BATHURST (NSW)
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1905 - KELSO STREET CIRCUIT 1
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1911 - KELSO STREET CIRCUIT 2
Bathurst's motor cycle racing history dates back prior to 1911 but very little is known about it. The 1911 event is beleived to have been a street circuit that started and finished in Kelso before running through Palmers Oakey,
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1911 - KELSO STREET CIRCUIT 3
The second of these street circuit's also started in Kelso but travelled through Sunny Corner and Limekilns and also finishing at Kelso, these tracks operated by the Auto Cycle Union of NSW successfuly up until 1931 when the Police preasure to close off the streets to racing became too much.
Knowing the end was near the Auto Cycle Union, The Bathurst City Council and the Abercrombie Shire Council all worked together to come up with a new circuit, that was to become the Vale Circuit and it opened on the 4th of April 1931.
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1931 - VALE CIRCUIT
The new Vale circuit was described as very fast and 7.2 miles in length, The entire race track was a gravel surface with just a short section at the start line bitumen, this was handy as it assisted the riders to start their machines easier with the manditory push starts,
From 1931 to 1933 the racing was conducted in an anti-clockwise direction, the skill level to race the track needed to be very high, along with the gravel surface, which tended to rut up the roads had many peeks and troughs and the riders would free fly from one peak to another, some with a disasterous ending. parts of the circuit consisted of sharp or hairpin corners as well as un-controlable dust, it has been reported that when the dust was at it worst the riders would use to tops of the telegraph poles along side the roads to follow the coarse.
Add to this that being a public road in the 1900's noboby would close the roads, so the riders would have to contend with the public, some on Horse and Carts taking up most of the skinny off camber roads.
By 1938 racing had finished at the Vale Circuit and Mount Panorama Circuit had been deemed as a more suitable site.
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2013 - BATHURST VISITORS CENTRE (Very proud of their motor racing past)
