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 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. ...

, 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 Australian Grand Prix and rounds of both the

Warwick Farm, www.tasman-series.com, as archived at web.archive.org
/ref> and the Australian Drivers' Championship. 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 The 1973 Australian Touring Car Championship was the 14th running of the Australian Touring Car Championship. It began at Symmons Plains on 5 March 1973 and ended at Warwick Farm after eight rounds. The series was won by Allan Moffat in a Ford ...

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 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, 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 ow ...

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 Australian Grand Prix 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 Australian Drivers' Championship on 11 occasions. *1963 Australian Grand Prix –

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 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

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 – 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 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." "A ...

*1968 Hordern Trophy – Kevin Bartlett – Brabham 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 –

–

Repco-Holden

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 r ...

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 of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

RAC Trophy – Neil Allen – Elfin ME5 Chevrolet * 1971 RAC Trophy – John Harvey – 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 mean solar tim ...

RAC Trophy – John Harvey – 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. * 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 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 Co ...

–

– Lotus 22 Ford

Australian GT Championship

Warwick Farm hosted the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a 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 title was contested over a single race a ...

in 1962. *

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

–

– Jaguar D-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, 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, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

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