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_track_map.svg) National Circuit (1984–present) | |
| Location | Melbourne, Victoria |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°57′3″S145°10′2″E / 37.95083°S 145.16722°E /-37.95083; 145.16722 |
| FIA Grade | 3 |
| Owner | Melbourne Racing Club |
| Opened | 11 March 1962; 63 years ago (1962-03-11) |
| Major events | Current: Supercars Championship Sandown 500 (1964–1965, 1968–1998, 2001–2007, 2012–2019, 2023–2024) Sandown SuperSprint (1965, 1970–1974, 1976–1989, 1991–1992, 1994–2002, 2008–2011, 2021–2022, 2025) Grand Finale (2001–2002) GT World Challenge Australia (1983–1984, 2007–2008, 2010–2011, 2014–2020, 2022, 2025) Trans-Am Australia (2022–present) Former: TCR Australia (2019, 2022–2024) S5000 (2019, 2021) World Sportscar Championship (1984, 1988) Australian Grand Prix (1964, 1968, 1972–1973, 1976, 1978) Tasman Series (1964–1975) |
| National Circuit (1984–present) | |
| Length | 3.104 km (1.929 mi) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Race lap record | 1:04.5533 ( John Martin,Ligier JS F3-S5000,2019,S5000) |
| International Circuit (1984–2001) | |
| Length | 3.878 km (2.410 mi) |
| Turns | 17 |
| Race lap record | 1:33.580 ( Jean-Louis Schlesser,Sauber C9,1988,Group C) |
| Original Circuit (1962–1984) | |
| Length | 3.100 km (1.926 mi) |
| Turns | 8 |
| Race lap record | 0:59.600 (Alfredo Costanzo,McLaren M26, 1981,F5000) |
Sandown International Raceway is a motor racing circuit in thesuburb ofSpringvale inMelbourne,Victoria, approximately 25 km (16 mi) south east of the city centre. Sandown is considered a power circuit with its "drag strip" front and back straights being 899 and 910 m (983 and 995 yd) long respectively.
Sandown Racecourse was first built as a horse racing facility, dating back into the 19th century, but closed in the 1930s in agovernment run rationalisation program. Redevelopment began not long after World War II. A bitumen motor racing circuit was built around the outside of the proposed horse track (which was not completed until 1965) and was first opened in 1962 and held the race which became theSandown 500 for the first time in1964. The circuit hosted its firstAustralian Touring Car Championship race in 1965.
The opening meeting, held on 11 and 12 March 1962, featured the1962 Sandown International Cup, which was contested by world-famous international drivers includingJack Brabham,Jim Clark,Stirling Moss,Bruce McLaren andJohn Surtees. A second Sandown International Cup was held in1963, the two races serving as the forerunners of the Sandown round of the annualTasman Series from 1964 to 1975. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the race meetings continued to attract international stars along with the best of Australia's drivers.
Australia's traditionalHolden/Ford rivalry really surfaced at the track in the late 1960s and through the 1970s with drivers such asNorm Beechey,Ian Geoghegan,Allan Moffat,Bob Jane,Colin Bond andPeter Brock and continues to the present day. From 1968 to 1980[citation needed] almost every major touring car race held at the circuit was won by those driving either a Holden or a Ford.
1984 saw an extension of the track to 3.878 km (2.410 mi) to comply withFIA regulations for minimum track length for World Championship events, the ultimate goal being to host theFormula One World Championship, though ultimately that went toAdelaide. It also saw the first 500 km race held at the circuit, theCastrol 500, being Round 3 of the1984 Australian Endurance Championship. Peter Brock andLarry Perkins took theirHolden Dealer TeamVK Commodore to a one lap victory in the 1984 Castrol 500; it was to be the last of Brock's record nine wins in the Sandown enduro events.
Along with the circuit changes, someAUD$600,000 had been spent relocating the pits from its original place between what was turns one and two (now turns one and four) to its now permanent place coming onto the main straight. The new international standard pits included pit bays and lock-up garages for over 40 cars.
In 1989, the largely unpopular, 3.878 km (2.410 mi) International Circuit (often referred to by Australian television commentators as the "Village Grand Prix" due to how slow the infield section was compared to the rest of the circuit) was abandoned and the track reverted to 3.104 km (1.929 mi), though not by using the original 8 turn layout, but a modified 13 turn course. This was achieved by simply bypassing the largely unpopular tight and twisty infield section that had been in use since 1984 and using only the re-configured National (outer) Circuit. The effect was also to bring the cars closer to the spectator area on the outside of the esses to bring back spectators to the area. The esses at the end of the back straight was a popular spectator area during the 1970s and 1980s with several converteddouble-decker buses frequenting race meetings.
