2024 Canberra Festival of Speed

The HSRCA is pleased to be invited to the inaugural Canberra Festival of Speed, which will run March 2-3, 2024 on the grounds of Thoroughbred Park in Canberra and feature events for all historic racing categories.

This is planned to be a ‘speed’ event on a brand new circuit in Canberra, designed for classic and exotic cars, with a static display running as well. This new short circuit is being constructed in the grounds of Thoroughbred Park, home of the Canberra Racing Club and thoroughbred horse racing in Canberra.

HSRCA has been specifically invited to participate because of the heritage and quality of our race cars. There will be events for all typical historic racing categories.

Events on the circuit will be held on the Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and all-day Sunday. There will be undercover secure facilities for parking of our cars.

The organisers plan to grow and develop this event into a much larger Festival of Speed, modelled on the famous Goodwood event. This is an opportunity for the HSRCA community to get in on the ground floor and participate and grow with the event.

Further details to come, and can be found at www.canberrafestivalofspeed.com.

Background

The inaugural Festival of Speed is to be held in Canberra in early March. The intention is to conduct a demonstration event showcasing exotic and classic cars. This will include ex-Formula One race cars, other Formula race cars, high end European sports cars, supercars, heritage and classic production cars and similar.

The organiser’s vision is to build the event in the likeness of the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

HSRCA has been invited to attend, because of our commitment to historic and classic cars, and our experience in conducting race meetings for such cars. Canberra FOS have actively sought our input into the management of the event.

Promotors

The event is a joint project between Thoroughbred Park and Project Supercars.

The Venue

The event will be held in the grounds of Thoroughbred Park, (Canberra Racetrack). The actual track will be on some existing and new ‘roads’ adjacent to the main betting ring and grandstand.

The Track

The track is about 600m – 700m long. It is being newly laid over some existing ‘roads’. It is a single lane track, in the rough form of a rectangle, with two straights.

Format and Track Time

This event is a demonstration, not a race. There will be 2-4 cars on the track at any time. Each group or category of cars will have approximately 15 minutes allotted to them each time.

There will be no overtaking.

There will be run off areas at the end of each straight.

There is planned to be 1-2 runs on Saturday afternoon and 2 runs (or more) on Sunday.

The first events will commence from, 4:00 pm on the Saturday and go into the evening (the track will be lit). The event will then run all day Sunday.

Approximately 115 track cars will be able to enter.

Sanctioning, Safety, Insurance, Track Rules and Conduct

The event will be sanctioned by Motorsport Australia ‘MA’. MA will provide insurance for the event and will govern its format, track layout, track safety, ‘demonstration’ laps, and other typical factors.

There will be a traditional Clerk of Course, stewards, track officials and scrutineering.

There will be a drivers briefing and track walk at 3:30 pm on the Saturday.

Competitor Cars, Garaging, Bump In

There will be 24×7 on site security from Friday until Sunday evening.

HSRCA cars will be housed in marquees adjacent to the track.

Trailers will be able to be parked adjacent to the circuit.

Bump in will be during Saturday morning, and up to mid-afternoon.

Cars need to be in place by 3:30 pm at the latest, to allow for the track walk and driver briefing.

Entries and Draft Program

HSRCA members will receive an extremely generous entry discount. This can be obtained by registering your interest with Rod Wallace, at events@hsrca.com

A draft program will be published in mid-January.

Entries will close in mid-February