The Evolution of a Motorsport Precinct
Last time out, in our prologue to the tale of Queensland Raceway, we looked at the beginnings of the Ipswich Motorsport Precinct, and how grassroots hard work saw Willowbank Raceway grow from a cow paddock to one of the world’s leading quarter-mile drag strips.
In this final instalment, which sets the scene for Queensland Raceway, we look at the Precinct as a whole and how the various motorsport disciplines have converged on Willowbank.
The Story of Queensland Raceway Quick Links
Preamble 1: Ipswich’s Remarkable Motorsport Heritage
Preamble 2: Building a Motorsport Precinct: Willowbank Raceway
Meet the Neighbours
The Ipswich Motorsport Precinct features ten separate primary lease areas, which now come under the auspices of the Ipswich City Council after the 1995 amalgamation with the Moreton Shire Council.
Lease A is home to the Ipswich West Moreton Auto Club, which was founded in 1954. The Ipswich Dirt Kart Club, above, shares the land – it was established in 1998.
The IWMAC continues to run autocross and sprint events on its various layouts and also hosts a rally school.
One of the Ipswich stalwarts who drove early progress was Errol Bognuda, who is noted as living in a caravan at Willowbank during negotiations for the motorsport land deal.
Errol was a certified legend of the local scene – he was a handy driver too, and one of the original four members of Lloyd Roberton’s Holden Precision Driving Team.
In the early 1980s, the club utilised various options across the region, such as sealed motorkhanas at Volvo Wacol, or on dirt at Purga Creek and Haigslea.
Ultimately, the wheels were put in motion for the modern short circuit facility around 1984, with the club’s established circuit visible in aerial photos taken from the opening day of the drag strip in 1985.
When the drag racing fraternity was investigating their project, meetings with the IWMAC were held to coordinate the compatibility of the different disciplines within the precinct.
Early events on the IWMAC grounds included spectator stages of the Queensland Rally Championship, such as the 1985 Currie Motors of Bundamba Rally, which saw competitors take to a 1.84km course, with different layouts utilised over the years.
Short circuit touring car racing from the Darling Downs was a staple of the facility
Around 1995, the club made a concerted effort to rebuild its short circuit, extending it with various alternate layouts, while floodlighting was installed in 1998.
Off-road racing visited the venue, too, with events such as the Queensland Off Road Short Course Series held on a variety of layouts with all of the expected lumps and jumps in place to test competitors.
For many years, the club pursued a path of paving its short circuit, however, in staying true to its dirt roots, it has found a niche within the Brisbane/Ipswich area.
The 9.05ha lease B, meanwhile, is vacant land wedged between Willowbank Raceway and the smaller plots that line Champions Way to the north. It is used for parking at major events.
Another empty area is Lease C, which abuts out of the original block to the south of Willowbank Raceway, and is used as an overflow paddock area at large events such as the Winternationals.
It has been mooted that this block could be used for driver training activities, although access is an issue, as it has no direct path to Champions Way or the Cunningham Highway.
Lease D is home to two dirt-based ovals on the 6.4ha rectangle—one for the Ipswich Switches Junior Speedway and a smaller version for the Pit Pass Quarter Scale Speedway Club Incorporated, which is for radio-controlled cars.
The Junior Speedway was founded in 2013, while the RC club has its roots in 2021.
Lease E is a small 2,500m2 area for the Mount Forbes Rural Fire Brigade, located at the turn-off for the go-kart club on Champions Way.
Queensland Raceway can now be found on the 54.33ha Lease F. The original lease expires in 2027, but there is another 30-year option in place.
The first event at the venue came in 1999.
Meanwhile, Lease G is devoted to the Ipswich Motorsport Precinct Management Group Incorporated, contained on a 3,250m2 block at the far end of the drag strip.
Its lease expires in 2043 with a 30-year option.
