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EPA Heritage Commission's History
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Place ID
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602353 |
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Status
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Permanent Entry |
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Address
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Lakeside Drive |
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Town/Suburb
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KURWONGBAH |
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LGA
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PINE RIVERS SHIRE COUNCIL |
Significance
Lakeside International Raceway is important for its role in the development
of motor sport in Australia. Motor racing began in the 20th century as a
recreation and has been both a stimulus and a testing ground for technical
improvements to engines, fuels and tyres. Lakeside, which was established first
as a club circuit, grew into a highly regarded professional venue and the races
held there brought Queensland into International competition. A number of
important Australian drivers began their careers on this track.
Lakeside was the first purpose-designed motor racing circuit in Queensland
and is now the only early circuit in Queensland to survive. Being opened in
1961, it is now rare in Australia as a purpose-designed motor racing circuit of
its era.
The Lakeside International Raceway is a good example of its type as a
purpose-designed motor racing circuit and changes occurring over time illustrate
the continual quest for improvements in racing conditions, facilities and driver
and spectator safety. It retains the major elements of track, guardrails, timing
tower, bridge, spectator viewing areas and sponsors’ hoardings.
Lakeside International Raceway is valued by the motor sports community and is
associated with key figures in the history of the development of motor racing in
Queensland and with the careers of a number of notable racing drivers.
History
The Lakeside International Raceway operated between 1961 and 2001 as a major
motor racing circuit and during that time was the venue for a wide range of
racing championships including the Australian Grand Prix on two occasions.
Motor vehicles have been raced against each other for virtually the whole of
their history. The first organized motor sport event was a reliability trial
staged between Paris and Rouen in 1894. The winner achieved a speed of 17
kilometres per hour. The first true race, also held on ordinary French roads,
occurred a year later. Early cars were unreliable, had inefficient engines and
were slow. Competition became a stimulus for technical improvement as
manufacturers found that public interest in racing affected sales. Within a few
years races were held at speeds approaching 100 kilometres per hour and were
dangerous to drivers and spectators. In 1906 the first French Grand Prix race
was held, followed quickly by similar races in Italy and Germany. ‘Formulas’
were devised for racing which decreed such factors as the engine capacity, fuel
and weight of competing cars. These formulas were changed from time to time to
reflect technical change and affected the kinds of cars raced. Although cars
were developed purely for the racetrack, touring and sports cars were also raced
and improvements flowed on to cars purchased as ordinary transport.
Racing on roads was illegal in Britain so that drivers competed in other
countries to the detriment of the developing British motor industry. In 1907 a
banked circuit at Brooklands was constructed especially for motor racing. A race
held on a private track rather than a public road made it easier to control
crowds and possible to charge spectators a fee. In the 1920s other circuits
designed especially for motor racing were constructed throughout Europe and in
America. In 1925, the first World Championship was held. In 1928 the first
Australian Grand Prix was held at Phillip Island.
Motor sport also began in Queensland in the 1920s. As cars could not be raced
on the roads, events took the form of sprints and hill climbs held at Mt
Gravattt and Mt Coot-tha. A high-speed ‘reliability trial’, in fact a race, was
held at Woody Point in 1936.
World War Two called a halt to competition racing, but after the war the
famous European races returned one by one. In 1950 a World Championship for
drivers was introduced based on an aggregate of points gained in 7 major races
in various countries. As before the war, the daring and skill of the drivers
captured the public imagination and they and the cars they drove became famous.
Wartime activity in Queensland had left behind runways at military airfields
at Strathpine, Leyburn and Lowood, which were used for motor racing. Races were
held at Lowood between 1948 and 1952 and in 1956 the Queensland Racing Drivers’
Club purchased this site. It was closer to Brisbane than Leyburn and became more
popular. QRDC and other clubs held many meetings there until circuits were
developed at Lakeside and Surfers Paradise. Australian Grand Prix events were
held at Leyburn in 1949, Southport in 1954 and Lowood in 1960.
In September 1957 GS (Sid) Sakzewski bought a former dairy farm on the
outskirts of Brisbane. When the Strathpine Motor Circuit was forced to close in
1959, Sid, a keen competitor in motor sports and a member of the Queensland
Motor Sporting Club, proposed using part of this land on the banks of Lake
Kurwongbah for motor racing. He bulldozed a hill climb between the location of
the current timing tower and the Hill. A special meeting was called at which Sid
was installed as President. The committee approached surveyor Fred Murray and
engineer Pat Davis to help design a circuit joining two rises on the farm.
Initial quotes for construction dismayed the members, but businessmen, sporting
organizations, the automotive industry and enthusiasts rallied with loans,
donations and promises of aid so that work began using voluntary labour and
hired or borrowed equipment. Funds were also gained by selling advertising to
firms such as BP, Dunlop, KLG and Castrol who had sections of the track named
for them. The local council who owned land bordering the farm agreed to lease
this portion of land for the establishment of a racetrack.
The first official race meeting, the Queensland Touring Car Championship, was
held on 19 March 1961 and was opened by the Queensland Governor, Sir Henry Abel
Smith, as Patron and by Sid Sakzewski. Sid served as President for one term and
then was elected as Vice Patron and life member in recognition of his
contribution to the genesis and development of Lakeside that was to continue
over many years. It was thought at first that this would be a club circuit, but
within a year Lakeside hosted an international race meeting at which Jack
Brabham won the main event. The proceeds of meetings after paying prize and
appearance money to drivers went towards maintenance and development.
