Gnoo Blas motor racing circuit, Huntley Road, Orange, NSW
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HistoryThe plan to build the track was hatched in April 1952 by a group of people associated with the annual Orange Cherry Blossom Festival with lots of prompting from the Australian Sporting Car Club, which had had a row over Mt Panorama at Bathurst and wanted somewhere else to race. Part of the simple triangle of quiet country roads selected for the track was in the Orange city area and the remainder in neighbouring Canobolas Shire.
The roads were reconstructed and sealed with a light coat of bitumen carried out by both Councils under the supervision of their engineers Bill Holness and Alf Stephen. Building the track wasn’t made any easier by opposition from some Orange people who were fearful their Council rates would go up to pay for the track while others said the City needed better amenities first like a swimming pool and new footpaths.
The road was never very wide but most of Australia’s best drivers raced at Gnoo Blas at one time or another, including Jack Brabham, who ran a variety of cars and held the lap record until the second last meeting. Brabham also recorded the first 100mpg lap in Australia there.
Gnoo Blas hosted the first international race meeting in Australia along with the first Australian Touring Car Championship, won by David McKay from Bill Pitt and Ron Hodgson, all in Jaguars. For some reason or another, Gnoo Blas also boasted the first photo finish for cars but history doesn’t record whether it was used!
Orange Mayor at the time, Jack Jaeger, predicted the new track would be a tremendous asset and said there was every indication that with the opening of such a valuable and well-constructed circuit, ‘the people responsible for this outstanding innovation had brought about something that would prove of inestimable benefit to the City and district’.
The opening car meeting attracted 12,500 people on Anniversary Day, Monday, 26 January 1953 and followed a motorcycle meeting on the previous Sunday when riders had to contend with sand spread on the surface to help soak up the new bitumen.
Local newspaper Central Western Daily described the new track as ‘the biggest single community enterprise in the history of Orange and district. Its construction and the planning of the meeting was a tough fight, particularly in the early stages, for a few progressive citizens with faith in a big idea ..’.
But the new track had a far from rosy future. It faced problem after problem in the eight years it was open. Tough opposition came from neighbouring Bathurst, whose local MP Gus Kelly, the NSW Chief Secretary at the time, did his best to make sure Gnoo Blas didn’t become a serious rival for Mt Panorama and put every obstacle, including the introduction of the Speedway’s Act, in its way.
But Gnoo Blas weathered the early storms and ran its second meeting on Easter Monday, 6 April 1953 with 65-year-old grandfather Tom Sulman winning five of the eight races on the program in his 1496cc s/c Maserati.
The meeting was als the debut road meeting for a young Jack Brabham in 1000cc Vincent HRD-engined Cooper, who managed a third to Sulman and Bill Murray (Alfa Alvis) in one race.
There was no racing in 1956 and 1957 but with new safety requirements met, it resumed in January 1958 after volunteers worked late in the night under car and truck lights putting up new fencing. Around 10,000 people turned up to see Jack Brabham easily win the South Pacific championship in his Cooper Climax. He also set a new lap record of 2 minutes 12 seconds, an average speed of 102mph.
In January 1960 the first Australian Touring Car Champsionship, now the V8s, was run at Gnoo Blas along with the first race for the new class for Grand Touring cars. David McKay won from Bill Pitt and Ron Hodgson, all in Jaguars, in an action packed race. McKay recorded 132.7mph on the long straight.
But dwindling crowds and the fact the Cherry Blossom motor racing committee still owed the Orange Council around £7,000 for the original road construction and about £to private debenture holders, the writing was on the wall. Orange Light Car Club, which had been left with a debt of several thousand pounds to Total Oil Company on behalf of the ASCC and the Cherry Blossom car racing committee, ran the final meeting October 1961.
The Gnoo Blas Car Club on the second weekend in February each year, keeps alive the history of the old track through its annual Gnoo Blas Classic car show in Sir Jack Brabham Park in the centre of the old track. Sponsored by NRMA veteran vintage and classic insurance and Sunbeam, classic cars, racing cars, sports cars, street cars, drag racing cars and new cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, line up from 11am. The club gets good support from Sydney clubs like Mercedes, Triumph, Morris Minor and Cortina Anglia Perfect.