Willowbank Raceway is based on the 37.35ha Lease H, which received its first official lease in 1983 and opened for racing in 1985.
That 20-year lease was replaced in 2003 with a 30+30 deal, which in itself was replaced in 2014 with a lease that expires in 2043, with another 30-year option following on from that.
As covered in the previous chapters of this story, official drag racing in Queensland had its roots local to Ipswich at Lowood, before moving to Surfers Paradise International Raceway and finally landing in Willowbank.
Lease I is a relatively late addition to the complex, located to the west of Queensland Raceway’s second turn on 350-440 Paynes Road in Ebenezer.
It is home to the off-road charity focussed RSL Raemus Rover Racing, which was founded in 2012 to assist returning soldiers with PTSD.
Their first program on the site roared into life in 2018.
Finally, the 6.863ha Lease J features the Ipswich Kart Club.
The project’s driving force was Bob Edyvean, who originally coordinated with Bruce Casos from the Moreton Shire Council to see the club transfer its base from a short 400 m-long track at Mount Crosby.
Work on the facility kicked off in around 1987 and was completed by 1989, with extensions carried out in the mid-1990s.
The club’s initial lease was formerly signed in 1991, with the council in 2023 approving a new 10+10-year lease.
Telstra and Optus also operate mobile phone towers within the precinct.
Willowbank MX is a private development 1.5km north of Queensland Raceway on the other side of the old Ebenezer Coal Mine. The venue opened in 2017, and is not officially included in the precinct.
Backstories from Willowbank
Over time, Willowbank has seen comers and goers, including a partially built speedway on adjacent land, a story we have previously covered here on The Race Torque.
The work that was carried out on the oval kicked off in 1997, well ahead of the first sod being turned at QR, although it came to the forefront of conversation in 1999.
The Kedron Motorcycle Club was for a time the custodian of Lease D, kicking off in 1991, while numerous hire go kart operations have come and gone from the area, both at the kart club and in the car park at Queensland Raceway.
Additionally, for a time, Supermoto racing was held in the Ipswich Kart Club grounds.
Motorcycling Queensland had long been mooted to develop a Motocross track in the precinct, and in fact, signed a 30-year lease for Lease I in 2015.
After undertaking considerable master planning studies, the lease was terminated in October 2017.
Subsequently, Motorcycling Queensland sought to locate at Lease D alongside the Junior Speedway, although six years on, that has failed to materialise.
To the side, the Council has pursued acquiring further land to the west of the current precinct, which could, in the future, be home to further off-road events. It already owns land parcels at 92-152 and 154-244 Payne Road, plots that are located about 1km west of Lease I.
At times, the various areas of the motorsport precinct have banded together for events.
Take, for instance, the 2007 Rally of Classics, which used many of the sealed roads around the facility, plus a dirt section in the IWMAC grounds, covering 54km in nine stages. Stewart Reid claimed that particular event in his ex-Bates Motorsport Toyota Corolla.
That event was rehashed in 2009 under the Willowbank Tarmac Rally Challenge banner, bypassing the dirt sections.
Images: Queensland Raceway
Also, various venues are utilised during the CMC Rocks Festival, such as Queensland Raceway, for camping, while the main festival takes place at the Dragway.
Recently, the Ipswich Motorsport Precinct Advisory Group (IMPAG) has been established via the Ipswich City Council, which is taking a far more collaborative approach to issues in the area, starkly contrasting to the hostile takeover bid of 2016.
The Ipswich Motorsport Precinct Over Time
Images: Qimagery & Google Earth
Next up: The story of Queensland Raceway kicks off in earnest…
Mark Walker (administrator)
A vastly experienced Motorsport Public Relations operator, journalist, commentator and photographer, Mark brings his unique angle to The Race Torque in both words and imagery. As well as serving as our key photographer on the ground at major events around Australia (and overseas), Walker will often chime in with his unique and pin-point sharp viewpoint of the racing world via the keyboard too.
