Maroubra Speedway, officially known as Olympia Motor Speedway was a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

venue in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Maroubra,

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

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 ...

and was reported to have had a capacity of 70,000.

Opening

It officially opened with its first meeting on Saturday, 5 December 1925, Among the competitors on that first evening were two women: Marie Jenkins, of Melbourne, in a Brecia Bugatti, and Mrs. J.A.S. Jones, of Lithgow, in a Crossley Sports. At the speedway's third meeting, on Saturday, 2 January 1926, Jenkins was the first woman to win a final race—i.e., rather than just a heat—at the speedway.

The Olympia Motor Speedway

The 1 mile banked concrete bowl was the scene of some large and successful race meetings before a decline in attendances saw the track close in 1927, but reopened many times in the 1930s. Despite the banking being too steep to walk up, it was still not enough for the speeds achieved, and four competitors lost their lives going over the top of banking. Three others also died at the circuit, two of whom were

motorcyclists Motorcycling is the act of riding a motorcycle. For some people, motorcycling may be the only affordable form of individual motorized transportation, and small-displacement motorcycles are the most common motor vehicle in the most populous co ...

. The sensationalist

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of the day dubbed it a "killer track" which did little to improve the fortunes of the venue. The speedway continued to operate sporadically in the 1930s but the meetings were not the large affairs held previously. The track was used for club days, practice, and record attempts; and was also used for testing.

Demolition

By the 1940s the track was crumbling due to flooding and poor quality concrete. In 1947, it was demolished, and a (1,100 dwelling) housing commission suburb was built on the site, with a park, named Coral Sea Park, developed in what had once been the infield area. Streets in the new area — e.g., Astoria Circuit ( USS ''Astoria''), Chicago Avenue ( USS ''Chicago''), Lexington Place ( USS ''Lexington''), Morris Place ( USS ''Morris''), Neosho Way ( USS ''Neosho''), Perkins Street ( USS ''Perkins''), Sims Lane and Sims Grove ( USS ''Sims'') — were named after Allied ships that had been engaged in the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle ...

.Randwick City Council: Historic Street & Place Names.
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Footnotes

References

70,000 Spectators were Thrilled at Opening of Sydney's New Speedway, ''The Sporting Globe'', (Wednesday, 9 December 1925), p.11

Racing Motors: Opening of Maroubra Speedway, ''The (Sydney) Sun'', (Sunday, 6 December 1925), p.8.

Motoring and Engineering: Maroubra Speedway.—Great Opening Meeting, ''The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate'', (Fri, 11 December 1925), p.11.
* Boldiston, Bill (2018), ''A Maroubra Speedway Scrap Book: A Miscellany of Stories, Photographs and Details of Sydney's Spectacular, but Tragically Short-Lived Motor Racing Circuit 1926-1936'', Bol d'Or Publishing, (Leura), 2018.

External links

''vintagespeedway.com''.

''speedwayandroadracehistory.com''.
Bicentennial of Australia - Site of Maroubra Speedway
''monumentaustralia.org.au''.
Randwick City Council, "Local History – Maroubra Speedway", ''The Beast Magazine'', 21 October 2010.

Olympia Speedway, ''The Dictionary of Sydney''.

Wayne, Michael, "Olympia Speedway/Coral Sea Park – Maroubra, NSW"
''Past/Lives of the Near Future'', 30 July 2015. {{coord, 33, 56, 50, S, 151, 14, 36, E, display=title Defunct speedway venues in Australia Sports venues in Sydney Sports venues completed in 1925 Sports venues demolished in 1947 Demolished buildings and structures in New South Wales Maroubra, New South Wales Demolished sports venues