While the extension to the circuit had been necessary to lift Sandown's minimum length to 3.9 km, unfortunately the circuit promotors, the Light Car Club of Australia, were restricted by not being able to expand beyond the property boundary which only left going infield, which itself met with restrictions from theMelbourne Racing Club who administered the Sandown horse race course who naturally wanted minimal disruption to their horse racing track. The 800 metre extension was not overly popular with spectators (there was no spectator access to the infield) nor the racers, especially thetouring car teams who in that era (1984–1988) found the long runs in 2nd gear through that section were hard on drivelines and transmissions.
Sandown continued to host both the 500 kilometre race and a sprint round of the championship, theSandown Challenge, throughout the majority of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In 2001 and 2002, the circuit hosted theGrand Finale as the closing round of the season. When the Sandown 500 returned in 2003, the sprint round was removed from the calendar and Sandown no longer hosts two major V8 Supercars events per year.
The infield section was still used for motorcycle racing at the track until about 2001 as the high speedesses (turns 6–9) at the end of the back straight were deemed too dangerous for the bikes at high speed (the entry speed off the straight was close to 200 km/h (120 mph) with very little runoff area between the track and the outside fence. Using the infield section not only bypassed the esses but slowed the bikes down and allowed them to continue using the circuit for the series such as theAustralian Superbike Championship.
In late 2007 the Melbourne Racing Club, owner of the venue, brought the management of the motor circuit in house. As part of securing the future of motorsport at the venue Sandown's Manager Wade Calderwood negotiated a long-term deal with V8 Supercars. Under this deal the MRC invested significant funds as part of a 3-year upgrade to the pits and circuit safety.
Under the local Council permit, Sandown Raceway is limited to running five motorsport events per year, at no louder than 95 decibels. Currently these events include the Sandown 500, Historic Sandown, Shannons Nationals and two Victorian State Race Series events.
The long-term future of this historic circuit is unclear as the owners of Sandown Park want to have it rezoned so that they can sell it to a property developer who would then demolish the venue and turn it into high density housing.[1]
The circuit is home to the famousSandown endurance race which was first held in1964 through to2007, with a return to the V8 Supercars calendar in 2012.
Traditionally the domain of touring cars, the race has also been held for Series Production cars from1968–1972 andGT Sports Cars in2001 and2002.Peter Brock is the most successful driver of the Sandown enduro with nine outright wins including seven in a row from 1975 to 1981. The race itself wasn't always run over a 500 km distance. The first two races ran for six hours while the next two ran for just three hours. The race distance was 250 km from 1970 until 1975. This was increased to 400 km in 1976 and stayed that way until 1983. It was changed for the last time in 1984 with an increase to 500 km.
The 1990, 1993 and 1994 events had no major sponsor and were underwritten by circuit promoter and formerFormula 5000 star Jon Davison.
With the creation ofV8 Supercars in 1997, theSandown 500 event remained as part of their calendar for that year and 1998. Sandown became a sprint round of the V8 Supercars Championship Series for 1999 and 2000, then as three 150 km races with pit stops in 2001 and a 150 km race on the Saturday and 300 km race on the Sunday in 2002. The event was won byTodd Kelly in 2001 and byMarcos Ambrose in 2002. The 500 km format returned in 2003 with a sponsorship deal with Betta Electrical and have been a large part of the series since. The 2003 event was won byMark Skaife andTodd Kelly for theHolden Racing Team. In 2004, it was won byMarcos Ambrose andGreg Ritter in a Pirtek-backedStone Brothers Racing Falcon. In 2005, it was won byCraig Lowndes and FrenchmanYvan Muller in a Betta Electrical backed Falcon. In 2006, Ford Performance Racing got its maiden endurance victory withMark Winterbottom andJason Bright. In 2007, the major sponsor of the Sandown 500 is Just-Car Insurance and the event is called the Just Car Insurance 500, and was won by Craig Lowndes, his fourth victory, andJamie Whincup.
