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44-505: The Matich SR3 was a Group A Sports Car built for Matich by Bob Britton in 1967. It was powered by an Oldsmobile V8 engine and was driven to victory by Matich in the 1967 Australian Tourist Trophy , Australia's premier sports car race of that year. Later in the year, Matich raced in both the US Can-Am series and in Australia, with two SR3s fitted with 4.4-litre Repco V8 engines. Matich won

88-465: A Cooper ) and Jane (driving a Maserati ) 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

132-655: A Lotus Twin Cam engine. In 1970 it was revised, renamed as the Matich SR5 and fitted with a Waggott 2.0-litre powerplant. Following the adoption of Formula 5000 regulations into Australian Formula 1 in 1971, Matich and Nehrybecki produced the Matich A50, the first single seater to wear the Matich name. The A50 was designed as a replacement for Frank Matich's successful McLaren M10B (Frank Matich had taken over development from McLaren of

176-457: 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 former Formula 5000 star Jon Davison. With

220-492: A Holden or a Ford. 1984 saw an extension of the track to 3.878 km (2.410 mi) to comply with FIA regulations for minimum track length for World Championship events. It also saw the first 500 km race held at the circuit, the Castrol 500 , being Round 3 of the 1984 Australian Endurance Championship . Along with the circuit changes, some AUD$ 600,000 had been spent relocating the pits from its original place between what

264-417: A shorter wheelbase, shorter nose and updated suspension. After just a single race, Matich withdrew from the championship and put his cars up for sale. It was later wrecked in a testing accident. The Matich A53 was raced by Matich in the 1974 Tasman Series after which he retired from racing. The car was then sold to John Goss who finished 9th in the 1974 Australian Drivers' Championship . It failed to start

308-568: A sponsorship deal with Betta Electrical and have been a large part of the series since. The 2003 event was won by Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly for the Holden Racing Team . In 2004, it was won by Marcos Ambrose and Greg Ritter in a Pirtek-backed Stone Brothers Racing Falcon. In 2005, it was won by Craig Lowndes and Frenchman Yvan Muller in a Betta Electrical backed Falcon. In 2006, Ford Performance Racing got its maiden endurance victory with Mark Winterbottom and Jason Bright . In 2007,

352-457: Is a motor racing circuit in the suburb of Springvale in Melbourne , 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 m (983 yd) and 910 m (1,000 yd) long respectively. Sandown Racecourse was first built as a horse racing facility, dating back into

396-450: Is an Australian motor racing category that CAMS formulated for sports car racing in Australia. Introduced in 1964, it continues today under the name Group 2A Sports Cars. On introduction in 1964, Group A catered only for closed sports racing cars with their open top counterparts continuing under existing CAMS Appendix C Sports Car regulations. For 1965, the Appendix C Sports Cars category

440-504: The 1962 Sandown International Cup , which was contested by world-famous international drivers including Jack Brabham , Jim Clark , Stirling Moss , Bruce McLaren and John Surtees . A second Sandown International Cup was held in 1963 , the two races serving as the forerunners of the Sandown round of the annual Tasman Series from 1964 to 1975. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the race meetings continued to attract international stars along with

484-498: The 1968 Australian Tourist Trophy with a Repco powered SR3. A completely new design, the Matich SR4, was produced with designer-frabricator Henry Nehrybecki for 1969 utilising a quad cam Repco 740 V8. Matich dominated the inaugural Australian Sports Car Championship in that year, winning all three heats with the SR4. The SR4B was a sports racing car of circa 1969 which was powered by

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528-520: The 1974 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park due to engine failure. Goss then used the A53 to finish 13th in the 1975 Australian Drivers' Championship before poor visibility in the wet conditions and a rough engine caused his retirement in the 1975 Australian Grand Prix at Surfers Paradise . Goss drove the car to 5th in the 1976 Rothmans International Series and then finished 6th in the 1976 Australian Drivers' Championship thanks to his Round 1 victory in

572-509: The 1976 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown in Melbourne , Goss becoming the only driver to have won both the Bathurst 1000 and Australian Grand Prix in the process. Goss drove the A53-Repco to another 5th in the 1977 Rothmans International Series and 3rd in the 1977 Australian Grand Prix at Oran Park. Goss' win in the 1976 Australian Grand Prix has so far proven to be the last time the race

