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A bit of info about Oran Park from Wikipedia.
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, Australia. Most of the circuit was visible from the main grandstand or the grassed banks surrounding the track.
Oran Park Raceway had several track layouts. It was established on 1 January, 1963 with what was mostly like the modern South Circuit. The first motorcycle race meeting was held on 17 February, with reigning Grand Prix Champion Jim Redman being the star attraction. Redman won nearly every class and set the lap record of 50.4 seconds, only 0.8 seconds slower than Frank Matich's outright time set in a 2.6 litre Lotus Sports Car.
The full track ("Grand Prix Circuit") was added in the early 1970s. It had a 2.7 kilometre figure-eight shape with a bridge where the track crosses itself. Despite the loop in the longest track shape, the circuit was regarded as racing anticlockwise.
Oran Park also had a motocross track, a skidpan, a dirt track and four wheel drive course and is used for advanced driver training.
Oran Park was used regularly for rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercar Championship Series, Australian Drivers' Championship and Australian Sports Sedan Championship. The Australian Grand Prix was held at Oran Park in 1974 and 1977. In the 1970s the circuit attracted large crowds for the popular Toby Lee Series, initially run for Series Production Touring Cars and later for Sports Sedans. The inaugural Rothmans 500 for Touring Cars was staged in 1977 but the 1978 event was to be the second and last running of this endurance race. Endurance touring car races would continue at Oran Park well into the 1980s and apart from the Sandown and Bathurst classics would last the longest before fading interest caused the compression of the endurance season to just those two events. The final such Oran Park enduro would by the 1989 Pepsi 300. The final V8 Supercar event was held in 2008.
Two international meetings were held in 1988 and 1989, playing host to the Superbike World Championship.
Recently, the land on which the racetrack is on was sold to the Government of New South Wales for a new housing development. This led to the closure of the track during 2010 and will end 47 years of motorsport heritage at the facility. The final race meeting was held over the October 31/November 1 weekend in 2009, which while billed as a State Championship meeting it also held national series rounds for a small GT endurance series and the Sports Sedan series.
Top Gear Australia visited the track numerous times during its second season when they reviewed cars such as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the Audi RS6.
*Wiki info finished*
Very sad for me seeing one of my local race tracks getting knocked down. I have been to every V8 Supercar round since 1999 at the track and have grown up around Motorsport at Oran Park my entire life. But it's not just that, in my opinion, it's one of Australia's best racing circuits as it is a real challenge for the drivers and a simply awesome spectator track as it is undulating yet you can still see the whole track.
Even seeing the word "had" instead of "is" is a bad feeling, by the way it isn't gone yet, but it will be within the next 6 months.
Here is some pictures that i've taken in the past at the track (Syntax Error would be able to post much better pics)
And a bit of video.
And finally a few tribute Videos.
Hope you liked some of the pictures and video.
Oran Park is finally gone....
Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan in southwestern Sydney, Australia. Most of the circuit was visible from the main grandstand or the grassed banks surrounding the track.
Oran Park Raceway had several track layouts. It was established on 1 January, 1963 with what was mostly like the modern South Circuit. The first motorcycle race meeting was held on 17 February, with reigning Grand Prix Champion Jim Redman being the star attraction. Redman won nearly every class and set the lap record of 50.4 seconds, only 0.8 seconds slower than Frank Matich's outright time set in a 2.6 litre Lotus Sports Car.
The full track ("Grand Prix Circuit") was added in the early 1970s. It had a 2.7 kilometre figure-eight shape with a bridge where the track crosses itself. Despite the loop in the longest track shape, the circuit was regarded as racing anticlockwise.
Oran Park also had a motocross track, a skidpan, a dirt track and four wheel drive course and is used for advanced driver training.
Oran Park was used regularly for rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercar Championship Series, Australian Drivers' Championship and Australian Sports Sedan Championship. The Australian Grand Prix was held at Oran Park in 1974 and 1977. In the 1970s the circuit attracted large crowds for the popular Toby Lee Series, initially run for Series Production Touring Cars and later for Sports Sedans. The inaugural Rothmans 500 for Touring Cars was staged in 1977 but the 1978 event was to be the second and last running of this endurance race. Endurance touring car races would continue at Oran Park well into the 1980s and apart from the Sandown and Bathurst classics would last the longest before fading interest caused the compression of the endurance season to just those two events. The final such Oran Park enduro would by the 1989 Pepsi 300. The final V8 Supercar event was held in 2008.
Two international meetings were held in 1988 and 1989, playing host to the Superbike World Championship.
Recently, the land on which the racetrack is on was sold to the Government of New South Wales for a new housing development. This led to the closure of the track during 2010 and will end 47 years of motorsport heritage at the facility. The final race meeting was held over the October 31/November 1 weekend in 2009, which while billed as a State Championship meeting it also held national series rounds for a small GT endurance series and the Sports Sedan series.
Top Gear Australia visited the track numerous times during its second season when they reviewed cars such as the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X and the Audi RS6.
*Wiki info finished*
Very sad for me seeing one of my local race tracks getting knocked down. I have been to every V8 Supercar round since 1999 at the track and have grown up around Motorsport at Oran Park my entire life. But it's not just that, in my opinion, it's one of Australia's best racing circuits as it is a real challenge for the drivers and a simply awesome spectator track as it is undulating yet you can still see the whole track.
Even seeing the word "had" instead of "is" is a bad feeling, by the way it isn't gone yet, but it will be within the next 6 months.
Here is some pictures that i've taken in the past at the track (Syntax Error would be able to post much better pics)
And a bit of video.
And finally a few tribute Videos.
Hope you liked some of the pictures and video.
Oran Park is finally gone....
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