Source: St George & Sutherland Shire Leader
BY DAVID MCCOWEN
25 Mar, 2010 03:00 AM

A Sutherland Shire motoring enthusiast frustrated by the closure of Oran Park in January, is investigating the possibility of the region playing host to a motor racing park.

Shane Beresford of Caringbah contacted Sutherland Shire Council to say there was a need for a motorsport park in south Sydney and that he believed the region would make an excellent venue.

“I know a lot of people who would be interested in it,” Mr Beresford said.

“I was thinking that you could start small then go a bit bigger and a bit bigger.”

A council spokesman said Mr Beresford had asked the council to list vacant areas suitable for a motor racing facility.

“The council is not in a position to assist him with land or locations in the shire,” the spokesman said. “We’ve referred him to the state government.”

Mr Beresford said a private or state-owned facility could take the form of a small skidpan the size of a netball court complex, allowing curious drivers to safely explore the limits of adhesion and to be trained in advanced driving techniques.

“The general public in the Sutherland Shire, their driving skills are a bit lacking. I see a lot of P-platers doing stupid stuff,” Mr Beresford said.

“You don’t know whether they know how to control their car.”

Mr Beresford, a member of Initial Drift Australia, said he knew of Sutherland Shire car enthusiasts who went “drifting” at night on public roads.

Drifting, a fringe form of motorsport, involves drivers keeping their cars on the edge of control using driving techniques including power oversteer, handbrake use and Scandinavian flick steering.

He said a lack of legal facilities in Sydney pushed some drivers, but not himself, to practise drifting in the Royal National Park.

“It’s out of the way,” Mr Beresford said. “At night it’s easier to see what’s coming at you. If you see headlights you stop drifting and let pass the car that’s coming up.”

Southern Sporting Car Club president Greg Boyle said more than 200 people were members of his Menai-based club.

The group organises sprint days on race tracks and hill-climb competitions.

He said a Sutherland Shire-based facility would help hoons get speed out of their system in a legal environment.

“It would be a great money generator and keep the racing off the streets and that sort of thing,” Mr Boyle said.

“There would be thousands of people behind it. A driver training track or hill-climb, you’d get away with that.”

Mr Boyle said interest in grassroots motor racing had waned after the closure of Oran Park. “It’s a great shame that Oran Park closed,” he said.

“A lot of people aren’t racing anymore. Oran Park was such a great track; Eastern Creek is a bit boring.

“Oran Park was a tight track, a technical track.”

Mr Boyle said Southern Sporting Car Club membership costs $50 a year and that hillclimb events cost just $50 per day.

“It is a very cheap form of motorsport,” he said. “With Oran Park gone, a lot more people will be racing on the streets.”

Race Failure

Sutherland Shire Council knocked back a proposal to invite the V8 Supercar circus to the streets of Cronulla more than 10 years ago.

Event promoter Steve Sargeant started organising a surfside street race similar to the Gold Coast Indy event in 1998.

The Leader published details of his proposed spectacular with a front-page story that provoked outrage from residents.

The council sided with public opinion and voted against Sargeant’s proposal at the earliest opportunity.