THESE days Sandown is known as the ‘Home of Horsepower’, but back in the 1960s another circuit situated in Sydney paired both types of racing together.
Situated close to 40km southwest of the Sydney CBD is Warwick Farm, which continues to host horse racing regularly as one of the premier facilities in New South Wales.
However, there was a time motorsport was part of the facility and some big names contested the Australian Grand Prix among other big races at the venue.
Warwick Farm’s horse racing credentials were born during the early 1880s when first William Alexander Long, then William Forrester, owned the facility. Forrester named his stables and tracks Warwick Farm to match his initials as he and Edwin Oatley formed the Warwick Farm Racing Club.
Forrester passed away in 1901 and Oatley 19 years later, leaving the latter’s son Percy to become secretary of the Warwick Farm Racing Club as the venue was utilised as a camp for major allied services during World War I.
Fast forward 40 years and the demise of the Mount Druitt circuit led to a lack of motor racing venues close to the Sydney CBD, so the Liverpool Motor Racing Association began to scour for a suitable facility.
Hoxton Park was earmarked as a potential option, but difficulties there led to the LMCA inquiring about Warwick Farm through the Australian Jockey Club.
At this time Warwick Farm was enduring a quiet period and the influx of motor racing to hit the circuit was set to provide extra revenue for the AJC. Sam Hordern was sent to the UK by the AJC to investigate how the motor and horse racing venue at Aintree went about its business.
Bringing back Geoff Sykes to design and lead the Australian Automobile Racing Company (which emerged out of the LMRA), plans were put in place to construct the circuit.
The 3.6km circuit crossed the horse tracks twice via bitumen covered metal strips, while the layout utilised Warwick Farm’s grandstands to ensure crowds viewed most of the action.
Stirling Moss won the first event in 1961 in front of 65,000 people, while the next year the track hosted its first Australian Grand Prix as local hero Jack Brabham greeted the flag first.
Warwick Farm was part of the Tasman Cup’s golden era as the likes of Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, Bruce McLaren, Jochen Rindt and John Surtees took on the locals led by Brabham.
Formula 5000 was the ruleset for the Farm’s final two Australian Grand Prix, both won by Frank Matich.
Held for the last time as a one-off event in 1968, the Australian Touring Car Championship was decided in favour of Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan as Porsche won in 1970 upon the championship’s return in the hands of Jim McKeown.
Bob Jane’s Chevrolet Camaro and Peter Brock’s Holden Dealer Team Torana XU-1 won the last two rounds to be held there in 1972 and 1973.
With Amaroo Park and Oran Park fielding massive crowds, Warwick Farm’s was dwindling as its safety standards needed to also be improved. The cost of this, plus the AJC’s new income stream courtesy of the TAB, ensured the owners of Warwick Farm didn’t need motor racing anymore.
In July 1973, the ATCC meeting won by Brock was the last for the venue outside of a club event run on the short layout in August, as advanced driving schools used what was left outside of the horse racing circuit until the turn of the millennium.
Not much if any of the circuit is left now as horse racing is now a regular feature on most weekends during the year.
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WATCH: Warwick Farm’s 1972 South Pacific Touring Car Series round:
