Start your engines: Local motorsports group loves Avalon strategy

GEELONG’S major motorsports group is firmly behind Avalon’s selection as the new Home of Motorsport in Victoria.

Last month, the state government named the airport precinct as the preferred home for the purpose-built facility, which would include tracks to host elite events.

The Home of Motorsport would cater for a range of motorsport disciplines including motorcycles, karts and drag racing for grassroots events up to top-level competition.

A 150-hectare plot and $1.6 million in state funding will be set aside to begin design and planning.

Geelong Motor Sport Complex chair Craig Dixon said the development of a new facility at the precinct would not only bring in a new era for motorsport, but also would consolidate and grow the sport in Geelong, Victoria, and across Australia.

“Not only will motorsport be the beneficiary, but a new purpose-built facility will offer up driver education through a schools program.”

Geelong Motor Sport Complex operates on a 21-hectare site at Beach Road, Avalon and has four member clubs, which all run grassroots motorsport activities and events.

During the past 18 months, the complex has consolidated its position with a $500,000 grant from the Victorian government, and used the funds to seal a motorkana pad, install track timing monitors, purchase a ride-on mower and install new boundary fencing.

Mr Dixon encouraged Motorsport Australia and the state government to meet with the Geelong Motor Sport Complex and its member groups to learn how grassroots motorsport could be incorporated into the Home of Motorsport.

The Geelong Motor Sport Complex comprises four owners – Western District Car Club, Geelong Motorsport Club, MG Car Club Geelong and Geelong Off Road Buggy Association – and has offered grassroots motorsport at an affordable level since 1983.

It hosts organised events for kanacross, motorkanas, autocross, and off road buggy racing, as well as activities for fun karts, radio-controlled buggies and a rally school.

A new Home of Motorsport is listed as a priority in the recently announced 2022-32 Victorian Motorsport Infrastructure and Participation Strategy, which will help to sustain the high number of motorsport events held in Victoria from grassroots to elite level.

Victoria accounted for more than 22 per cent of all four-wheeled motorsport participation across Australia in 2019.

The report found that despite Victoria hosting some of the world’s biggest motorsport events in Formula 1 and MotoGP Grand Prix races, it suffered from “limited quality motorsport infrastructure” for its more than 28,800 participants, which limited the sport’s sustainability and growth, and a dedicated facility for the sport, run by its users, would address these challenges.

Potential proponents will be asked to demonstrate how the Home of Motorsport could deliver key aims for the facility, including growing participation, boosting jobs, providing educational links and enhancing Victoria’s standing in major events.