Oran Park Raceway was a motor racing circuit at Narellan south west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia which was operational from February 1962 until its closure in January 2010. The track was designed and started by George Murray and Jack Allen. Since its closure in 2010 it has been (re)developed into housing.
History The circuit was established by the Singer Car Club, with its opening meeting held on the weekend of 17–18 February 1962. The land for the circuit was provided by wealthy Camden grazier Dan Cleary, who also ran an earthmoving business, which provided the equipment used to help build the circuit. A motorcycle race meeting was held on 17 February 1963, with reigning Grand Prix Champion Jim Redman being the star attraction. Redman won nearly every class and set the lap record of 50.4 seconds, only 0.8 seconds slower than Frank Matich's outright time set in a 2.6-litre Lotus Sports Car.
The original lap distance of was later extended to with a further extension in 1974,Ray Bell, Lucky Stewart Bags AGP, Racing Car News, December 1974, page 60 creating an alternative "Grand Prix" circuit of in length. The Grand Prix circuit featured a figure-eight shape with a bridge where the track crossed over itself. Despite the loop the racing direction was still regarded as being anticlockwise.
The complex also had a motocross track, a skidpan, a dirt track and four wheel drive course and a 1000-foot drag strip. Due to the nature of the land on which the circuit was built, most of the circuit was visible from the main grandstand or the grassed banks surrounding the track.
Oran Park was used regularly for rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship, V8 Supercar Championship Series, Australian Drivers' Championship and Australian Sports Sedan Championship. The Australian Grand Prix was held at Oran Park in 1974 and 1977. In the 1970s the circuit attracted large crowds for the popular Toby Lee Series, initially run for Series Production Touring Cars and later for Sports Sedans. The inaugural Rothmans 500 for Touring Cars was staged in 1977 but the 1978 event was to be the second and last running of this endurance race. Shorter touring car endurance races would continue to be held at Oran Park during the 1980s and apart from the Sandown and Bathurst classics would last the longest before fading interest caused the compression of the endurance season to just those two events. The final such Oran Park enduro would be the 1989 Pepsi 300 won by Andrew Miedecke and Andrew Bagnall driving a Ford Sierra RS500. The final V8 Supercar round was held in December 2008, won by Garth Tander driving a Holden VE Commodore.
The land on which the racetrack was located was sold to the Government of New South Wales for a new housing development. This led to the eventual closure of the track and ended 48 years of motorsport heritage at the facility. The last motorcycle race meeting, the BelRay 6 Hour, was held on 21–22 November 2009. The final race meeting was scheduled for 23–24 January 2010 but was cancelled due to a lack of entries.NOTICE OF CANCELLATION - LAST EVER RACE MEETING 23–24 JANUARY 2010 As archived at archive.org on 7 February 2010. This meant that the Independent Race Series event on 16 January 2010Race Results Archive 2010. natsoft.biz. Retrieved 7 February 2010. was in fact the last race meeting to be held at the circuit. The circuit continued to run open track days, where the public could drive road cars and motorbikes around the full circuit. The last day before the track closed for good was Monday 25 January 2010.
Australian Grand Prix Oran Park twice hosted the Australian Grand Prix during its 42 years of operation, with both events held for Formula 5000 cars. The first Grand Prix held at Oran Park in 1974 was won by Max Stewart driving a Lola T330. The last time the circuit hosted the event was in 1977 when Warwick Brown drove his Lola T430 Chevrolet to victory. Alan Jones had actually 'won' the 1977 race on the road and was some 40 seconds ahead of Walker when he crossed the line for what should have been the finish. However he was penalised 60 seconds for jumping the start and would eventually be classified in 4th place.
Australian Touring Car Championship
Oran Park Raceway has hosted a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship every year since 1971. 2008 was the final year of Oran Park in the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Allan Moffat and Mark Skaife are the most successful drivers at Oran Park in the ATCC, with six round wins each.
The first ever race in 1971 saw Moffat in his Ford Boss 302 Mustang and Bob Jane driving his 427 cui powered Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 go into the round on 31 and 34 points respectively with Moffat needing to either win or score more 3 or more points than Jane to claim the title. With both drivers starting from the front row a capacity crowd saw a titanic struggle with Jane claiming the win from Moffat and securing his 3rd ATCC championship. In a bizarre happening during the race, a spectator driving a road registered Valiant drove through an open gate and onto the circuit. As there were Group E cars in the race, the officials seemed to miss the extra car and the race continued with the driver managing to complete a few laps before exiting the circuit.
