Warwick Farm Raceway was a motor racing facility which was in operation from 1960 to 1973. Warwick Farm Raceway hosted numerous major events during its life such as 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 ...

and rounds of both the

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 ...

and the

Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...

History

Warwick Farm Raceway was built in 1960 on the site of the

Warwick Farm Racecourse Warwick Farm Racecourse is a racecourse at Warwick Farm, New South Wales, Warwick Farm, a south-west suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used as a racecourse for Thoroughbred horse racing. The racecourse is owned and operated by ...

, a horse racing track with which it was to co-exist throughout its history. When a motor racing meeting was scheduled, two "crossings" had to be placed over the top of the horse racing track, and then removed after racing had finished. The first, known as the Western Crossing, came between turns two and three while the second called the Northern Crossing was located later in the lap between turns 8 and 9. Known as either The Farm or simply Warwick Farm, the circuit became one of Australia's premier motor racing venues and gained a reputation as a "drivers' track", hosting the

and rounds of both the

, both of which attracted the top Formula One drivers of the day including World Champions

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver, rower and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "Mr. Monaco", Hill won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles ...

Jim Clark James Clark (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British racing driver from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Clark won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Lotus, and—at the time of his death—held the ...

Jackie Stewart Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart (born 11 June 1939) is a British former racing driver, sports broadcasting, broadcaster and motorsport executive from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Flying Scottish people, Scot" ...

Jochen Rindt Karl Jochen Rindt (; 18 April 1942 – 5 September 1970) was a racing driver, who competed under the Austrian flag in Formula One from to . Rindt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Lotus, and remains the only driver to ...

John Surtees John Norman Surtees (11 February 1934 – 10 March 2017) was a British racing driver and motorcycle road racer, who competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , and Formula One from to . Surtees was a seven-time Grand Prix motorcycl ...

, and

Denny Hulme Denis Clive Hulme (18 June 1936 – 4 October 1992) was a New Zealand racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Bear", Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Brabham, and won eight Grands Pri ...

, plus

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (; 20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a Formula One Grands Prix, ...

Piers Courage Piers Raymond Courage (27 May 1942 – 21 June 1970) was a British racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Courage participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix for Lotus, Parnell and Frank Williams, debuting a ...

, Derek Bell and Sydney's own World Drivers' Champion

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Brabham won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he won in , and , ...

.Warwick Farm, www.tasman-series.com, as archived at web.archive.org
/ref> The Farm also hosted 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 ...

which saw the local stars such as

Frank Matich Francis Anthony Matich (25 January 193511 May 2015) was an Australian racing car driver. A highly successful motor racing competitor in the 1960s and 1970s, Matich built his own range of Matich sports cars and open wheel cars, mainly to sup ...

, Frank Gardner, Kevin Bartlett,

Max Stewart Malcolm Clarke Stewart (14 March 1935 – 20 March 1977) was an Australian racing driver. He was known as the "Jolly Green Giant" for his disposition and height. Stewart was born in Orange, New South Wales. He began his motorsport career r ...

and

Leo Geoghegan Leo Francis Geoghegan (16 May 1936 – 2 March 2015) was an Australian racing driver. He was the elder of two sons of former New South Wales car dealer Tom Geoghegan, both of whom become dominant names in Australian motor racing in the 1960s. ...

battling it out. It also staged

races during its later years which saw top line racing from the likes of

Allan Moffat Allan George Moffat, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-born Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins ...

, Pete Geoghegan,

Bob Jane Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018) was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a ...

and

Norm Beechey Norman Edward Beechey (born 9 July 1932) is a retired Australian race car driver, who was given the nickname ''"Stormin Norman"'' by his fans. To some, he was the closest thing Holden had to a star racing driver, before Peter Brock. Beechey com ...

, with the last major race at Warwick Farm being the final round of the

1973 Australian Touring Car Championship The 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship was an Australian motor racing competition for Group C Touring Cars. It began at Symmons Plains on 5 March 1973 and ended at Warwick Farm after eight rounds. The championship, which was authorised b ...

on 15 July (won by

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, al ...

) and the final race meeting was a club day held in August 1973. The reason for the closure was financial - the

Confederation of Australian Motorsport Motorsport Australia, formerly the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), is the nationally recognised governing and sanctioning body for four-wheeled motorsport in Australia. It is affiliated with the Federation Internationale de l'A ...

(CAMS) wanted to have armco fencing installed around the circuit, and the AJC (

Australian Jockey Club Australian Turf Club (ATC) owns and operates thoroughbred racing, events and hospitality venues across Sydney, Australia. The ATC came into being on 7 February 2011 when the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) and the Sydney Turf Club (STC) merged. The ...

