OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA: 51TRACKS IN TIMEWINTON
came to Winton, as the two and three-
wheeled community were well served
with venues at Phillip Island, Ballarat,
Darley and Fishermen’s Bend. The
traditional New Year’s Day meeting at
Phillip Island was set down as usual for1963, but the track, just six years old,
was now in ruins, successive runnings of
the Armstrong 500 race for touring cars
having destroyed the track surface.
Hartwell MCC, promoters at Phillip Island,
was faced with a last-minute dilemma to
find an alternative venue, and quickly
began discussions with the BAC.
And so the New Year’s Day
meeting moved upstate to
northern Victoria with the title of
Victorian Grand Prix, and was
hailed by all as a brilliant
weekend. Former Victorian
Champion and ace Bantam tuner
Eric Walsh was moved to describe
the meeting as “The very best
motor cycle racing we have had
since Geoff Duke’s 1954-55 visit.”
In its first taste of motorcycle
racing at their track, the BAC was
certainly impressed by the huge
crowd that flocked into witness
an 18-race program.
What greeted the all-star
entry which saw international
Eric Hinton up against homeABOVE On his Bultaco-
engined BSA Bantam, John
Read rounds the Water
Tower corner.
LEFT Kel Carruthers’ 250-4
Honda in the pits at the
opening meeting for
motorcycles.The club’s first organised activity
was a gymkhana on December 1st, 1957
behind Terrett’s Sawmill in Roe Street
Benalla. The club’s next step was to
establish an oiled-dirt 0.9 mile circuit at
Barjarg, 50km from Benalla on the
Strathbogie Road. The site was a rugged
one, with a rocky outcrop in the main
straight which took skill to negotiate.
However the meetings at Barjarg were
popular club affairs with plenty of races
crammed into the afternoons, the first of
which took place on 25th January, 1959.
Given the shortcomings of the venue, the
circuit was never going to progress into
significance, and with the BAC buoyed by
the enthusiasm (and with the profits
generated from each meeting), plans
were laid to look for a more suitable
location for a new circuit.
On 23rd June, 1960, plans were
announced for the establishment of a
permanent motor racing track on what
was then known as the Winton Recre-
ation Reserve, with a projected opening
meeting in early 1961. However when
work lagged behind schedule, one further
meeting at Barjarg was conducted, on
April 9th 1961, this time as a benefit for
the family of the former president of BAC
Ormond Allison, who lost his life in an
accident while working on the construc-
tion of the Benalla Go Kart track.
Winton’s opening meeting finally took
place on 26th November, 1961, followed
rapidly by bigger and better meetings,
including Victorian Championship rounds
for various car categories. It was to be
some time however before motorcycling
Sidecar stars at the opening meeting,
Lindsay Urquhart and Jack Craig.