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Phillip Island

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Circuit info:

Address:: Phillip Island Motor Sports Pty Ltd
RMB 500 GP
Cowes
VIC 3922
Australia
PH:: (61) 3 5952 2710
Fax:: (61) 3 5952 3160
Circuit length:: 2.765 miles/4.450 km
Circuit type:: Permanent road course

Circuit history:

A circuit with a turbulent history, Phillip Island is once again at the forefront of Australian motor racing, thanks to an extensive re-build bringing it up to international standards.

Motorsport has been synonymous with Phillip Island since 1928, when British driver A.C.R. White raced his Austin 7 to victory in the very first Australian Grand Prix, held for cars on a 6.5 mile open road course. the Grand Prix is held annually until 1935, but by then motorcycle racing had taken hold, with events held on a 12 mile unsealed public road course until 1941, when excessive corner dust finished racing.

However the appetite for competition locally had been whetted, and plans for a permanent circuit were laid down in 1952, with the formation of the Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC). Three hundred acres of land is purchased by PIARC for some £6,000 and construction work begins.

The new circuit finally opened in March 1956 with a car race hosted by PIARC. Later that year motorcycling returned to Phillip Island but in the first club meeting, Jimmy Fairthorne reportedly lay lost and unconscious for 30 minutes before being found in long grass following an accident.

Australian rider Tom Phillis begans his domination of the annual Victorian GP meeting held each New Year's Day at the circuit in 1959. Riding Hondas and Nortons, Phillis won a total of 12 races at this meeting in 1959, 1960 and 1961 and was crowned the first 'King of Phillip Island'.

The first Armstrong 500 touring car race was held in 1960, won by Frank Coad and John Roxburgh in a Vauxhall Cresta. The following year, Bob Jane and Harry Firth won in a Mercedes-Benz 220E, while the 1962 race fell to them again, this time in a Ford Falcon.

However the constant pounding from the big touring cars caused the breakup of the track surface and after the third edition, the race switched to Bathurst in 1963, forcing temporary closure.

However it was not all bad news for Phillip Island, as the ownership changed hands in 1962, when the track was purchased by former racer Len Lukey, who joined with PIARC in a rebuilding programme. Racing returned to the circuit in 1967 and another golden era seemed to beckon. Unfortunately, Lukey passed away in 1978, leadving the circuit to fall once again into disrepair with only sporadic meetings held into the 1980s.

In 1988 Australia was awarded a round of the World Motorcycle Grand Prix Championship by the Federation Internationale Motocycliste (FIM) and reconstruction work began immediately with the completion of major works in October. Later that year Phillip Island hosted the final round of the Swann Insurance International Series and early in 1989 factory 500 machines reappeared in testing at Phillip Island, ridden by Pepsi Suzuka Grand Prix riders Kevin Schwantz and Ron Haslam.

Disaster struck again in 1990 though. The decision to ban tobacco and alcohol advertising by the Victoria State Government would make 1990 the last GP event at Phillip Island for seven years. However, the 500cc race would prove to be the most thrilling of the year with Wayne Gardner holding off a determined Mick Doohan to win by less than a second.

Thankfully, Phillip Island had now got a firm footing in Australian motorsport and was able to survive the loss of the grand prix until it returned in 1997.

Additional information by Mark Jones