MELBOURNE (VIC)
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1924 - MELBOURNE CARNIVALS PTY LTD
Jack Campbell and Jim DuFroco the directors of Melbourne Carnavals Pty Ltd leased and developed the Batman Avenue site in the city known as the Amature Sports Ground, John Wren a local entrepreneur and devoted Collingwood Magpies fan assisted in the development and so the Motordrome was built.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1924 - MELBOURNE MOTORDROME
When completed the venue consisted of a stadium containing a grassed oval suitable for VFA football games and finals, as well as a banked concrete oval suitable for motor racing.
The Motordrome venue was built to hold around thirty two thousand people, The venue opened on the 13th of December 1924.
|
|
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1925 - MELBOURNE MOTORDROME
1925 - Access Subway to centre of track. Photo: Byron Gunther.
Photo: Byron Gunther.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1933 - OLYMPIC PARK SPEEDWAYBy 1933 the ageing sealed surface was no longer suitable for the newer style of race cars and motorcycles, The concrete was removed and replaced with a dirt surface for speedway racing.
In the same year the name of the venue was changed from the Amateur Sports Ground to Olympic Park.
During the time of the Great Depression the venue would attract crowds in excess of thirty thousand people to watch Midget car racing as well as Victorian Football Association games on the same programme.
|
|
*********************************************************************************************************************************
DISPUTE & CLOSURE
Problems were looming, a dispute between The Management of the venue, The surrounding councils that contributed to the up-keep and several VFA Clubs, the end result had a huge affect.
The complex was on sold after World War 11 and work started on rebuilding the venue for the 1956 Olympics.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1935 - OLYMPIC PARK PROGRAMME EDITORIAL
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1936 - AUSTRALIAN MIDGET CAR CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
1936 - Looking down from Maroubra beach Tram line in 1936 1937. Photo: Byron Gunther.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1938 - OLYMPIC PARK SPEEDWAY 31st December 1938 |
2nd January 1939 |
*********************************************************************************************************************************
1995 - OLYMPIC PARK SPEEDWAY
In January of 1995, Olympic Park was used for a motorcycle speedway event, For the first time in over fifty years, motor cycles raced around a 400 metre track that had been laid over the top of the existing athletics track.
As this meeting was a round of the Australian Speedway Masters series, Riders suck as reigning World Champion Tony Rickardsson from Sweden, 1993 World Champion Sam Ermolenko from the USA, multipul Long Track Champion Simon Wigg from England and Australia's best in, Leigh Adams, Craig Boyce, Jason Crump and Jason Lyons, had all entered.
*********************************************************************************************************************************
2000 - MOTORDROME SPEEDWAY / OLYMPIC PARK SPEEDWAY LOCATION
*********************************************************************************************************************************
2021 - MOTORDROME SPEEDWAY / OLYMPIC PARK SPEEDWAY LOCATION
