Australia’s peak motor racing body says a new facility in the Ballarat region remains a priority despite plans for a multi-million dollar Mildura track being unveiled on Friday.
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Mildura Rural City Council unveiled its business case for stage one of the Mildura Motor Sports and Community Precinct, which includes a three-kilometre bitumen race circuit, skid pan, pit facilities and an office complex.
In front of Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford, the council made the pitch for more than $21 million in funding.
Ballarat City Council completed a state-funded study into developing a facility into the region back in 2015, however the project has since drifted from the top of council’s priority list.
In a statement Confederation for Australian Motor Sport chief executive Eugene Arocca said while the Mildura complex was clearly further advanced in its planning, being a shovel ready project, the organisation’s view was that there is enough demand for access to motor sport and driver training facilities to warrant investment in both proposed facilities. The organisation is lobbying both state and federal governments to boost their investment in motor sport facilities with both Calder Park and Sandown expected to close in the coming decade.
“Lack of access to facilities for our members (and potential members) in capital cities is a critical issue that has the potential to impact the continued growth of our sport, so we will certainly support any reasonable proposal to build a track closer to Melbourne,” Mr Arocca said.
The announcement comes after the Moorabool Shire pledged to develop a comprehensive business case to turn the abandoned Fiskville CFA site into a motor sports precinct. The site which was shut in 2015 is undergoing an $80 million clean-up process.
Ballarat City Council regional motorsport committee member councillor Des Hudson said the group was due to meet next week, where they were expected to hand control of the project to the Moorabool Shire.
“It was always going to be difficult for us if it wasn't going to be positioned in our municipality,” Cr Hudson said. “We will still support Moorabool but they will need to take the lead.”
The plans developed by the Ballarat City Council estimated a national motor sport facility would require between 240-300 hectares and would cost more than $50 million.
Moorabool Shire mayor Paul Tatchell said his council would be looking to engage with Ballarat and Geelong in an effort to gain regional support for the proposal.
“We believe this facility would benefit all of our region and because of that it needs to be a regional approach,” Cr Tatchell said. “Sandown’s not going to close tomorrow but there’s been enormous support from car clubs for the Fiskville proposal.”