amateur motorsport in australia

[sparra04]

how many opportunities for affordable motorsport in your area?

When I was growing up (some say I haven't quite finished) we had 2 speedway tracks in the area and 2 good competing car clubs (wac and mg), several dirtbike clubs and a cart club and several unnoficial paddock weekends
as a kid/teenager it was easy and relatively cheap to compete in local motorsport, I spent several years in club level rallying, a small run in carts and even a few laps in speedway but stayed away from those things on 2 wheels,they fall over way too easy, I strongly believe it has made me a better driver

nowdays it seems all to expensive and out of reach for the average father to put a child into the very limited options out there, what happened to speedway? where have all the amateur car clubs gone?
waaay too much red tape and very few options

in America they race lawnmowers ffs

Europe, Briton, they have many cheep local motorsport options that the whole family enjoy , a lot of country towns have a racetrack

I know there is a lot out there for dirtbikes, but nothing for cars anymore

 

[1310/71]

There still are car options around (Awaba is still going for example) but in Sydney where I am from, there is becoming a distinct lack of suitable venues and those that are there can be expensive which adds to the cost.

I'm currently involved in a Renault Car club in sydney and we have a number of competitors in state and national motorkhana championships. The state series seems to be run at primarily two venues - Nirimba and Awaba. I don't hear much about Ansell Park anymore. The state committee is always on the lookout for new potential venues and hiring cost is often the factor excluding possible new venues. The entry fee for a state round is close to $100 these days so as you say, expensive to put yourself and your 12+ child into a car despite the benefits. Bearing in mind this is the grass roots entry level supposedly.

There are a number of potential new tracks opening up (eg Luddenham and others), some are supposedly advanced in their planning/building and others just speculation at this stage.

We are also finding that the current generation will happily join online forums; facebook pages etc, but don't want to stump up for an annual fee or become part of a more formal car club, so as active memberships dwindles, clubs don't have the resources both financial and human to take on the task like creating a motorsport venue.

The entry fee for an event is calculated on the breakeven point once the hire costs etc have been taken into account based on expected entries. Dwindling entries means most clubs these days are happy to breakeven let alone make a small profit. I can assure you, they are not getting rich on your money!

KB

 

[sparra04]

i wonder what happened to the motorsport complex that was being planned by the mg club at Raymond terrace

 

[mrtim123]

i wonder what happened to the motorsport complex that was being planned by the mg club at Raymond terrace

according to CAMS - DA issued. Expected to be operating August - September 2014.

http://www.cams.com.au/media/news/latest-news/nsw-venue-update

http://www.ringwoodraceway.com.au/index.php?module=circuit

 

[nao]

i tried rallying as a privateer for a while but the cost is horrendous and it makes it worse when you compete against the likes of subaru who threw $5M+ in to their rally teams before they withdrew.

a lot also has to do with OH&S, legal issues with our tendency to follow the US litigation formats as well meaning organisers have to spend $$$ to create the events and the costs have too be passed on.

unfortunately the only way forward is to get sponsorship and that is a tough gig.. good luck