SHORT CIRCUIT: PHEASANT WOOD

Short Circuit: Pheasant Wood

Unless you know the area, finding Pheasant Wood Circuit isn’t the easiest of tasks, but once there you will never have any trouble finding your way back.

By GARRY O’BRIEN

Located 1.1km along Prairie Oak Road, which is located 3km along Jerrara Road off the Hume Highway. It is five minutes from Marulan and 30km north of Goulburn. From Sydney, it is around an hour and 45 minutes south-west and 120kms heading north from Canberra.

The beginnings of the circuit date back to 1992 as a project started by Garry and Natalie Willmington. By 2009, it had been in operation for a year being used as a driver training and vehicle testing venue as well as other motoring-related activities.

On January 18 of that year, the facility was unveiled to the public in conjunction with the launch of the now-defunct Independent Race Series (iRace).

Competitors, guests and enthusiasts had their first look at the Marulan Driving Centre which was a picturesque 1.2 kilometre-long, eight-metre wide circuit very reminiscent of Amaroo Park. It featured an amenities centre with an excellent view of the circuit along with garages and a 360m dirt oval in the centre.

Remarkably it nestled in a foliage-encrusted, undulated landscape along with a visitor car parking area without losing one tree.

“We still have work going on as we intend to surface a lot more of the car park but retain all the trees to provide shade and atmosphere for our visitors and also keep our wildlife happy,” the Willmingtons said at the time.

The facility was designed for defensive and advanced driver training, race driver training, kids’ driver training from the age of eight, corporate events, skid circuit hire, vehicle manufacturers’ evaluation and launch days. The driving centre was also available for staff and team bonding days, car club track days, company fleet programs, private venue hire and race licence tests.

Over the ensuing years all sorts of events have been held at the circuit including time trials, regularities, car club nationals, hillclimbs and rallycross. There was even a round of the iRace Series and from 2015 onwards the Cheap Car Challenge became a regular occurrence.

On November 4, 2016, the facility was purchased by Steve Shelley whose background is Shelley soft drinks, initially developed by his great grandfather. Shelley worked at Berts for 12 years, and then developed Aero-Care which provided skilled staff before developing Deputy.com, a cloud-based software (with smartphone app), which organises staff and rosters.

He had a vision to upgrade the facility to a world-class circuit and undertook a $7,000,000 transformation. This included removing the speedway track from the middle of the circuit and extending the original layout.

Shelly’s brother and now General Manager Cameron who had been in civil earth moving for the last 18 years, undertook the job of overseeing a team of local contractors to remove the old track and create a new one.

The circuit has been dramatically upgraded in layout, safety and amenities. Besides being widened, it has been lengthened considerably to 1.6 kilometres within the perimeter of the original circuit.

The track from the top to the bottom has an elevation change of 13 metres. Being multi-tiered, 2.3 million tonnes of compacted material was brought in over a five-month period along with 227 tonnes of locally sourced road base.

The circuit contains corners, camber and character not seen at any other Australian race track. The corner cambers alleviate to an extent, the worry of contacting many of the concrete walls.

Using the existing main straight, the clockwise-direction track that averages a healthy 14 metres (and up to 18 metres) in width, heads uphill towards Turn 1. It is a challenging, late-apex hairpin with five degrees of positive camber and plenty of runoff area. It then plunges downhill towards a long, banked, constant-radius right-hand hairpin which is faster than it looks.

The circuit doubles back on itself through another cambered corner, diving to the left as it heads slightly downhill in an opening-radius corner that sees cars increase speed on corner exit. The road opens up and gently curves to the left through Turn 4, before climbing uphill into Turn 5 – a right-hander with a good inside passing opportunity.

From there a short straight ends at the 90-degree to the right Turn 6 before dropping downhill towards the fast, right-hand Turn 7. The kink can be tricky as at that part of the track, one has to brake and set up for the left-handed Turn 8 that has negative 1.5 degrees of camber.

The track sweeps right at Turn 9 which is cambered 17 degrees at the apex, and allows for a fast exit back onto the start-finish straight. It’s not a long lap, but is exiting as it holds the drivers’ attention throughout.

The best lap time was recorded by Garth Walden in a Radical at 50.3 seconds. The quickest to circulate in an RWD production car to date is Matt Cole in a Mazda RX7 while the best achieved in an AWD is Greg Boyle aboard a Nissan Skyline GTR R32.

The facility continues to cater to a broad mix of motorsport and motoring activities, both on and off-road, as well as corporate events, drive days and club events through to fully-blown motorsport events on a larger scale.

The Track-Side Cafe provides freshly cooked food on order for dining, casual meals, coffee, drinks and more, either within the premises or the adjacent undercover area which overlooks the circuit. There are covered pit carports and an event air-conditioned race control and operations suite.

Besides the improvements, the facility undertook a name change from being previously known as the Marulan Driver Training Centre to become the Pheasant Wood Circuit.

The name has an interesting origin. Shelley’s great grandfather Herbert Thomas Bolt, nicknamed Nutsy, was a World War I casualty, killed in action along with over 5,300 at Fromelles, France on July 20, 1916.

The military cemetery in Fromelles, where Nutsy was laid to rest, is called Pheasant Wood.

The facility also has a community conscience as well. The Learner Driver School Holiday program involves parents and students, learning together. It offers a safe, controlled environment for teaching correct behaviours and ensuring learners are confident and competent behind the wheel before tackling public roads.

Clients can hire one of the circuit’s automatic or manual Volkswagen Polos, or bring their own vehicle. A one-day program starts from $150 and ranges up to $800 (including car hire) for three days. The locals are particularly well looked after with a 15 per cent discount for residents of the Goulburn Mulwaree District.

PWC has a variety of other uses and applications including and not limited to, defensive driving, new vehicle testing, car club days, media release days, motorcycles and sidecars. Official timing for most events is provided by Eldee Timing with five loops around the circuit.

There are many accommodation options when required within a 40-kilometre radius with Marulan the closest. Along with Bundanoon to the north and Goulburn in the other direction, there is a host of hotel, motel and home-style offerings within in close vicinity.

Not prepared to sit on their laurels, there are plans for further expansion which are set to be unveiled down the track – so to speak.

TRACK INFO:

Track Length: 1.6 kilometres

Track width: 12 to 18 metres

Track Corners: Nine

Track camber: -1.5 to +7 degrees

Track Density: Sprints 25 cars, Regularity 30 cars

Track licence: Motorsport Australia clockwise for Sprints, Supersprints and Regularity; anti-clockwise for Hillclimb – pitlane to T4, AASA held events as well

Nearest major town: Goulburn NSW, 35 kilometres

Minimum race licence requirements: Pheasant Wood Event Licence (obtained by completing an Observed Licence Test).

Biggest event held: Beyond Blue Charity Hillclimb with over 200 competitors on the new circuit. Australian Rallycross Championship held as well.

General Manager: Cameron Shelley

Track Manager: Scott Hill

Website: www.pheasantwood.com.au

Phone: 02 4841 1422

Article originally published in Issue 1785 of Auto Action.

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