616-459: The 1978 Australian Grand Prix , the 50th anniversary of the event (and the final time it would be held at Sandown), was Argentina 's five-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio . Following the race Fangio, Australia's own three-time World Champion Jack Brabham, Bob Jane and former racer turned Holden dealer Bill Patterson , staged a spirited three-lap demonstration/race. Fangio and Brabham cleared out and swapped

660-528: The Elfin ME5 and MS7 , the Matich SR3 and SR4 , Bap Romano's Romano WE84 Cosworth (which actually started its life as a Kaditcha K583) and Bernie Van Elsen's Chevrolet V8 powered Veskanda C1 driven by John Bowe . These were joined by at times various by famous international marques including Lola , Lotus , McLaren , Alfa Romeo and Porsche . Sandown Raceway Sandown International Raceway

704-562: The 19th century, but closed in the 1930s in a government 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 the Sandown 500 for the first time in 1964 . The circuit hosted its first Australian Touring Car Championship race in 1965. The opening meeting, held on 11 and 12 March 1962, featured

748-545: The A50 on pole for the 1972 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown and led early before retiring with scavenge pump failure on lap 5. Frank Matich then went on to win the 1972 Australian Drivers' Championship at the wheel of his A50. A total of four A50s were built during this period. Power output of the Repco-Holden engine around this time was approximately 470 bhp (350 kW; 477 PS) 2 new Matich A51s chassis 005 and 006

792-592: The Bathurst 1000, with the inaugural Dick 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 the 1984 World Endurance Championship . The race, known as the Sandown 1000 , was won by Stefan Bellof and Derek Bell in their Rothmans Porsche 956 . This race was the first FIA World Championship road racing motor racing event to be held in Australia. As

836-504: The M10B for F5000 racing in 1970 and dubbed it the M10C ). Designed on a modular basis with separate front suspension, cockpit and rear end, the car was powered by a 5.0 L Repco Holden V8 engine . Matich drove an A50 to victory in the car's first race, the 1971 Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm after qualifying on pole position. Just three months after his 1971 AGP success, Matich qualified

880-400: 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. The circuit is home to the famous Sandown endurance race which

924-622: 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 and Formula Fords and was also headlined by the Biante Touring 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

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968-458: The annual Australian Tourist Trophy although this title was discontinued for a second time after 1979. The Australian Sports Car Championship was once more opened up to Group A Sports Cars in 1982 and they would contest that title until its final running in 1988. The Group A Sports Cars officially became known as Group 2A Sports Cars in 1988 and is still listed by CAMS as a current Australian motor sport category. The rules have remained basically

1012-514: The back straight was a popular spectator area during the 1970s and 1980s with several converted double-decker buses frequenting race meetings. Sandown continued to host both the 500 kilometre race and a sprint round of the championship, the Sandown Challenge , throughout the majority of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In 2001 and 2002, the circuit hosted the Grand Finale as the closing round of

1056-451: The best of Australia's drivers. Australia's traditional Holden / Ford rivalry really surfaced at the track in the late 1960s and through the 1970s with drivers such as Norm Beechey , Ian Geoghegan , Allan Moffat , Bob Jane , Colin Bond and Peter Brock and continues to the present day. From 1968 to 1980 almost every major touring car race held at the circuit was won be those driving either

1100-416: The circuit's outright lap record with a time of 1:33.580. 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

1144-645: The creation of V8 Supercars in 1997, the Sandown 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 by Todd Kelly in 2001 and by Marcos Ambrose in 2002. The 500 km format returned in 2003 with

1188-568: The introduction of a 5-litre engine capacity limit during 1966. Group A cars contested Australia’s premier sports car event, the Australian Tourist Trophy , each year from 1965 to 1968 and were then granted their own national series in 1969 with the introduction of the Australian Sports Car Championship . When this title was moved across to Group D Production Sports Cars in 1976, Group A cars would again contest

