Oran Park Track Map Poster

On the south-western edge of Sydney, in a new suburb, the main road is called The Straight. It runs exactly where the start-finish straight of Oran Park ran, the circuit raced here from 1962 until 2010; it is the long straight at the bottom of this poster. In 2022 the developers announced a sandstone wall to mark where the finish line used to be.

It began as grazing land outside Camden. A local grazier provided the ground, a club of enthusiasts built the track with volunteer labour, and in February 1962 it opened as a rough circuit of about a mile (1.6 km). On one of its biggest days, in 1971, more than 30,000 people packed its grandstand and grass banks. In 1974 came the loop that made its name: a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) Grand Prix circuit shaped like a figure eight, with a bridge where the track crossed over itself.

As far as anyone knows, it was the only circuit in Australia that crossed itself. Every lap, the cars ran under the bridge and, a few corners later, across the top of it, over the very spot they had just passed beneath. The fast right-hander coming off the bridge was known for its challenge, and the rest of the lap rose and fell, over a blind crest and down into a dip. The lap record printed on the poster is barely more than a minute: 1:01.672.

The last day on track was 25 January 2010. By late March the first home sites were on sale; nothing of the figure eight remains. The poster draws it as it was raced to the end: the 2.620 km (1.63 mile) Grand Prix circuit, twelve numbered turns, the line breaking where it passes under the bridge, and the links of the shorter North and South layouts in a muted line. Blueprint, the drafting-room edition, suits a plan that now lies beneath a town plan. A figure eight that no longer exists, whole on your wall.