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 motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...

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 trophy ...

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, 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 the Australian Turf Club. Hist ...

, 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. It became one of Australia's premier motor racing venues and gained a reputation as a "drivers' track", hosting the

and rounds of both the

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

. It also staged

races during its later years. The last major race at Warwick Farm was the final round of the 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship on 15 July 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'Au ...

wanted to have armco fencing installed around the circuit, and the AJC 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 Lola T300

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an 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 racing cars tha ...

in the 1972 Tasman Series, 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 ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

, 18 seconds behind

Frank Matich Frank 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 support his own ...

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 Repco is an Australian automotive engineering/retailer company. Its name is an abbreviation of Replacement Parts Company and was for many years known for reconditioning engines and for specialized manufacturing, for which they gained a high r ...

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. *1963

–

Jack Brabham Sir John Arthur Brabham (2 April 1926 – 19 May 2014) was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in , , and . He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. Brabham was a R ...

– Repco Brabham BT4 Coventry Climax FPF *1963 Hordern Trophy – John Youl –

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * Cooper (video game character), in ...

T55 Coventry Climax FPF *1964 Hordern Trophy

Leo Geoghegan Leo Geoghegan (16 May 1936 - 2 March 2015) was an Australian former 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. Whi ...

–

Lotus 32 The Lotus 32 was a Formula 2 racing car built by Team Lotus in 1964. It was developed from the Lotus 27 Formula Junior model. Twelve cars were produced, four of which were run by Ron Harris Team Lotus, whose drivers included Jim Clark and Mike ...

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 ...

*1965 International 100 –

Jim Clark James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...

– Lotus 32B Coventry Climax FPF *1965 Hordern Trophy – Bib Stillwell – Repco Brabham BT11A Coventry Climax FPF *1966 Hordern Trophy – Frank Gardner – Repco Brabham BT16 Coventry Climax FPF *1967 Hordern Trophy – Frank Gardner –

Brabham Brabham () is the common name for Motor Racing Developments Ltd., a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. Founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac, the team won four ...

BT23D

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...

*1968 Hordern Trophy – Kevin Bartlett –

BT23D

*1969 Hordern Trophy – Kevin Bartlett – Mildren

Waggott Waggott Engineering was an Australian automotive engineering company which gained fame for the engines which it produced for motor sport applications from the 1950s through to the 1970s. The company had its origins in a machine shop opened in 1948 b ...

*1970 Hordern Trophy –

– Lotus 59B

*1972 Hordern Trophy –

–

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 RAC Trophy –

– Matich SR4

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

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

RAC Trophy – Neil Allen – Elfin ME5

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

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 ...

– 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, me ...

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 a retired Australian 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

Australian Formula Junior Championship

Warwick Farm hosted the

Australian Formula Junior Championship The Australian Formula Junior Championship was a short-lived motor racing championship held in Australia for drivers of open-wheel racing cars conforming to Formula Junior regulations. The championship was sanctioned by the Australian governing b ...

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 Cov ...

–

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 donut' to the rear su ...

Ford

Australian GT Championship

Warwick Farm hosted the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 ...

in 1962. * 1962 –

–

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 activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

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