Calder Park
Circuit info:
- Address:
Calder Park Raceway
Keilor 3036
Victoria
Australia- PH:
- (61) 3390 1222
- Fax:
- (61) 3390 2767
- Circuit length:
2.57 miles/4.14km Grand Prix Circuit
1.44miles/2.31 km National Circuit
1.00 miles/1.609km Club Circuit
1.8 miles/1.119 km Thunderdome oval
Quarter-mile dragstrip- Circuit type:
- Permanent road and oval courses
Circuit history:
Calder Park began as a dirt track carved out in the gound at Keilor in Victoria by a group of motoring enthusiasts. By 1962, a small ribbon of tamac was laid down, roughly to the same layout of the current Club Circuit and a number of local races were held
Things really started to come together in 1974 when the facility was bought by former racer Bob Jane, who had competed at the inaugral event. The circuit was extended and better trackside facilities installed and venue played host to the Australian Grand Prix in 1980. The non-chmapionship race only featured two F1 cars - world champion Alan Jones in a Williams and an out-of-date Alfa Romeo for Bruno Giacomelli. Local F2 cars made up the rest of the field; predictably, Jones won easily.
Jane thought better of the F1 cars the following year, the race being run instead for Formula Pacific cars, with F1 stars drafted in to drive against local stars. Over the next four years winners were Roberto Moreno (three times) and Alain Prost, against fields including the likes of Nelson Piquet, Jones, Keke Rosberg, Jaques Laffite, Andrea de Cesaris and Francois Hsnault.
When F1 proper arrived in Adelaide in 1985, Jane switched his attentions to NASCAR-style racing. The $54 million Thunderdome oval - modelled on Charlotte - opened in 1987, when the first race used a combined road and oval course and was won by Terry Sheil and John Bowe in a Nissan Skyline. The World Touring Car Championship also visited in 1987, again using the combined road and oval course.
The following year, cars from the Winston West series joined locals in the first NASCAR-sanctioned event outside of the US. The AUSCAR championship continued the tradition for a number of years - Brad Jones being a multiple champion. However, Calder began a period of decline in the early part of the new millennium, losing its V8 Supercar races and the AUSCAR series ending after 2001.
The circuit was effectively mothballed for racing, although it remained a popular testing venue and drag racing continued unabated for a few years more.
Today there signs of a revival, with Calder Park has repositioning itself as the home of club motorsport, hosting several rounds of the Victorian Motor Racing Championship, drifting meets and drag events. Plans are also being explored to bring racing back to the Thunderdome.
