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QUINN SET TO BUY QR AND LAKESIDE

Tony Quinn set to buy QR and Lakeside - Images: InSyde Media

By Mark Fogarty

Wealthy enthusiast and patron Tony Quinn is in negotiations to buy Queensland Raceway and Lakeside Park.

Quinn and current owner John Tetley have confirmed to AUTO ACTION that they in serious talks about the sale of both southeast Queensland tracks.

“If I were a betting man, I’d put money on it,” Quinn said. “It’s in due diligence.”

Added Tetley: “He has been talking to me recently, but nothing has been signed.”

Tetley, 76, revealed he is ready to sell QR and Lakeside to secure their long-term futures.

“I have a duty of succession with the venues,” he said, noting that he has no family to take over the running of the tracks. “It’s going to happen one day.”

Quinn, 63, already owns the Hampton Downs and Highlands Park circuits in New Zealand, and has made a bid for the Taupo track.

He also owns Aussie Racing Cars and recently became a major co-owner of Triple Eight Race Engineering, as well as being a regular competitor in GT racing and Targa road rallies.

Quinn made his fortune from VIP Pet Foods and revived iconic confectionery maker Darrell Lea. His latest venture is beef snack brand Local Legends, which backs Fabian Coulthard’s Team Sydney entry in Supercars.

Tony Quinn set to buy QR and Lakeside - Images: InSyde Media

Tony Quinn set to buy QR and Lakeside – Images: InSyde Media

Both Quinn and Tetley admitted they had been in on-and-off discussions about a QR/Lakeside buyout for many years.

“There’s certainly been a lot of talk over the years,” Quinn said.

Tetley asserted that Quinn had “been chasing me for 15 years to sell them to him”.

Eccentric and independent, Tetley has been operating QR at Willowbank outside Ipswich, on the southwest outer fringe of metro Brisbane, for 21 years.

He took over the classic Lakeside International Raceway in northern Brisbane in 2008, remaining it Lakeside Park.

He claimed QR was booming, while Lakeside’s potential was restricted by local council noise limits.

“It’s a very successful business we have at QR,” Tetley said. “It’s a going concern.”

He claimed Quinn was one of three bidders for QR and Lakeside, setting their price at “many millions”.

Tetley vowed that he would sell the tracks to the buyer who would guarantee their long-term future, which looks like Quinn.

“I’m not going to do a dump-and-run,” he declared.

Scotland-born, Gold Coast-based Quinn is most interested in preserving Lakeside, which he thinks could become an “Aussie Goodwood”, referring to the revived English track that hosts major historic events.

“It’s a treasure and it’s important that we protect it,” he said.

Fast and challenging, the 2.41 km hillside circuit, opened in 1961, hosted international GP-style races in the Sixties and was a staple of the ATCC until 1998.

It closed in 2001 and was re-opened by Tetley in ’08 as a national-level circuit.

Queensland Raceway, opened in 1999, is known as “The Paperclip” for the shape of its 3.12 km layout. It was a Supercars regular until last year.

Quinn, who is competing in Targa Tasmania, revealed he is due to meet with local council officials next week to gauge interest and support for QR and Lakeside.

Along with his bid for Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park at Taupo in NZ’s central North Island, he admitted his offer for QR and Lakeside on top of his Triple Eight investment was keeping him busy.

“There’s a few things going on,” Quinn dryly observed.

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