Old Bike Australasia – July 21, 2019

OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA: 53

TRACKS IN TIMESYMMONS PLAINS

Upon the death of John Youl in
1827, his eldest son James inherited
the property and successive members
of the family have farmed and managed
grazing on the estate until it was sold in

2011. Pastoralist Boyce Youl and his sons
      Gavin and John were all prominent in
      Tasmanian motor sport and key
      members of the Light Car Club of
      Tasmania. Both John and Gavin were
      talented drivers and Gavin competed
      successfully in open wheel racing in
      Australia and in Britain, where he was
      one of the first customers for the new
      M.R.D. (later Brabham) cars built by Jack
      Brabham and Ron Tauranac in London.
      The club had promoted race meetings
      on airfield circuits such as nearby Quorn
      Hall and Valleyfield, as well as the once-
      a-year road circuit at Longford, just a few
      kilometres from the Youl property.

ABOVE Ken Kavanagh

in the pits with the

223cc Ducati in 1960.

TOP LEFT Bikes being

unloaded after the

ferry crossing from

Melbourne in 1961.

However Longford was an expensive

and difficult site for a race facility, with

two river crossings and extensive road

closures required for each meeting.

Tasmania did have a permanent circuit,

but this was Baskerville near Hobart

which opened in February 1958. There

had been club motor sport activity such

as gymkhanas on the Symmons Plains

property for several years before the

permanent circuit was established,

which itself opened for business on

Sunday 13th March, 1960.

To facilitate the construction of the

Symmons Plains circuit, the Light Car Club

formed a limited liability company – the

Tasmanian Motor Racing Company – and

invited members and others to subscribe

to share capital. Under the chairmanship

of John Youl, and with an enthusiastic

uptake on the share offer, the 1.5 mile

(2.4km) circuit, which varied in width

from 24 feet to 40 feet (7.3m to 14m)

was constructed in a very short space of

time and was tar-sealed in January 1960

in readiness for the opening meeting.

The actual design of the track was the

result of input from several leading

Australian drivers who visited the site

after competing in the Australian Grand

Prix (for cars) at Longford in 1959. World

Champion Jack Brabham also visited the

track just prior to the tar surfacing, and

said that it would provide a major fillip

for the sport in Tasmania, and indeed the

Southern Hemisphere.

The track occupied a thin section of

the Youl property, running in an anti-

clockwise direction, along a ridge on

one side and across a flat expanse on the

other. The start/finish was located on the

exit of a fast right hand bend leading

ABOVE Program from the opening

meeting in 1960. RIGHT Map of the

track in its original form.