Not sure if any of you other Aussies knew about this, but I had no idea there was ever a racetrack in the middle of Katoomba back in the day (opened in 1961, before I was born)
And it literally was in the middle of the blue mountains, as you can see, not much run of area back then :smile2:
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If you search for it on Google Earth you'll find it. You can still see the layout amongst the trees.
Catalina hosted car racing on the tar as well as Rallycross (combination of sealed and unsealed track which usually included jumps). Peter Brock ran a V8 Torana known as "The Beast".
If I can ever go more than 10km from home Steve I'll take you there. Every ride I used to do through the mountains incorporated a couple of laps of Catalina although it doesn't look like that any more.
Racing stopped there before I started & that was probably a good thing because it was super dangerous. I don't have very fond memories of the place because one of my mates lost his life there when he flipped his Lotus Cortina.
Quote from: Monarchjock on Monday, 04 February 2019, 07:42 PM
If you search for it on Google Earth you'll find it. You can still see the layout amongst the trees.
Yeah Jock, you can still walk or push bike it, but they say it is very over grow etc. I might check it out next time in the mountains.
Quote from: Snapey on Monday, 04 February 2019, 07:49 PM
If I can ever go more than 10km from home Steve I'll take you there. Every ride I used to do through the mountains incorporated a couple of laps of Catalina although it doesn't look like that any more.
Racing stopped there before I started & that was probably a good thing because it was super dangerous. I don't have very fond memories of the place because one of my mates lost his life there when he flipped his Lotus Cortina.
Sounds like a plan Pete :onya:
I was wondering if you had got around on a sidecar before it closed.
Yeah, it looked bloody dangerous from the different footage I seen mate & would of been a very unforgiving place to race.
That's sad snapey. He had great taste in cars though. Did his have the green stripe?
Those straight cut gears sounded special.
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Quote from: Sweaty on Monday, 04 February 2019, 07:51 PM
Yeah Jock, you can still walk or push bike it, but they say it is very over grow etc. I might check it out next time in the mountains.
Or you can sneak a GSX1400 through the entry and ride around it ... slowly because it's littered with crap.
Quote from: VladTepes on Monday, 04 February 2019, 08:36 PM
That's sad snapey. He had great taste in cars though. Did his have the green stripe?
Those straight cut gears sounded special.
White with the green stripe Mike. The gearbox sound I don't recall but the induction howl sticks with me.