1232-613: The late Jim Clark in 1968 , with Clark's winning margin being only 0.1 seconds from the Ferrari of New Zealand 's Chris 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 the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. The winners of the Australian Grands Prix held at Sandown Raceway are: Special Guest at

1276-519: The lead many times. Fangio was driving a Mercedes-Benz W196 that he raced in 1954 and 1955 , while Brabham (not yet Sir Jack) drove the Repco V8 powered Brabham BT19 in which he won the 1966 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

1320-671: 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, and Jamie Whincup . For the 2008 season , the 500 kilometres endurance race was moved to the Phillip 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

1364-490: 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

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1408-399: 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

1452-538: The race name suggests, the race distance was to be 1,000 km (620 mi) long. However, under WEC rules, with the exception of the 24 Hours of Le Mans , races also 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

1496-567: The same as those for Group A in 1965. However the category no longer enjoys the profile it once had in Australian motor sport, and mainly applies today for historic motor racing with even state championship appearances being rare. Group 2C Sports Cars, also known as Supersports is now the highest profile Sports Car category in Australia. Some of the Group A Sports Cars that were designed and built in Australia include various, Rennmax 's and Kaditcha 's,

1540-399: 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 speed esses (turns 6–9) at the end of the back straight were deemed too dangerous for the bikes at high speed (the entry speed off

1584-542: 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 the Australian Superbike Championship . In late 2007 the Melbourne Racing Club, owner of the venue, brought the management of

1628-614: The successful, but ageing Repco Holden V8 engine with a 4.9 L Ford engine. However, the Ford engine provided less power and ultimately proved uncompetitive compared to the Repco and, after Goss sold the car to Mel McEwin, it was replaced by another Repco-Holden unit. During its competition life the Matich A50-53's Repco-Holden power output was rated around 500 bhp (373 kW; 507 PS). Group A Sports Car Group A Sports Cars

1672-670: The summer season. Annually, Athletics Victoria hold a road race (sometimes a team relay) as a part of the AV Cross Country season. Sandown Raceway has held the Australian Grand Prix on six occasions, the last being in 1978 , seven years before the event became part of the FIA Formula One World Championship in 1985 . Two World Drivers' Champions were winners of the AGP at Sandown, Jack Brabham in 1964 and

1716-401: Was also held at Sandown on 20 November 1988. This was the 1988 360 km of Sandown Park , the final round of the 1988 World Sports-Prototype Championship , which was won by Jean-Louis Schlesser and Jochen Mass driving their Sauber Mercedes C9 . 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

1760-609: Was constructed for Matich to contest the 1973 L&M Championship in the United States. Chassis 005 was used by Lella Lombardi in 2 races in 1974 and was later sold to John Goss who rebuilt it as an A53 and used it to win the 1976 Australian Grand Prix . Chassis 006 was modified and became the A52. Matich built a revised car, the Matich A52, using A51-006 monocoque for the 1973 Australian Drivers' Championship . The A52 had side radiators,

1804-611: Was discontinued with Group A now catering for both open and closed sports cars. Vehicles were required to have two seats, two doors, mudguards, and an electrical system with operable lights, horn, and starter. Although the rules required that cars also be capable of being registered for road use, the category was not intended for production based cars, which were accommodated by two other newly introduced CAMS categories, Group B Improved Production Sports Cars and Group D Series Production Sports Cars . Initially, mechanical elements under Group A were virtually unrestricted however CAMS announced

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1848-484: Was first held in 1964 through to 2007 , 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 from 1968 – 1972 and GT Sports Cars in 2001 and 2002 . 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

1892-467: Was turns one and two (now turns one and four) to its now permanent place coming onto the main straight. Peter Brock and Larry Perkins took their Holden Dealer Team VK 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. In 1989, the 3.878 km (2.410 mi) International Circuit was abandoned and the track reverted to 3.104 km (1.929 mi), though not by using

1936-548: Was won by an Australian designed, built and powered car, giving the Matich A53 a special place in Australia's motor racing history. Note that the Ralt cars that won the 1981-1984 Australian Grand Prix's were designed and built in England, despite Ralt having its origins in Australia in the 1950s, Late in 1977, Goss, staying true to his touring, sports car/sedan ties, decided to replace

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