The Lowood Airfield Circuit was a motor racing venue in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The circuit, which was used from 1946 to 1966, was located at a former wartime airfield site at Mount Tarampa, near

Lowood Lowood is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Lowood had a population of 4,082 people. Geography The town is on the Brisbane River, west of th ...

, west of the state capital

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. It utilised the airfield's runway for its long wide main straight and also used various taxiways and tarmac from the old hangar area.The Maquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1986, page 283 Lap distance was . The circuit was first used in June 1946 for the running of the Queensland Grand Prix, however it hosted only occasional meetings between then and 1956. In that year the Queensland Racing Drivers' Club took over the site, hosting their first meeting there in November and subsequently developing the circuit into Queensland's premier motor racing venue. The circuit was closed in November 1966.

Australian Drivers Championship

Rounds of the

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category. This category was determined by the Confederation of Australia ...

were held at Lowood each year from 1957 to 1962. * 1957 Round 5 –

Lex Davison Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 Australian Grand Prix, 1954 and 1961 Australian Grand Prix, 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' ...

– Ferrari 625/750 * 1957 Round 6 – Stan Jones –

Maserati 250F The Maserati 250F was a racing car made by Maserati of Italy used in '2.5 litre' Formula One racing between January 1954 and November 1960. Twenty-six examples were made. Mechanical details The 250F principally used the SSG, 220 bhp (at 7400r ...

* 1958 Round 5 –

Alec Mildren Alec Graham Mildren (19 August 1915 – 28 August 1998) was active in Australian motor racing as a driver from 1938 to 1961, and subsequently as the owner of Alec Mildren Racing. Racing career Mildren began his racing career in an Austin in 193 ...

– Cooper Climax * 1958 Round 6 –

– Cooper Climax * 1959 Round 6 –

– Cooper Climax * 1959 Round 7 –

– Cooper Climax * 1960 Round 3 –

– Cooper Maserati * 1960 Round 4 –

– Cooper Maserati * 1961 Round 3 – Bill Patterson – Cooper Climax * 1962 Round 3 – Greg Cusack – Cooper Climax

Australian Tourist Trophy

Lowood twice hosted the nation's premier sports car race, the

Australian Tourist Trophy The Australian Tourist Trophy is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport-sanctioned national motor racing title, contested between 1956 and 1979 by Group A Sports Cars, Sports Cars and, since 2007, by Australian GT Championship, GT cars. The t ...

. * 1959 Australian Tourist Trophy – Ron Phillips – Cooper T33 * 1963 Australian Tourist Trophy –

Ian Geoghegan Ian Anthony "Pete" Geoghegan, (26 April 1939 – 15 November 2003) was an Australian race car driver, known for a quick wit and natural driving skills. Sometimes referred to as "Pete" Geoghegan, he was one of the iconic characters of the 1 ...

–

Lotus 23 The Lotus 23 was designed by Colin Chapman as a small-displacement sports racing car. Nominally a two-seater, it was purpose-built for FIA Group 4 racing in 1962–1963. Unlike its predecessors Lotus 15 and 17, the engine was mounted amidsh ...

Australian Grand Prix

Lowood hosted the nation's premier motor racing event of 1960 the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

. It was won by

driving a

Cooper T51 The Cooper T51 was a Formula One and Formula Two racing car designed by Owen Maddock and built by the Cooper Car Company for the 1959 Formula One season. The T51 earned a significant place in motor racing history when Jack Brabham drove the car ...

Australian Touring Car Championship

The Lowood circuit was the host track of the second

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

, in 1961. The race was won by Bill Pitt, driving a Jaguar 3.4.

Lowood 4 Hour

Three 4 Hour races for production sedans were held at the Lowood circuit during the mid sixties. Although the emphasis was on class victories, the entries credited with line honours for covering the greatest distance were: * 1964 Lowood 4 Hour –

Harry Firth Henry Leslie Firth, OAM (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014) was an Australian racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager with first the Ford w ...

& John Raeburn – Ford Cortina GT Mk 1 * 1965 Lowood 4 Hour –

John Harvey John Harvey may refer to: People Academics *John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician *John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture a ...

& Brian Foley –

Morris Cooper S The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally (br ...

* 1966 Lowood 4 Hour – David McKay & Bill Orr – Volvo 122SRacing Car News, May 1966, pages 24-25

Australian Formula 2 Championship

The inaugural

Australian Formula 2 Championship Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

was staged at the Lowood circuit in June 1964 and was won by Greg Cusack driving an

Elfin Elfin may refer to: *ELFIN, a CubeSat developed by University of California, Los Angeles *Elfin (steamboat), a steamboat that ran on Lake Washington from 1891 to 1900 *Elfin of Alt Clut, ruler of Alt Clut, seventh century Scotland *Elfin, a charac ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

References

{{V8 Supercar tracks Former Supercars Championship circuits Defunct motorsport venues in Australia Defunct airports in Queensland Australian Grand Prix Sports venues completed in 1946 Motorsport venues in Queensland