Mt Druitt, Catalina, Bathurst (I know it survived) and Amaroo. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including the Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Drivers' Championship, Australian Formula Ford . How the Photo Download Works. Originally posted by smithy Oran Park is about to go the same way. The meeting was billed as the "Goodbye Amaroo State open Meeting" with a mix of classes including Sports Sedans, HQ's and Group N Historic Touring Cars. With no funds to improve, it was the perfect storm and the circuit fell quiet in early 1968, with the only activity on site being a reduced schedule of events on the Short Circuit. i vividly remember a guy in a gemini (you know, those really boxy old ones from isuzu) getting catastrophically sideways in a manner that seemed to contradict the laws of physics the instructors were alarmed and baffled, i think they wanted to condemn the car on the spot! The track hosted its first ATCC race in 1964, back when the championship was decided over a single race, and maintained a regular presence on the calendar through to the turn of the millennium. The ARDC lost money promoting the Super Touring Bathurst 1000 from 1997 to 1999 and this circuit was sold to recover some of the loss. . Laurie had repaired the Hume Weir damage and continued the construction process to its logical conclusion . You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Two tragedies in the mid-1980s highlighted the increasing safety worries at the circuit, which had little space to implement run-off areas or alternatives to unyielding barriers. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including the Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Drivers' Championship, Australian Formula Ford Championship, Australian Sports Sedan Championship, the AMSCAR Series for touring cars, historic racing and others. A "Rothmans AMSCAR Series"[2] for touring cars was held in addition to the Sun-7 Chesterfield Series at Amaroo Park in 1979 for a reported A$60,000 in prize money, about $50,000 more than for the ATCC at the time. mounted on that big supercharger thrusting Phallus-like in front of the Healey 3000 motor . The first car meeting did not take place until March 12, 1967 and was a relatively low-key closed affair for Country Club members, with around 1,000 spectators watching club races featuring entrants from the Australian Racing Drivers Club, Australian Automobile Racing Club and the New South Wales Road Racing Club. The opening event at the new circuit came on February 26, 1967, with a motorcycle meeting organised on behalf of the Amaroo Motor Cycle Committee. Drag Racing 1960's . The increasing national popularity of the Australian Touring Car Championship, improvements in Channel 7's ATCC telecast, and the 1991 economic recession which saw a number of privateer teams only racing in the two ATCC rounds in Sydney and the Bathurst 1000, all gradually reduced the grids until the AMSCAR Series was discontinued after the 1993 season. It prompted the New South Wales ACU to suspend the track's licence for two wheel racing. On many occasions these events featured larger grid numbers than did the rounds of the national level Australian Touring Car Championship. It was revived in 1997 and held at the ARDC's two circuits, Amaroo Park and Eastern Creek, but with the major teams holding exclusivity to V8 Supercar events, the mostly Sydney-based privateers were not numerous enough to make the series viable and the series folded after 1997.[3]. Locally named 'Black Captain's Gulley' after an aboriginal chief, the land formed part of a valley, complete with the Cattai Creek running through its centre. Allan Grice dispatching Colin Bond over Bitupave Hill on the opening lap of the opening race in 1976 is case in point and so was the wild knockdown, drag-out second race in 93 that signalled the arrival of five-litre V8s [later to become V8 Supercars] as a formula. The 1.2 mile course began on the valley floor before climbing steeply up the hillside, through a fast kink, before looping back on itself and plunging back down the valley, round a lake and back to the pits and paddock. The headline event, a 40 lap race for production bikes, was nearly washed out, when the fine sunshine of qualifying turned to unrelenting rain on race day. -tempting very tempting, engine? Various parties enquired about taking over where the ARDC left off, though all came to nought in the end. Copyright 2023: The ARDC lost money promoting the Super Touring Bathurst 1000 from 1997 to 1999 and this circuit was sold to recover some of the loss. brilliant shotsthose were the days (and of course a lot earlier than that). Originally posted by Vanwall Primitive! Further disaster came in 1986, this time during a Formula Mondiale race at the August meeting. At times but the usual run of it was such that someone wanting to get some good placings on their CV without facing an ASSC field could do all right. Originally