Bathurst
Thursday, February 4th, 1999In 1931 the races were held at Vail Circuit, on the other side of Bathurst. It was twice as long as the mountain circuit is today. The Mayor of Bathurst, Alderman Martin Griffin, was a keen motorcyclist in his younger days. In 1935 he had a scheme to build a scenic drive on Bald Hill and a magnificent race track, providing work for the unemployed following the depression and at no cost to the council.
He approached the Federal Minister for Works for a grant for the scenic drive, but did not mention the race track. In 1936 the council was offered an initial grant of 7,000 pounds toward the construction of Mount Panorama Tourist and Scenic Road.
In 1937 council wrote to the ACU asking for an offer to be submitted for the use of the “scenic road” as a race track for the 150 Centenary Races in 1938. It became obvious the track could not be sealed in time for the Easter Races in 1938 so they went ahead on a granite base road. 18,000 spectators rolled up to see the mayor drop the flag to start the first race on the Mount Panorama circuit.
On December 28th 1938 the last workman walked off the last section of road tarred and sealed, after two years at a cost of just under 27,963 pounds, 3 shillings and 4 pence.
Bill Mitchell has a map of the Vail Circuit and also a 1938 program. I rode at Bathurst in 1970, 1971 and 1972. In 1972, when the Australian TT was held there, there were 210 solos and 46 sidecars.
The race between Bill Horsman and “Ginger” Molloy (NZ) was the best in years. Ginger was faster on the straight but Bill was faster over the top of the mountain. Some say he was the fastest ever. Bill went under him on the last bend to win.
“Could we put a scenic road at ACUSA Park?”
Bill Davidson