The roads were reconstructed and sealed with a light coat of bitumen carried out by both Councils under the supervision of their engineers Bill Holness and Alf Stephen. Building the track wasn’t made any easier by opposition from some Orange people who were fearful their Council rates would go up to pay for the track while others said the City needed better amenities first like a swimming pool and new footpaths.
The road was never very wide but most of Australia’s best drivers raced at Gnoo Blas at one time or another, including Jack Brabham, who ran a variety of cars and held the lap record until the second last meeting. Brabham also recorded the first 100mpg lap in Australia there.
Gnoo Blas hosted the first international race meeting in Australia along with the first Australian Touring Car Championship, won by David McKay from Bill Pitt and Ron Hodgson, all in Jaguars. For some reason or another, Gnoo Blas also boasted the first photo finish for cars but history doesn’t record whether it was used!
Orange Mayor at the time, Jack Jaeger, predicted the new track would be a tremendous asset and said there was every indication that with the opening of such a valuable and well-constructed circuit, ‘the people responsible for this outstanding innovation had brought about something that would prove of inestimable benefit to the City and district’.
The opening car meeting attracted 12,500 people on Anniversary Day, Monday, 26 January 1953 and followed a motorcycle meeting on the previous Sunday when riders had to contend with sand spread on the surface to help soak up the new bitumen.
Local newspaper Central Western Daily described the new track as ‘the biggest single community enterprise in the history of Orange and district. Its construction and the planning of the meeting was a tough fight, particularly in the early stages, for a few progressive citizens with faith in a big idea ..’.
But the new track had a far from rosy future. It faced problem after problem in the eight years it was open. Tough opposition came from neighbouring Bathurst, whose local MP Gus Kelly, the NSW Chief Secretary at the time, did his best to make sure Gnoo Blas didn’t become a serious rival for Mt Panorama and put every obstacle, including the introduction of the Speedway’s Act, in its way.
But Gnoo Blas weathered the early storms and ran its second meeting on Easter Monday, 6 April 1953 with 65-year-old grandfather Tom Sulman winning five of the eight races on the program in his 1496cc s/c Maserati.
The meeting was als the debut road meeting for a young Jack Brabham in 1000cc Vincent HRD-engined Cooper, who managed a third to Sulman and Bill Murray (Alfa Alvis) in one race.
There was no racing in 1956 and 1957 but with new safety requirements met, it resumed in January 1958 after volunteers worked late in the night under car and truck lights putting up new fencing. Around 10,000 people turned up to see Jack Brabham easily win the South Pacific championship in his Cooper Climax. He also set a new lap record of 2 minutes 12 seconds, an average speed of 102mph.
In January 1960 the first Australian Touring Car Champsionship, now the V8s, was run at Gnoo Blas along with the first race for the new class for Grand Touring cars. David McKay won from Bill Pitt and Ron Hodgson, all in Jaguars, in an action packed race. McKay recorded 132.7mph on the long straight.
But dwindling crowds and the fact the Cherry Blossom motor racing committee still owed the Orange Council around £7,000 for the original road construction and about £to private debenture holders, the writing was on the wall. Orange Light Car Club, which had been left with a debt of several thousand pounds to Total Oil Company on behalf of the ASCC and the Cherry Blossom car racing committee, ran the final meeting October 1961.
The Gnoo Blas Car Club on the second weekend in February each year, keeps alive the history of the old track through its annual Gnoo Blas Classic car show in Sir Jack Brabham Park in the centre of the old track. Sponsored by NRMA veteran vintage and classic insurance and Sunbeam, classic cars, racing cars, sports cars, street cars, drag racing cars and new cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, line up from 11am. The club gets good support from Sydney clubs like Mercedes, Triumph, Morris Minor and Cortina Anglia Perfect.
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SubjectsGnoo Blas motor racing circuitPeopleSir Jack BrabhamPlaceGnoo Blas motor racing circuit, Huntley Road, Orange, NSWSir Jack Brabham Park, Forest Road, Orange, NSWBloomfield Hospital, Forest Road, Orange, NSW
PeopleSir Jack BrabhamPlaceGnoo Blas motor racing circuit, Huntley Road, Orange, NSWSir Jack Brabham Park, Forest Road, Orange, NSWBloomfield Hospital, Forest Road, Orange, NSWloading google map....
Gnoo Blas motor racing circuit, Huntley Road, Orange, NSW. Central West Libraries, accessed 19/04/2026, https://centralwest.recollect.net.au/nodes/view/3513
