Damn Suburbia

[wizard]

Was out at Oran park today, this corner has gone from this to this.

Left there feeling sad.

Whats left of the flip flop

[Marlin]

That really is sad.

[Roy]

It is sad. The UK has a whole industry around club motorsport and enthusiasts and they dont close down tracks to build housing developments and their population is 3 times Australias and their land mass barely NSW. Yeh , no other land available

[mattie4270]

Great photos Ron,brings back great memories.Remember sitting on that hill in your second photo in about 1973 onwards,im 42yrs old now.Back then Dad and his mates could drive in,park on the hill,have a barby or cold chicken sangas,and from memory a few cold ones.Its a real shame shes gone, although it wasnt the best track for racing,for fans viewing it was fantastic.Do you remember when they stopped the dragstrip being built at Oran Park?

[mattie4270]

http://www.facebook....06907602&type=3 One of Dads mates early 70s Edited May 30, 2012 by mattie4270

[fatz]

Ghay

[JAS-25T]

If anyone from SAU buys there, they should be permabanned

[Boosted Zed]

I first raced there in my RX3 with an alloy roll cage in 1984. Then a few thousand laps in The Slot Car.

[boxheadmr]

i thought oran park was an awesome driver track, was good for the fans as well but driving it was fantastic.

And john love the bow in the wing...

[Daleo]

Many a day spent on the hill with a cheap bbq and an esky of cans; vividly remember being part of the standing ovation as Brocky did his farewell lap. Done a few cheap bike track days & advanced riding courses out there; hell, one of my mates plowed his XB GT coupe into the wall, (if that's not the definition of Australian; I don't know what is!). Great memories.

I don't understand the developers whole "Own a piece of motorsport history" bullshit; what kind of motorsport enthusiast would be proud to have contributed to the destruction of an iconic racetrack?

If I met someone who proudly announced that the lived in Brock Street, at Oran Park town; I'd probably stab them with my car keys.

I remember when the development was announced; the track owner promised he was going to build an exact copy of Oran at a nearby site, couldn't help thinking that place might've been a better spot for houses...

Edited June 1, 2012 by Daleo

[evil_weevil]

this thread makes me sad.

[mattie4270]

I also saw night racing there with nascars on the short circiut,Jim Richards and Brad Jones did a whole lap side by side,touching a bit,wheelspin and that great sound of unmuffled V8s,what a sight,mmmmmmmmm,gone forever,yes Chris very sad

[luke gtr]

i miss the super trucks.

nothing like a couple of tonne racing around the track, tyres screeching, struggling to hold them on.

im pissed off about it for 2 reasons.

1: i never got to race on the track, for fear of cracking oil pump or spinning bearing.

2: its the people who bought at harrington park, then complained about the noise that led to its demise.

yeah, not like it was there first or anything.......

[Roy]

I live in Southbamk in Melbourne... I really wish they would do something about the noise from the MCG, and all the people parking in my street when attending Rod Laver !!!

[Daleo]

The only thing near Oran was some cows & grass...

Screw Harrington Park; it's a stupid suburb anyway. They deserve to have to live there now.

[Duncan]

I also saw night racing there with nascars on the short circiut,Jim Richards and Brad Jones did a whole lap side by side,touching a bit,wheelspin and that great sound of unmuffled V8s,what a sight,mmmmmmmmm,gone forever,yes Chris very sad

Night racing there was so much fun - I was lucky enought to do it twice over the years, it was an amazing experience.....aiming for a point in the dark that you are pretty sure was where the apex is. Sitting so damn close to the car behind you that all you can see is your headlights reflected back, impossible to judge distances for braking etc.

And it made for great pics of brakes

[Chris-06R]

For those of us that crave driving around there again, we can look forward to September/October this year when the iRacing service will be releasing their digital laser-scanned version of the track which should be accurate in every detail. Although we've had Oran in virtual form before (including the project I was part of -

) this is bound to be the best version yet in the best sim I've ever used...

Oh they've also just announced they will be doing Bathurst too...

[Duncan]

here's some incar from the last SAU day there, about 3 months before it closed.

I was alos lucky enough to be at the last race meet there, an iRace meet in January - I won the race so I must be a perpetual chamption there

some other good memories from there:

Got license there by tricking John Boston into beleiving I could drive. mauahahah

The race car's first ever outing. And my first ever spun bearing.

My first race. 8 woos on the short/nort ciruit. It was mayhem

Cracking a sump at the dog leg by cutting a little too much

watching Kel race Scott back when super sprints had standing starts....she shoved it right up the inside...no worries about panel damage from her!

the china radiator John sold me falling out of the mounts and cooking a brand new motor with less than 100klm on it

watching Neil take the radical there at night. in the rain. on slicks. Classic.

2x 1 hour enduros, both times running out of fuel about 5 minutes from the end.

Plenty of crashes, including a special in the mighty daewoos where I managed to hit 3 sides of the same car, but keep going (those things were indestructible)

Scraping the milk sign a few times

UAS track days, used to be sooo many cars there, including a cappucino doing donuts

My first pole, and leading the first few laps. Almost holding the damn quick BSM car out.

Fatz drift days, at driftland! featuring the R31 with the PVC rollcage

Being buried to the chassis rails at turn 2.

Watching Mark trying to finish a lap on 3 wheels after the woo's right rear wheel bearing exploded

Being run off the track in turn 1 by Peter Hennessey

42 car grids with touring cars and the mighty woos in together. The start was a bitch at the back of the grid - steep slope, and you couldn't see the start lights!

Dan just scraping the end of the pit wall during a beautiful 3rd gear (or was it 4th gear) entry at the drift nats

Seeing some kid break their arm at my second track day. Driver forgot to take turn 2, passenger braced their arm on the dash.

Running a combined grid with Production Cars and Sports Sedans. Warning the SS guys that I would come by at the start but not hold them up. They laughed. I overtook all 8 of them at the start. l.o.l.

Taking the gtst, gtr, stagea, zed, march, and yes, the saab convertible around there.

Trying to do tyre changes in this crazy sloping pit lane. Can't put the handbrake on because it will sieze the rears, can't turn a turbo car off hot. PITA

Seeing the BSM car drive out of the pits without the bonnet pins done up. Ouch. Then John did the same at the next event to the Z.

The first superlap, SAU had one fo the corporate suites. Inlcuded a memorable turbo landcruiser

Pete making a valiant attempt to drive the R31house drift car at the first Oz drift nats.

The skidpan. By the end it was a deathtrap because it was in such bad conditions. But lots of great motorkhanas held there over the years.

The SAU/Peter Finlay course. It was beautiful to see 8 gtrs lined up on the first 4 rows of the grid. And great to shove the saab down the inside of 5 of them in turn 1.

[fatz]

Yea baby my first gtr

That car was nice

Good times? Ten years from now the story's will be twice as awesome

[fatz]

The SAU/Peter Finlay course. It was beautiful to see 8 gtrs lined up on the first 4 rows of the grid. And great to shove the saab down the inside of 5 of them in turn 1.

This is basically a photo from team track day from 2002

Good times