posted by Catalina Park Here is the plan of Amaroo taken from Sports Car World, July 1959. The story goes that, semi-conscious in the ambulance, Lauries only concern was . The incredible 1971 championship decider between Bob Jane and Allan Moffat where Moffat overcame a jammed gearbox and a spectator's rogue car joining the race, but fell just shy of beating Jane to the flag and the title played out on Oran Park's original 1.96km track. Drag Racing 1960's . -AI, cam. Other top line teams to contest the AMSCAR series after the switch to Group A were Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team (later known as Mobil 1 Racing), Dick Johnson Racing, 1988 series winner Colin Bond's Caltex CXT Racing Team, Tony Longhurst's Benson & Hedges team (evolved from JPS Team BMW), as well as Robbie Francevic's Volvo team. (Not unlike the circuit that came to be, except quicker!) . (near the lake) That was part of the never finished "Grand Prix" circuit. The complex had a hillclimb, a motocross track, a little used speedway track and a short circuit track. Opened in 1967, the road circuit served as a venue for a variety of competitions including the Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, Australian Drivers' Championship, Australian Formula Ford Championship, Australian Sports Sedan Championship, the AMSCAR Series for touring cars, historic racing and others. Drag Racing 1964; Drag Racing 1965; Drag Racing 1966; Drag Racing 1968; Drag Racing 1969; Drag Racing 1970's . We always thought that a car would go over the fence and into the pitlane. Amaroo Park 1970 31st May 1970 13th September 1970 1980 Calder Catalina Fishermans Bend Geelong Sprints Hepburn Springs Leyburn Sprints Oran Park Phillip Island Rob Roy Templestowe Formula 5000 Formula Vee Formula Ford Speedway Hillclimbs Rally & Rallycross Bikes Drag Racing DVDs Shop by Brand Holden Ford Lotus Morris Elfin Mazda Brabham Lola Amaroo Park was built by Industrialist Oscar Glaser as part of a plan to build a full motorsport complex. Rounds of various Australian motor racing championship were held at the circuit. The circuit, in the western suburb of Annangrove, around an hour from the Sydney CBD, was the brainchild of wealthy industrialist Oscar Glaser, one of the pioneers of plant hire in Australia in the 1950s. . Order a Photographic Print or a Download. Amaroo Park 31th May 1970 - 70-AM31570-108. The constant turning and hard accelerations out of the aptly named 'Stop' corner meant bigger cars were often at a disadvantage to smaller, lighter rivals. The second circuit, an oiled dirt Short Circuit, opened in December 1963, which proved much more of a success with both bikes and cars. And the most sickening experience I ever saw at Amaroo was the Historic Meeting of Aug 1982 which saw the ex Gulf Team GT40 spin out going up the main straight hill, get out of shape on the last bend and destroying itself comprehensively starting against the earthen bank on the left and on and on shedding bits as if in slow motion. funny you say that: that's where we did a lot of the braking drills. By 1979, the series had become so successful it had a bigger prize purse than the national championship! An open scramble meeting took place on August 26, marking the first event at Amaroo Park and combining with an official opening ceremony. From 1970, Amaroo Park was run and promoted by the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) who also promoted the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, and later were the promoters of Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. The dirt circuit had a house in the middle of it by the time the main circuit closed. Enhanced debris fencing was fitted thereafter, thankfully without a further need to be tested in the same circumstances. Frank Gardner's JPS Team BMW and its drivers Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst dominated from 1985 to 1987 (Richards in the 635 CSi was unbeaten at Amaroo in 1985 winning all 12 AMSCAR races, the ATCC round and the Endurance Championship race), while Gibson Motorsport, first with Nissan and later with Holden, also contested the series in the later years of Group A and into the new 5.0L V8 formula introduced in 1993, with Jim Richards winning in the team's Nissan Skyline GT-R in 1992 while Mark Skaife won for Gibson driving a Holden VP Commodore in 1993. Last championship visit: 1998 It was the premier form of Touring car racing in Australia from 1960 to 1964.For more Appendix J info see:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendix_J_Touring_CarsGROUP N is the modern name for the category, which is broken into 3 time periods represented by Na, Nb and Nc:Group Na is for cars commercially available in Australia prior to 31 December 1957.Group Nb is for cars manufactured prior to 31 December 1964 of which 100 have been produced.Group Nc is for cars of a make and model which competed in Australia between 1 January 1965 and 31 December 1972 in either the Australian Touring Car Championship or in other races for Group C Improved Production Touring Cars.Historic Touring Car Association of New South Wales:https://www.htcansw.org.au/GROUP N (Australia) wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_N_Touring_CarsAmaroo Park Raceway info:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaroo_ParkCommentated by: Mike Raymond, Neil Crompton and Garry Wilkinson.All credit to Channel 7 Sport, Australia.http://www.audioblocks.com for music.Motor sport is an international language. Amaroo Park first held a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship when it hosted Round 4 of the 1974 Australian Touring Car Championship. It was only from the beginning of the "Group A" category in Australia in 1985 that the headline teams started appearing in the series on a more regular basis, with part of the reason being that as Group A was new to Australia in 1985, the AMSCAR Series gave teams valuable testing under race conditions (also because from 1985 Amaroo would hold an annual round of the ATCC). Hmm. RacingCircuits.info. Just found this one too, this may be a couple of years earlier, I failed to make a note on it and now its just in a pile of 100's of others I took. Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.930km (1.199mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Eventually, after two years of being effectively mothballed, Glaser did a deal with the Australian Racing Drivers Club to take over the running at Amaroo. Championship rounds held: 15 The early seasons of touring car warfare featured more than a bit of panel bashing and the spectators that filled the hill surrounding the final corner were often treated to fierce scraps. Declining grids into the 1990s and a reluctance of the big teams to race outside of the ATCC would eventually force the end of AMSCAR, but it had certainly helped to cement Amaroo Park's position nationally. The dog-leg (or the flip-flop, depending on your generation) was a driver favourite, as was the kink at the end of pit straight, and the rolling left-hander at Suttons since replicated in the reverse direction at The Bend Motorsport Park while the bridge overpass was unique in Australian motorsport. Originally posted by Andrew Fellowes Did many internationals race there? Did many internationals race there? Amaroo Park Pty was formed to build the complex and first up was a bike scrambles course, which was fashioned out of a rocky area on the fringe of the valley floor. The 1985 ATCC round featured a torrid struggle between Peter Brock, Jim Richards, Robbie Francevic and Dick Johnson, all of whom leaned on each other to the crowd's delight. Sabrina, however was someone everyone had heard of. Covering both current and historic circuits from around the world. So is everyone on this board now ready to appreciate/accept their station in life!!!!! Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.930 km motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Gees, when one considers the topography and those rock faces at Amaroo Park, this seemed wildly ambitious. Super2 raced at the track in its early seasons including a memorable battle between David Besnard and Wayne Wakefield in 2000 while more recently DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing held ride days at the venue in 2014. [1] Despite this, young Sydney driver Steve Masterton would win the 1981 Better Brakes 3.5 Litre Series driving his Ford Capri Mk.II from the JPS BMW of Allan Grice. http://www.youtube.com/Super100MPHWelcome back to 1986 Amaroo Park for the APPENDIX J Series Race Round 1, 5 laps.Appendix J Touring Cars was an Australian motor racing category for modified, production based sedans. This allowed the participation of the 3.5-litre BMW 635 CSi of JPS Team BMW, much to the displeasure of most competing teams, especially those racing the 3.0L Ford Capri's which were well suited to the tight track and had come to dominate the series since 1975. Seven's commentators for the AMSCAR series generally included Mike Raymond, Garry Wilkinson, Evan Green, and later Neil Crompton and Peter McKay, with various guest appearances by drivers not competing on a particular day. . Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.930km (1.199mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. On many occasions these events featured larger grid numbers than did the rounds of the national level Australian Touring Car Championship. Me and my brother were behind the armco in the pitlane with our backs against the chain wire fence when a wheelnut came off an RX7 and passed between our heads and through the chainwire and hit a bloke on the cheek. This is a great space to write long text about your company and your services. The owner sold it to property developers for over $500 million. At its closing the outright lap record for the 1.94km circuit was 0:44.36, set by John Bowe in 1987 driving a 5.8L Chevrolet powered Veskanda C1 sports