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Chequered flag falls on Oran Park

Submitted by on January 23, 20107 Comments

Oran Park was one of my favourite tracks. It really had to be as there weren’t many to chose from if you were a kid growing up on Sydney’s North Shore!  When I was a boy my Dad, Ray, would take me out to both Oran Park and Amaroo Park to watch cars, bikes, motocross and all manner of racing.

I had some of my life’s greatest experiences at Oran Park. I won a few Formula Ford races there, raced in front of 40 000 people as support to the V8 Supercar bill and even held off Mark Webber for about two laps in a NSW Championship round.

When I began racing Formula Ford in 1994, we had the brand new Wakefield Park at Goulburn (est 1994) and the then recently completed Eastern Creek (est 1991?) to choose from. We were spoilt for choice.  Then Amaroo Park closed in 1998 and now after 48 years of operation Oran is set to do the same.

Like most tracks in Oz , it was a total shit hole from an amenities and infrastructure point of view, but the track itself was fun and technical with a kind of roller coaster effect, due to all the undulations. There were two layouts for racing cars, the “South Circuit” ( 1.96km in length) and the “Grand Prix” track (2.62 km in length), which was the full layout. It  wasn’t an overly fast circuit, but it has some tricky corners that were enjoyable and it had a nice flow. The “kink” at the end of the straight was always a challenge, a driver and a well set up car could make a difference through there, as you had a few choices about which was the quickest way round. The corner existing the bridge was super fun as you could lean on the left rear and powerslide out to the exit. The “dogleg” was also a great corner and really sorted out the men from the boys. You had to convince yourself to keep you foot buried whilst changing direction right then quickly left again over the blind crest into down into the dip. The corner onto the front straight also held your attention as you drifted out wide to see how close you could come to clipping the wall on the exit. It was also quite bumpy, which to me is what a real track should be about. To my knowledge it was the only track in Australia to chris-cross itself and feature a bridge.

Anyway, Monday is the last official day and after that it will close it gates for the last time and make way for 5500 McMansions. Sigh.

Over the past 48 years the track has hosted the Australian Grand Prix (non world championship, 1974 and 1977), Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercars, Truck Racing, Go Karts, Motocross, Drag Racing, Motorcycle Racing, including  the World Superbike Championship in ’88 and ’89 as well as catering to club racers of every description. So it’s a real shame and leaves Eastern Creek the only venue within an hour of the city.

The circuit is selling off the remaining assets, so if you want an old shed, a dunny block, or a commentary tower (Henry?), or even the famous bridge, contact the circuit now.

The outright lap record of 1:01:6718 was set by Tim Leahey in 2000 in a Formula Holden (Reynard 92D)

Click here for list of records

Images: Daryl Flack, John Shingleton, aussieroadracing.homestead.com

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  • Richard Ingham

    Sad to see another track with such a great history lost to become another housing development.
    Oh well. Such is progress :(

  • Speed54

    Australian Motorcycle News recently did an excellent feature story on the tracks lost in Australia – Hume Weir, Longford, Catalina, Surfers and now Oran….

    I think it was AMCN Vol 59 No 13, but please check.

  • Ray Fowler

    Yes, Oran has some wonderful track memories…all due to the entertainment created by the participants. The track facilities were appalling for both entrants and spectators and I remember vowing never to return because of the queues to the dreadful toilets. I will not mention food. How anyone could justify creating a race circuit with unforgiving walls when starting with a lovely rolling landscape was beyond me. And don’t tell me it was to get the patrons closer to the action. Later when ‘gravel traps’ were introduced, one could be excused if one asked where the gravel was. How many times did your race car bottom out trying to access the paddock?
    Just goes to show how keen and forgiving the drivers were.
    Ray Fowler

  • http://www.deejay51.com deejay51

    Oran Park was second only to my favourite Amaroo, and now both have gone, I went to Oran for the last official Motorcycle Event, the Bel-Ray Six Hour and took a few pertinent images of the enveloping development work, just no hope of a reprieve.

    My greatest memory has to be of Bryan Hindle winning over Ago in the 350cc event during one of Ago’s visits and I loved a somewhat overshadowed event in Australian Motorcycling, the Coca Cola 800 of 1980. The Bel-Ray, Images of the Development and of course the Coke 800 are all featured on my website: deejay51.com

  • Nat

    It is so sad to see this place finally go, I crewed on Formula Ford’s there for a while and managed to have my first and last drive on the GP Circuit just 2 weeks before the bulldozers finally moved in.

    It rings a tear to my eye thats its gone, but it makes me angry that there will be no replacement. Of course, Oran Park was more than just a ribbon of bitumen though, wasn’t it?

  • arthur

    going back quite a few years i can remember going to car racing meetings at catalina park near katoomba,warwick farm near liverpool and amaroo park in north west sydney.all of these are now closed with amaroos last race in 1997.
    now the developers axe and shovel has fallen on the beloved oran park which means the loss of another recreational facility in sydneys south west.i always enjoyed watching the exciting racing at oran park.it was a natural ampitheatre and it was possible to see the cars go right around the track flying over the flip flop than sideways through the bottom corner.i will miss this track a lot and i am saddened by its closure.oran park rip.

  • Michael O’Brien

    I was very sad to see Oran Park go. I used to attend a lot of the races as a spectator, then I got into go karting and raced there a few times. The track was a fantastic spectator track and whenever I raced there I would take my son. He would love watching the karts and cars racing at the same time. Unfortunately, he wasn’t old enough to race a kart until 8 months after Oran Park closed. Very sad and they haven’t maintained even one part of the place to remember.