Touring Car round winners Year Driver Car Entrant Improved Production1971 Bob JaneChevrolet Camaro ZL-1Bob Jane Racing Team1972 Allan MoffatFord Boss 302 MustangCoca-Cola Team A.M.R. Group C1973 Allan MoffatFord XY Falcon GTHO Phase 3Ford Works Team1974 Allan MoffatFord XB Falcon GT HardtopAllan Moffat Racing1975 Allan GriceHolden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34Craven Mild Racing1976 Allan MoffatFord XB Falcon GT HardtopAllan Moffat Racing1977 Allan MoffatFord XB Falcon GT HardtopMoffat Ford Dealers1978 Peter BrockHolden LX Torana A9X SS HatchbackHolden Dealer Team1979 Bob MorrisHolden Torana LX A9X SS HatchbackRon Hodgson Channel 7 Racing1980 Bob MorrisHolden VB CommodoreCraven Mild Racing1981 Dick JohnsonFord XD FalconPalmer Tube Mills1982 Kevin BartlettChevrolet Camaro Z28Nine Network Racing Team1983 Allan MoffatMazda RX-7Peter Stuyvesant International Racing1984 Bob MorrisMazda RX-7Barry Jones Group A1985 Robbie FrancevicVolvo 240TMark Petch Motorsport1986 George FuryNissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan Racing1987 Jim RichardsBMW M3 (E30)JPS Team BMW1988 Dick JohnsonFord Sierra RS500Shell Ultra-Hi Racing1989 Peter BrockFord Sierra RS500Mobil 1 Racing1990 Jim RichardsNissan Skyline R32 GT-RNissan Motorsport Australia1991 Mark SkaifeNissan Skyline R32 GT-RNissan Motor Sport1992 Mark SkaifeNissan Skyline R32 GT-RWinfield Team Nissan Group 3A Touring Cars1993 Jim RichardsHolden VP CommodoreWinfield Racing1994 Glenn SetonFord EB FalconPeter Jackson Racing1995 John BoweFord EF FalconShell FAI Racing1996 Peter BrockHolden VR CommodoreHolden Racing Team1997 Greg MurphyHolden VS CommodoreHolden Racing Team1998 Craig LowndesHolden VS CommodoreHolden Racing Team V8 Supercars1999 Mark SkaifeHolden VT CommodoreHolden Racing Team2000 Mark SkaifeHolden VT CommodoreHolden Racing Team2001 Mark SkaifeHolden VX CommodoreHolden Racing Team2002 Mark SkaifeHolden VX CommodoreHolden Racing Team2003 Marcos AmbroseFord BA FalconStone Brothers Racing2004 Marcos AmbroseFord BA FalconStone Brothers Racing2005 Russell IngallFord BA FalconStone Brothers Racing2006 Craig LowndesFord BA FalconTeam Betta Electrical2007 Lee HoldsworthHolden VE CommodoreGarry Rogers Motorsport2008 Garth TanderHolden VE CommodoreHolden Racing Team
Touring Car endurance races A number of endurance races for Touring Cars were staged at Oran Park Raceway between 1977 and 1989. Year Race Winning driver(s) Car Entrant Status Group C1977Rothmans 500 Warren CullenHolden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34Pioneer ElectronicsNon–championship race1978Rothmans 500 John HarveyHolden LX Torana SS A9XMarlboro Holden Dealer TeamNon–championship race1978ABE Copiers 250 Peter BrockHolden LX Torana SS A9XMarlboro Holden Dealer TeamRound 1 of 1978 Australian Championship of Makes1981Valvoline 250 Dick JohnsonFord XD FalconPalmer Tube MillsRound 2 of 1981 Australian Endurance Championship1982Perrier Gold Cup Bob Morris Alan JonesFord XE FalconAlan JonesRound 1 of 1982 Australian Endurance Championship1983Oran Park 250 George FuryNissan Bluebird TurboNissan Motor Co.Round 2 of 1983 Australian Endurance Championship1984 Valvoline 250 Allan Moffat Gregg HansfordMazda RX-7Peter Stuyvesant International RacingRound 2 of 1984 Australian Endurance Championship Group A1985Pepsi 250 Jim RichardsBMW 635 CSiJPS Team BMWRound 2 of 1985 Australian Endurance Championship1986Pepsi 250 George FuryNissan Skyline DR30 RSPeter Jackson Nissan RacingRound 6 of 1986 Australian Endurance Championship1987Pepsi 250 Jim RichardsBMW M3 (E30)JPS Team BMWNon–championship race1988Pepsi 250 Peter Brock Jim RichardsBMW M3 (E30)Mobil 1 RacingNon–championship race1989Pepsi 300 Andrew Miedecke Andrew BagnallFord Sierra RS500Miedecke MotorsportNon–championship race
Superbike World Championship Oran Park twice played host to the Superbike World Championship. It hosted the second last round of the inaugural season of the championship in 1988, and also hosted the second last round in 1989 (since 1990 the Australian round has been held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria).
Australia's future five time 500cc Motorcycle World Champion Mick Doohan easily won both races in 1988 on his Yamaha FZR750, while fellow Australians Peter Goddard and Michael Dowson won the 1989 rounds heat races also riding the Yahama FZR750.
A number of the international WSBK riders were critical of the Oran Park circuit, particularly of the fact that many of the concrete walls that lined the outside of the circuit (especially on the outside of turns 3, 4, 9 and 12) left little to no runoff room should a rider come off their bike.
NASCAR / AUSCAR During the mid-1990s, the Australian NASCAR and AUSCAR series raced at Oran Park, utilising the South Circuit, with the track's lights upgraded to allow for night racing. The night races at Oran Park were a popular addition to the series, which other than one-off support races at the Bathurst 1000 the Gold Coast Indy 300, had previously run exclusively on the only paved oval tracks in Australia, the Bob Jane owned Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne and the Speedway Super Bowl at the Adelaide International Raceway.
Lap records
As a comparison, in November 1974, Warwick Brown set the outright lap record on the then new "Grand Prix Circuit" with a 1:05.2 lap in a Lola T332 Formula 5000. Ten years later in August 1984, John Bowe set the outright lap record of 1:03.9 in a Ralt RT4 (1.6L) Formula Mondial. When the circuit closed in 2010, the outright lap record stood at 1:01.6718 by Tim Leahey in a Reynard 92D-Holden (3.8L) Formula Holden set in July 2000. Note that in mid-1984 the circuit was changed slightly with the addition of a straight run after turn 3 heading to what was turn 5 and eliminating what was turn 4. This made turn 3, and subsequently the new turn 4, slightly faster and gave the Grand Prix Circuit 12 corners instead of 13. The result was an overall improvement in lap times of approximately 2 seconds per lap. Motorbikes continued to use the pre-1984 sequence of turns until one year before the circuits closure.
The official race lap records at Oran Park Raceway are listed as:Oran Park lap records - 2004 V8 Supercar Oran Park round official programmeOran Park lap records - 2007 V8 Supercar Oran Park round official programmeNatsoft Race Results