While Rick Kelly won the final race, Jamie Whincup sealed the first in his record-breaking run of championship victories. SUs of course . 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. Notice the two roads going off at the top right corner of the pic? You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Arthur Hayes, ARDC member number one, waved the chequered flag to bring to a close 31 years of continuous racing activity at one of Australia's most popular circuits. 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. Contact. Here is the plan of Amaroo taken from Sports Car World, July 1959. 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. 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. 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 Originally posted by Vanwall Primitive! The final race in 1987 was known as the Hardie Irrigation 100 due to the distance being shortened to 100 laps rather than the usual 155. 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! Tony Longhurst achieved more AMSCAR series wins than any other driver, with success in 1986, 1989, 1990 and 1991. Now the name matched the body . 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. 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. The owner sold it to property developers for over $500 million. Minus a body, she might well have been unfinished, but she was a mechanical delight! This would have fatal consequences for Amaroo Park, since the ARDC was offered the opportunity of the lease and management of the new venue, which proved an offer too good to refuse. 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 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. Spent a lot of time in the "Loop" and at Honda. or did the body match the name? I was certainly interested in his theory of how the ARDC had the ability to come along and run an existing circuit and then, though a variety of reasons, cause its demise. Johnson won four races from 37 starts, including in 1981 where he clinched his first title in a thrilling race with Peter Brock. A search should bring it up. Peter Brock was the king of the venue when it came to championship races. The ARDC ran bike events in co-operation with Willoughby District Motor Club, which would prove to be very innovative. The owner sold it to property developers for over $500 million. Many of the iconic moments in Supercars Championship history played out at the challenging 2.62km circuit near Narellan in Sydney's south-west. This was the 84 Historic meet. 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. While the circuit continued to draw a bumper crowd, the championship moved its round to the brand new Queensland Raceway for 1999. more stories, one day perhaps? However, needing more money to fund his Hamilton Island development, Williams sold the track to a Japanese investment group in 1987, leading to the circuit's closure. RacingCircuits.info. [3] Each series win from 1988 to 1990 was attained with a Ford Sierra RS500, these three wins being the most for a single model of car. The complex had a hillclimb, a motocross track, a little used speedway track and a short circuit track. By age 16 I had a very well developed sense of appreciation of mechanical contrivances, and most of my private fantasies dwelt not only on girls, but also the svelte and sexy curves of the Maserati 250F. Glaser had a vision of converting this rocky outcrop into a world class sports complex, complete with a Grand Prix circuit, Olympic diving pools, tennis courts, bowling greens, a motels, restaurants and conferencing facilities. 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. Yes I was wondering but not being very good on Aussie cars I wasn't sure, in which case its 1982 and driven by Terry Cornelius, thanks Ray. Free shipping for many products! 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. Join Date: Feb 2005. Championship rounds held: 25 Amaroo Park Raceway was a 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) motor racing circuit located in Annangrove, New South Wales, in the present-day north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia.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 Castrol 6 Hour motorcycle race, rounds Order a Photographic Print or a Download. The track then turned left and dropped down into the right hand Dunlop Loop and onto the back straight which again kinked to the right and led into the tight left hander at Honda Corner. I'm sure I never saw Freddy's car so animated! Hmm. Thank you, 275 GTB-4 and mctshirt. Today, little remains of the circuit, though the large Amaroo Park signs remain at the former circuit entrance, though most people today would imagine that it describes the small business park beyond, rather than a racing circuit. 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. Drag Racing 1970; Drag Racing 1980's; . -28 pit/start. Opened in 1967. Talk about a coincidence, I was just going past there today and thought I would go down memory lane one more time. 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. This was the 84 Historic meet. Last championship visit: 1998 Was it 1982? Popular with spectators and easy for Sydney's Channel 7 to telecast, it became the backbone of the Sydney touring car scene, a scene which once consisted mostly of privateers, who have largely disappeared since Amaroo closed. Hmmm. Most race wins: Jim Richards, John Bowe, Mark Skaife (three apiece). did an advanced driver training course there, just after i got off my p-plates i now realise what an honour it was to do so! This is a historic circuit which is no longer in operation. Supercars.com takes a look back at five iconic circuits from the championships past, each holding a special place in its history. As the outright cars were proving more popular with spectators, it was seen as an attempt at attracting the headline ATCC teams (such as the Holden Dealer Team, Dick Johnson Racing, Allan Moffat Racing and Roadways Racing) to the AMSCAR Series. Championship rounds held: 17 I always wondered what the place looked like, thanks for the links. This is a great space to write long text about your company and your services. 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. 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. 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. Three decades ago, it was the site of Surfers Paradise International Raceway. On many occasions these events featured larger grid numbers than did the rounds of the national level Australian Touring Car Championship. After holding its own touring car series from 1971 to 1993 (initially as the Sun-7 Chesterfield Series and then under various names, including AMSCAR), in 1974 the top-tier Australian Touring Car Championship arrived. This was mostly as the large number of Sydney privateers who usually filled the grid in the nationally televised (by Ch.7) Bathurst 1000, rarely raced outside of NSW or Queensland due to limited budgets.