One of Australia’s most historic race circuits, Lakeside Park on Brisbane’s north side, will close its gates to most track day events due to “potential safety concerns”.
Lakeside and Willowbank are known as Queensland Raceway which was sold to VIP Pet Foods owner and racing enthusiast Tony Quinn late last year.
Both tracks have been the sites for classic motorcycle racing over the years but Lakeside was deemed too dangerous for many varieties of racing several years ago.
Previous owner John Tetley spent a lot of money redeveloping the famous Lakeside circuit with resurfacing, wider corners and better barriers.
Previous owner John Tetley in happier timesHowever, after the death of a classic motorcycle racer in December 2020, the new owners have now decided to “step back from running events at Lakeside Park”.
That should mean fewer motorcycle track days at the challenging and scenic circuit that sits on Lake Kurwongbah.
Here is the reasoning provided by the new owners:
Queensland Raceway has on multiple occasions raised potential safety concerns regarding track barriers and track infrastructure with the venue owners/operators and RACERS, being the sanctioning body.
Queensland Raceway is no longer prepared to take on the potential risk, both from a commercial and reputational standpoint, of hiring/licensing the facilities at Lakeside Park whilst they remain in their current condition for any motor racing or motorcycle events.
Events which were scheduled to be managed by Queensland Raceway at the Lakeside Park facility have been handed over to the team at Lakeside Park, should they choose to add them to their own event calendar.
Queensland Raceway believes in the importance of Lakeside Park’s heritage and its place as part of the Australian motorsport landscape and would encourage the current owners/operators of Lakeside Park to make improvements to the facility so that Lakeside Park can return to its former glory.
Queensland Raceway takes pride in delivering the highest level of quality of safety standards to help ensure the protection of our customers.
Queensland Raceway is excited about the future of the business at the Willowbank venue and will continue to focus on delivering motorsport activities at this venue.
Until late last year, Queensland Raceway and Lakeside Park were operated/managed by the same organisation. In November 2021, new management took over Queensland Raceway and have since invested heavily into that facility in order to improve safety standards and infrastructure.
