Winton Motor Raceway is a motor racing track in Winton, near

Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative cen ...

, Victoria, Australia.

History

The Benalla Auto Club began planning for a permanent racing track around 1958, as a replacement for their existing track at Barjarg. In 1960 it was decided to build the track at Winton Recreation Reserve and the track was completed in twelve months. The circuit hosted its first race meeting on 26 November 1961. The circuit was immediately popular - a March 1965 meeting featuring the Neptune touring car and the Victorian Formula Two championship drew a crowd of approximately 10,000 spectators. The circuit length was extended prior to the 1997 round of the V8 Supercar championship and the upgrade included a new pit complex.

The circuit

In its 60th year the circuit at Winton Motor Raceway has a combination of long fast straights and twisty and tight bends. It is also known as "Australia's Action Track". Dick Johnson once described the circuit being "like running a marathon around your clothes-line". The original circuit (now called the Winton Club Circuit) is in length and comprises 10 turns. The circuit was lengthened to with the cars turning left prior to the esses and a series of right hand turns added before the extension rejoins the original track at the esses. The long circuit is called the Winton National Circuit.

Layouts

File:Winton Motor Raceway (Australia) track map -- with extension.svg, National Circuit File:Winton Motor Raceway (Australia) track map -- original track.svg, Club Circuit

V8 Supercars

The track is currently used as a round in the

V8 Supercar The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

series, hosting the Winton Super Sprint. The track is one of the more popular tracks in the series with spectators, especially those who live in the area. Easy access to the track and viewing areas make it very popular. It attracts some of the biggest crowds of any of the permanent race tracks in the series. Although the circuit held various rounds of national championships such as the

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship was a motor racing championship contested annually from 1957 to 2014 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category as determined by the Confederation of Australian Motor ...

and 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 ...

, Winton was not awarded a round of 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 trop ...

until the start of the

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles w ...

era in Australia in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. The first ATCC race was won by then triple-

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most re ...

winner Jim Richards in his JPS Team BMW 635 CSi. That race holds its place in ATCC/V8 Supercar history as not only the first all-Group A race in Australia, but the first ATCC win by BMW and the only race in history in which there were no Holdens on the grid. Richards holds the record for most ATCC round wins at Winton with four, having won in 1985 and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

for BMW, while winning in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

for Nissan.

Australian Drivers' Championship

Winton has played host to 19 rounds of the

since 1980. ''* The 1989 Australian Drivers' Championship was contested over ten rounds at five race meetings at five different tracks. Although the races were held on the same day both Rohan Onslow and John Briggs are credited with separate round wins.
**The 2009 round saw two heats. Tim Macrow and Joey Foster each won a heat while also finished second on the other heat giving the pair equal points (35) on the day.''

Australian Sports Car Championship

Winton played host to a round of the

on 7 occasions between 1978 and 1985.

Australian Sports Sedan / GT Championship

1980, 1981, 1997, 1998 and 2003 were run for Sports Sedans. 1982–1985 were run for GT style cars.

Australian Nations Cup Championship

Australian Superbike Championship

Winton Raceway is one of the most prominent Superbike races on the Australian Superbike Championship racing calendar. Winton Raceway has seen riders such as Mick Doohan, Kevin Magee and Mat Mladin ride regularly at the venue. Formula X-treme Motorcycle Championship

Drift Attack

Winton Raceway is one of Australia's most popular Drift circuits. It hosts Australia largest drift event Drift Attack. Drift Attack is promoted by the Victorian Drift Club and offers the largest Prize Pool in Australian Drifting and is contested by Australia's 32 best Drifters in the Pro class and 32 Drivers in the street class.

Lap records

As of July 2022, the official race lap records at Winton Motor Raceway are listed as:

National Circuit

Notes

References

External links

Official raceway website
{{Australian Superbike Championship circuits Motorsport venues in Victoria (Australia) Supercars Championship circuits Sports venues in Victoria (Australia)