Phillip Island Race Track

[Kingair]

In RPM on Sunday, they had a segment on the history, along with some home movies of the racetrack.

It was certainly was very basic in its early days- pretty rugged for drivers, machinery and spectators to say the least.

They mentioned that track was not used much in the 1980’s and basically it was revived and upgraded for the motorbikes in the later part of that decade.

I have a Holden Torana DVD that shows some footage of Torana’s racing in the Mancar(not part of the ATTC) series at Phillip Island in the mid 70’s.

I flew a charter group into Phillip Island for Castrol in 1995, and fortunately spent the day in the Castrol VIP tent watching the gentle south westerly breeze bring some lovely moisture to the parched earth- basically blowing like a banshee, driving rain and freezing cold!

So did they run the ATTC at Phillip Island?

When did the V8 Supercars make there debut at the Island?

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by Kingair

So did they run the ATTC at Phillip Island?

When did the V8 Supercars make there debut at the Island?

Supercars have almost always run at the island since the beginning of the v8 series (they have skipped an occasional year) Glenn Seton won there is 1993

[leothedrummer]

http://racing-reference.info/tracks/...d_Prix_Circuit

Regarding the ATCC at Phillip Island, the '76 and '77 endurance races were part of the title, there was then a race in 1990 that attracted the biggest field of the year (I would guess that there would have been a lot of interest with racing going back to Phillip Island).

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by leothedrummer

http://racing-reference.info/tracks/...d_Prix_Circuit

Regarding the ATCC at Phillip Island, the '76 and '77 endurance races were part of the title, there was then a race in 1990 that attracted the biggest field of the year (I would guess that there would have been a lot of interest with racing going back to Phillip Island).

any idea what happened in 1990ish that changed it as a venue for supercars.

I guess that was about when the bike GP moved there so must have had some infrastructure spend

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit wiki

The circuit reopened in October 1967 [7] and hosted the Phillip Island 500K endurance race, a round of the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, from 1971 to 1977. The race was also a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1976 and 1977. But again, due to its testing terrain, the circuit required significant maintenance and slowly declined through the 1970s. It was farmed by its owners while closed and was then sold in 1985 in preparation for reopening, but did not do so until 1988 after agreement on a long term lease and rebuild agreement. During the time the circuit deteriorated and finally closed, part of the main problem for its owners was that the main bridge from the island to the Australian mainland reportedly could not carry the heavy vehicles needed to resurface the circuit. This meant that the bitumen surface was a cold mix which easily broke up under the rigours of racing, instead of the standard hot mix which would have allowed a more durable surface. It would not be until the mid-1980s that the bridge would be rebuilt allowing the necessary equipment needed for resurfacing.

1978: The circuit is closed,[11] having become virtually unusable for modern racing and, between 1979 and 1982, it is used only for historic rallies and cub sprints.[12]
1985: Phillip Island Circuit purchased by Placetac Pty Ltd, with the view to re-introducing racing to the famous facility.

[GROUPA]

Wasn't Barnard and some of the locals (Fergus Cameron) instrumental into rebuilding the track and updating the facilities ie tunnel before the GP Bikes ?

[chavez]

Originally Posted by peckstar

any idea what happened in 1990ish that changed it as a venue for supercars.

I guess that was about when the bike GP moved there so must have had some infrastructure spend

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit wiki



1978: The circuit is closed,[11] having become virtually unusable for modern racing and, between 1979 and 1982, it is used only for historic rallies and cub sprints.[12]
1985: Phillip Island Circuit purchased by Placetac Pty Ltd, with the view to re-introducing racing to the famous facility.

Footage from one of the last meetings at the Island before the circuit closed in 1978. The differences between this version of the track and the circuit as opened for the '89 Motorcycle Grand Prix can be seen at the Hairpin and MG corner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2D8CmTECyg

[racer69]

The track did play host to some motorcycle racing club meetings as late as 1985 before the track was re-built, a number of pictures of a 1985 event have popped up a few times on the "Motorcycle Racing in Australia 1980-2000" Facebook page

Originally Posted by peckstar

any idea what happened in 1990ish that changed it as a venue for supercars.

I guess that was about when the bike GP moved there so must have had some infrastructure spend

The track was re-opened officially in late-1988 with a Swann Series meeting and had the 500cc GP in 1989 and 1990 before it went to Eastern Creek for six years.

It got an ATCC round in 1990 because Sandown lost their round, then for 1991 Sandown got their race back so Phillip Island lost it (and the track was in money trouble by 1991 IIRC)

It next got a round in 1993 under new ownership (from memory), and has been a regular fixture ever since.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by GROUPA

Wasn't Barnard and some of the locals (Fergus Cameron) instrumental into rebuilding the track and updating the facilities ie tunnel before the GP Bikes ?

Were the Cameron family part of an unsolved murder?

[spook]

Unsolved murder & a disappearance - all covered in a book.

For the Bob Barnard story on the rebuild of Philip Island look here Chapter 6

http://www.bobbarnardtrackengineerin...book-excerpts/