“THE HOME OF AUSTRALIAN MOTORSPORT” SINCE THE 1960S, CALDER PARK RACEWAY, IS ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL.

“THE HOME OF AUSTRALIAN MOTORSPORT” SINCE THE 1960S, CALDER PARK RACEWAY, IS ON THE COMEBACK TRAIL.

AN AUTO ACTION EXCLUSIVE.

AUTO ACTION can reveal that work is under way with plans to revitalise the venue for circuit racing and drag racing as well as to establish the venue as the centre of road safety and driver training for Victoria.

Calder Park Raceway’s Rodney and Kim Jane have spoken exclusively to AUTO ACTION publisher Bruce Williams about their plans to revive the circuit on the north-western outskirts of Melbourne for national and state-level racing, drag racing and driver training.

The historic venue has focused, for the past decade, on drag racing, street drags, drifting and other events. Plans AA has seen should see the circuit back up and running in the next few weeks, with activity scaling up during 2023.

The first phase of the return to general usage is ‘legal off street’ drag racing which follows a full resurfacing of the drag strip which began during the pandemic. Calder Park has been working closely with ANDRA, and these events will start in the next few weeks.

AUTO ACTION can also confirm that officials from Motorsport Australia completed an initial track inspection with the plans to have the National Circuit re-licensed and returned to a Category B licence, which could see State and National level competition return.

Cousins Kim and Rodney Jane have Calder Park raceway in their blood and want to bring it back to the glory days when Bob and brother Bill Jane ran an exciting venue.

“Yes, in the short-term, we are looking at returning the venue to a place where we can offer the facility for use as a testing and low-key race venue that’s only 25 minutes from the Melbourne CBD,” Rodney confirmed.

“I was reluctant to publicly talk about what we are doing with Calder, but the rumour mill is going, so I thought it was better that I tell people what we are planning rather than allow the gossip to grow.

“It’s early days, but we are committed to returning the venue to a place that people will want to come and use. We will work in a timely manner, but this is a massive project that we are funding ourselves.

“We are not in a hurry, and it is going to be a slow and methodical process, but we are committed to making it happen

“The plan is to bring Calder Park Raceway back to becoming a fully licenced circuit again, and as part of that process, we recently had a Motorsport Australia track inspection.

The Janes’ spoke at length about their plans for the revitalisation of the venue and what the future might hold.

For more on this story and all the other news which includes the plans to build a new motor racing facility at Avalon, with funding from the Victorian State Government.

Victoria has Winton Raceway going strong and Philip Island the ‘rock-star’ of racetracks providing regular race venues. With plans for Calder to make a comeback and not too mention the changes to the Melbourne Racing Club board who control Sandown’s fate, Victorian motorsport competitors and fans may well be spoiled for the choice of venues to compete at.

While it’s all upwards and onwards in Victoria, sadly the same can’t be said for venues in NSW. Wakefield Park is closed but AUTO ACTION has all the very latest news with regards the petition that the ‘Save Wakefield Park’ group have created which has surpassed the 20,000-signature target.

It will now hopefully be presented to the NSW State Parliament by the Shadow Member for Sport Julia Finn who spoke to AUTO ACTION about the issue.

For more on this and all the latest Bathurst news and reviews as well as coverage from all over the country, grab the very latest issue of the magazine on sale here in digital form or the printed magazine tomorrow from the usual outlets.

Images by Motorsport Images/Peter Weaver/

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