) wasn't willing to spend the money to upgrade the circuit. Warwick Farm held its first meeting in December 1960. On a wet track, Ian "Pete" Geoghegan won the opening touring car race driving a Jaguar 3.4 Litre. When it closed as a motor racing facility in 1973, the lap record of the long Warwick Farm circuit was held by Australian motor racing legend Frank Gardner. Driving a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

powered

Lola T300 The Lola T300 was an open-wheel formula race car, designed, developed and built by Lola Cars, for Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an Open-wheel car, open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in vario ...

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an Open-wheel car, open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel ...

during the

1972 Tasman Series The 1972 Tasman Series was a motor racing competition staged in New Zealand and Australia for racing cars complying with the Tasman Formula.''Programme of Events and Awards'', Official Programme, Adelaide International Raceway, Sunday 27 Februar ...

, Gardner set a time of 1:24.0 during the Warwick Farm 100. Gardner finished second in the race he had won in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, 18 seconds behind Frank Matich driving his self-designed and built

Matich A50 The Matich name was applied to a series of sports racing cars and open wheel racing cars produced in Australia between 1967 and 1974 under the direction of Sydney-based racing driver and engineer Frank Matich.The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 19 ...

Repco-Holden.

Australian Grand Prix

Warwick Farm Raceway hosted the

a total of four times:

International 100

Warwick Farm hosted the annual International 100 from 1961 to 1973:

Australian Touring Car Championship

Warwick Farm Raceway hosted the single race

in 1968, and hosted rounds of the championship in 1970, 1972 and 1973.

Tasman Series

Warwick Farm Raceway hosted a round of the

each year from 1964 to 1973.

Australian Drivers' Championship

Warwick Farm Raceway hosted a round of the

on 11 occasions. The Hordern Trophy race was named for Sir Samuel Hordern, a businessman who was sent by the AJC (

) to investigate how the British venue at Aintree combined

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

and

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

Australian Sports Car Championship

Warwick Farm hosted a round of the

Australian Sports Car Championship The Australian Sports Car Championship was the national title for sports car racing drivers sanctioned by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport from 1969 to 1988. Each championship was contested over a series of races with the exception of ...

each year from 1969 to 1972. *

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

RAC Trophy –

– Matich SR4

Repco Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retail company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialised manufacturing, for which it gained a high repu ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

RAC Trophy – Neil Allen –

Elfin ME5 Elfin Sports Cars Pty Ltd (formerly known as Elfin Sports Cars) is an Australian car manufacturer company that was founded by Garrie Cooper. It has been an Australian manufacturer of sports cars and motor racing cars since 1959. Elfin Sports C ...

RAC Trophy –

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 ...

– McLaren M6

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

RAC Trophy –

– McLaren M6

Australian Manufacturers' Championship

Warwick Farm hosted a round of the

Australian Manufacturers' Championship The Australian Manufacturers' Championship was a motor racing title awarded by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) to the winning car manufacturer in an annual series of races held throughout Australia. Whilst the first two champi ...

in 1971. *

– Castrol Trophy –

Colin Bond Colin John Bond (born 24 February 1942) is an Australian former racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team. He quickly found succ ...

–

Holden LC Torana GTR XU-1 The Holden Torana is a mid-sized car that was manufactured by Holden from 1967 to 1980. The name apparently comes from a word meaning "to fly" in an unconfirmed Aboriginal Australian language. The original HB series Torana was released in 196 ...

Australian Formula Junior Championship

Warwick Farm hosted the Australian Formula Junior Championship in 1963. *

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

–

Lotus 22 The Lotus 22 was a racing car built by Lotus cars in 1962, and a total of 77 cars were built. It was developed from the 1962 Lotus 20, with the major differences that it had disc brakes all round, a top link and the 'rubber doughnut' to the rea ...

Ford

Australian GT Championship

Warwick Farm hosted the

Australian GT Championship The GT World Challenge Australia, formerly known as the Australian GT Championship, is a Motorsport Australia-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship ...

in 1962. *

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

–

Jaguar D-Type The Jaguar D-Type is a sports racing car that was produced by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1954 and 1957. Designed specifically to win the Le Mans 24-hour race, it shared the straight-6 XK engine and many mechanical components with its C-Type ...

London to Sydney Marathon rally - 1968

Warwick Farm was the venue for the finish of the London-Sydney Marathon. First place went to the

Hillman Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

crewed by Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

* * {{Australian GT circuits Sports venues in Sydney Former Supercars Championship circuits Defunct motorsport venues in Australia Australian Grand Prix Sports venues completed in 1960