For the2008 season, the 500 kilometres endurance race was moved to thePhillip Island circuit. Sandown remained on the calendar as a venue, but hosted a regular multiple sprint race format event earlier in the year. The event returned to its single 500 kilometres roots in September 2012 as an enduro precursor to the Bathurst 1000, with the inauguralDick Smith Sandown 500 won by the Holden Commodore Team Vodafone pairing of Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff.
On 2 December 1984, Sandown held the last round of the1984 World Endurance Championship. The race, known as theSandown 1000, was won byStefan Bellof andDerek Bell in theirRothmansPorsche 956. This race was the firstFIA World Championship road racing motor racing event to be held in Australia. As the race name suggests, the race distance was to be 1,000 km (620 mi) long. However, under WSC rules, with the exception of the24 Hours of Le Mans (and in certain years, the24 Hours of Daytona), races had a time limit of 6 hours. The six-hour mark was reached when the Bellof/Bell Porsche had run only 206 laps (803.4 km), thus the race was declared at the time limit some 51 laps short of the 1000 km distance.
The next (and only other) FIA World Sportscar Championship race held in Australia was also held at Sandown on 20 November 1988. This was the1988 360 km of Sandown Park, the final round of the1988 World Sports-Prototype Championship, which was won byJean-Louis Schlesser andJochen Mass driving theirSauberMercedesC9. This race would prove to be the final top level motor race on the 3.878 km (2.410 mi) International Circuit, with Schlesser setting the circuit's outright lap record with a time of 1:33.580. Schlesser also set the fastest ever recorded lap time of the International circuit during qualifying for the race when he piloted his C9 around in a time of 1:28.620.
Easternats was a car festival held at the race track annually. It attracted a large number of entrants for the show'n'shine and various other events. It comprised usually a turn out of 750 entered vehicles. This event has since been discontinued.
Historic Sandown is an annual event held at the circuit on the first weekend of November. Promoted by the VHRR (Victorian Historic Racing Register) and run by the MG Car Club of Victoria, it is a highly successful event which in 2009 attracted a record 400+ historic racing cars including touring cars, MG racers andFormula Fords and was also headlined by the BianteTouring Car Masters. 2009 was the 18th running of the event and was attended by the patron of the VHRR,Sir Jack Brabham.
Several Melbourne cycling clubs hold regular races over the summer season.
Annually, Athletics Victoria hold a road race (sometimes a team relay) as a part of the AVCross Country season.
Sandown Raceway has held theAustralian Grand Prix on six occasions, the last being in1978, seven years before the event became part of theFIA Formula One World Championship in1985. TwoWorld Drivers' Champions were winners of the AGP at Sandown,Jack Brabham in1964 and the lateJim Clark in1968, with Clark's winning margin being only 0.1 seconds from theFerrari ofNew Zealand'sChris Amon being one of the closest finishes in the race's history.John Goss'1976 victory saw him become the first, and so far only winner of both the Australian Grand Prix and theBathurst 1000 touring car race.
The winners of the Australian Grands Prix held at Sandown Raceway are:
Special Guest at the1978 Australian Grand Prix, the 50th anniversary of the event (and the final time it would be held at Sandown), wasArgentina's five-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, the legendaryJuan Manuel Fangio. Following the race Fangio, Australia's own three-time World Champion Jack Brabham,Bob Jane and former racer turned Holden dealerBill Patterson, staged a spirited three-lap demonstration/race. Fangio and Brabham cleared out and swapped the lead many times. Fangio was driving aMercedes-Benz W196 that he raced in1954 and1955, while Brabham (not yet Sir Jack) drove theRepco-Brabham V8 poweredBrabham BT19 in which he won the1966 Formula One World Championship to become the first and only person to win the Drivers' championship in a car of his own design and build. Brabham 'won' the demonstration, just ahead of Fangio, with Patterson (driving aCooper) and Jane (driving aMaserati) some distance behind in 3rd and 4th.
Sandown was repaved and received many new safety features in 2013 in accordance with new FIA rules. More tyre barriers were added, and new catch fencing was also added during big events like Historic Sandown and the Wilson Security 500. The main grandstand was also upgraded to feature a new bar and food complex. Along with the grandstand, the pits were also upgraded. Following a spate of major accidents at the end of the back straight (particularly at turn 6) between 2010 and 2017, the run-off area was also extended in early 2019.
As of November 2025, the fastest official race lap records at Sandown Raceway are listed as:[2][3]