By 1963 Grand Prix events had been held in New Zealand for almost ten years
and talks between the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs, the Confederation of
Australian Motor Sport and representatives of international promoters produced
the Tasman Cup Series. The Tasman Cup was a minor league World Racing Drivers
Championship and enhanced the prestige and popularity of motor racing in the two
countries. It was held in the off-season of European racing and Lakeside was one
of the four tracks in Australia were races were held. In this era most top
drivers also raced sports cars and many important events for sports and touring
cars were also held at Lakeside, as were motorcycle events. In 1964 the
Australian Touring Car Championship was held at Lakeside after a huge volunteer
effort to make improvements.
In 1967 The Pine Rivers Shire Council resumed land from the farm, but gave
back part for use by Lakeside raceway in perpetuity. The rest was eventually
returned under a land transfer arrangement. In 1971, CAMS, the racing authority,
required major safety upgrades at Lakeside. Queensland Motor Sporting Pty Ltd
Club, who had leased the circuit from a Sakzewski family business, then sold the
promotion rights to them. The raceway remained a Sakzewski family concern and
David Harding promoted at both Lakeside and at Surfers Partadise races.
By the 1970s Lakeside was considered one of the worlds top 100 fast racing
tracks. The natural setting and the way in which the circuit had been laid out
to give the public a good view of the track for most of the distance also helped
the emergence of Lakeside as an important motor racing venue. Over the years,
Lakeside attracted such famous drivers as Bruce McLaren, Jack Brabham, Jackie
Stewart and Graham Hill, who won the Australian Grand Prix at Lakeside in 1966.
Dick Johnson won his first national touring car championship at Lakeside in 1981
following a famous duel with Peter Brock. Lakeside launched a number of racing
careers with Tony Longhurst, Paul Morris, Wayne Wakefield and Paul Romano having
their first outings on the circuit. Motor cycle racing stars such as Michael
Doohan, five times 500cc world champion, have also raced at Lakeside.
The Lakeside raceway has changed and developed over its 40 years of operation.
In 1961 the track opened with only a barbed wire fence between spectators and
the track. The first timing tower was timber, but was replaced a few years later
by a three storey glass and concrete structure financed by Eagers, major sponsor
of the time. Improvements were undertaken between events using volunteer labour.
By the end of 1965 earth works had been carried out, new fences installed and
safer entry and exit routes constructed. In 1968 Shell Bridge was constructed
over the track to allow people to cross over safely. The location of pits,
garages, toilets, refreshment outlets and access roads has been changed over
time and facilities upgraded. Following a bad crash the bridge was extended by
incorporating a section of the bridge from the Surfers Paradise track, which
closed in 1987.
Changes overall were concerned with not only providing better facilities, but
with making a dangerous sport safer for both participants and spectators. The
first two decades of Lakeside’s operation in particular saw a growth in
awareness of safety in motor sport world wide following several deaths and the
campaign by Jackie Stewart and other drivers to draw attention to safety issues.
Changes to access roads ensured a better separation of the spectators and track
than when Lakeside was first designed and were accompanied by improvements to
guardrails and spin off areas. Few circuits provide formal training facilities,
but Lakeside has a training circuit within the main circuit and a building for
training motorcycle riders was constructed under contract with Japanese racing
interests and named Pole Position. When the three-year contract for this project
expired the building reverted to Lakeside ownership.
Other early motor sport venues in Queensland have been lost including
Leyburn, Strathpine, Lowood and Surfers Paradise. Lakeside remained in use as a
motor racing circuit until mid 2001. In its last season it hosted races for cars
and motorbikes, superkarts, sprint events and drags. The owners went into
receivership in late 2001 at which time the track came under the control of the
Pine Rivers Shire Council who purchased the remainder of the land in December
2001. The circuit is currently unused.
Description
The Lakeside International Raceway is 30 km north of Brisbane and lies
adjacent to Lake Kurwongbah. The track is a closed circuit of irregular shape
featuring bends and straights and is surfaced with hotmix bitumen. It is 2.41 km
in circumference and 10 metres in width. It is encircled by access and service
roads and has large grassed areas for parking and spectators.
The raceway has several features that define its use as a motor sports
facility. These include guardrails and spin off areas. A major feature is the
three-storey concrete and glass control tower that provides officials with a
prime view of the track to time and control races. It has served under the names
of various sponsors and still carries advertisements for its last sponsor, Coca
Cola.
The other landmark feature is a metal bridge, commonly referred to as the
‘Shell Bridge’ that spans the track and makes it possible to cross safely. This
is currently painted with an advertisement for Jaguar cars. There are hoardings
with motor sport related advertising on the hill and other parts of the site.
There is a small circular track, which is part of a driver training area and
a number of buildings that service the site. ‘Pole Position’ is the largest
permanent building on the site. It is a concrete building with a garage and
training area on the lower level and a function area above. Pits, officials’
buildings and scrutineers’ blocks are constructed of concrete blocks. Other
buildings such as the medical and media buildings within the pits are
demountable buildings clad with fibrous cement sheeting.
A former barn towards the entry dates from the era when the land was used as
a dairy farm. It was the only building originally on site and has been extended
and used by Lakeside over the years for a variety of purposes, particularly for
administration.
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