car. This was helped by most of the major ATCC teams at the time usually not competing in the series. Oh, and the Sydney Showgrounds! Set in a natural amphitheatre, Amaroo Park was a dream for spectators as much as it was a nightmare for a tyre on a V8 touring car. Thereafter the gates were locked and the venue fell silent. Other top line teams to contest the AMSCAR series after the switch to Group A were Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team (later known as Mobil 1 Racing), Dick Johnson Racing, 1988 series winner Colin Bond's Caltex CXT Racing Team, Tony Longhurst's Benson & Hedges team (evolved from JPS Team BMW), as well as Robbie Francevic's Volvo team. The AMSCAR Series had its origins in Amaroo's own Sun-7 Chesterfield Series for touring cars, first held in 1971 and was won by Sydney's Lakis Manticas driving a Morris Cooper S. This would continue, under various names relating to series sponsorship, through to 1981. After a second bike meeting in August, the next major event was the new Castrol 1000 for production machines. How the Photo Download Works. Legislation was duly passed and Eastern Creek sprang up to host the World 500cc Motorcycle Championships, prising them away from Victoria's Philip Island. Known as Wunderlich for sponsorship reasons, the turn was known during the 1970s as Ron Hodgson Corner due to sponsorship from Sydney's then largest Holden dealer, was the final turn on the circuit and led back onto the pit straight. Certainly, both namesakes were very curvy.The car seemed to be even more desirable because it was road registered, and I couldnt help conjuring up images of terrorising the neighbourhood with tyres, supercharger, exhaust and passenger screaming in unison! Last championship visit: 2001 Drag Racing 1970; Drag Racing 1980's; . As part of the construction of the Thunderdome, Calder Park's road circuit was increased to 2.28km with an extension to the pit straight, a new first corner hairpin, and a pair of chicanes linked by a rise over a new hill dubbed 'Mount Jane' by the drivers. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. That meant Amaroo was also the perfect place for David to trump Goliath. It was won by Sydney driver Ray Lintott driving a 4WD, twin-turbo Porsche 911 Turbo with a race time of 9:16.4942. One of the features of Amaroo Park's history has been the AMSCAR Series for touring cars, created by Amaroo's promoters, the Australian Racing Drivers Club and staged annually from 1982 to 1993. Championship rounds held: 25 A total of 34 venues have held rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship/Virgin Australia Supercars Championship since its inaugural running in 1960. In 2020, Sydney Motorsport Park rejoins the calendar while Phillip Island and Queensland Raceway drop off, but remain in the frame for a return in future seasons. In the early Group C years of the AMSCAR series, several Sydney based drivers who regularly competed in the annual four round, three race per round series became household names through the national telecast on Channel 7 (at the time, Seven's only touring car telecasts were from Amaroo, Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne, and Bathurst as the ABC was main broadcast host of the ATCC until the end of 1984). Holden's Torana XU-1 had the Ford Falcons covered in the championship's early visits, while BMW's M3 gave the turbocharged Sierra and Nissan GT-R drivers headaches in the late '80s and early '90s. Alongside the road racing circuit would be other motorsport facilities, including a hillclimb, scrambler course and go-kart facilities, to help cash in on the age's new-found fascination with speed. . Peter Brock was the king of the venue when it came to championship races. 11 talking about this. Amaroo Park is also the perfect location to leave your car and explore the . Many of the iconic moments in Supercars Championship history played out at the challenging 2.62km circuit near Narellan in Sydney's south-west. how is the supercharger?WINTON, 1962, and I again beheld the spectacle of Sabrina, this time making her second debut, and this time with her clothes on. The race was won by Peter Brock driving a Holden Dealer Team Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1. Once we have received payment, we will e-mail you a jpeg . Last championship visit: 2008 Free shipping for many products! I was surprised to find that no thread has ever been dedicated to Amaroo Park raceway in NSW. The ARDC was in the process of moving away from Catalina Park and soon had big plans for its new home. The Sierras would have been quick around there I would imagine. amaroo park races from the 1960 July 2, 2022 1:35 pm . Ray wonders how long Eastern Creek will last under ARDC's patronage. It proved short-lived too, with just one further open meeting in October, two more in 1963 and the final nail in the coffin coming in February 1964 when only 27 entrants turned up for what turned out to be its finale event.