Sandown International Raceway – A Special Venue.

For a lot of people that love attending Historic Sandown, the event is not just about the cars. Whilst many elements of the circuit itself have been upgraded over the years, the race venue and the grounds surrounding it, are largely untouched from it’s hay day from the 60’s through to the 90’s and beyond. It is steeped in incredible motorsport history and means so much to so many people – including me.

For me, as a now 50 year old who has loved, worked on, and been involved with cars my whole life, like many car enthusiasts, my journey into cars started at a young age, and for me it very much spurred on by my father.

In fact, I’m told I was driven home from the hospital in my Dad’s LJ GTR Torana. Not a bad start to life as a car enthusiast. Sadly, neither my father or that LJ GTR Torana are around anymore but going to events like Historic Sandown, very much keeps those memories alive.

Mum tells me, my father and I would watch F1 on the TV and she remembers the name Senna being bandied around quite a lot throughout the 80’s. If only I could remember all of those moments.

However, as kids, there are certain memories that stay with us our whole life. Whilst most of our young memories tend to get lost to history over time, there are a few moments for most of us that will stand out no matter how old we get. 

For me, many of those everlasting memories as a child, centre around motor racing. One in particular, was one of the Hang Ten 400's in either '78 or '79. I was only 3 or 4. My first memory of a motor race in the flesh.

I know this because I can actually remember sitting in a packed grandstand on my Dad’s knee, and watching Alan Grice’s A9X barrelling down the front straight at Sandown, during the race. This car still exists, and is regularly raced at many VHRR events by it’s current custodian Tony Sawford. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to sit in this car at Sandown.

I even managed to sit in an actual LJ GTR Torana as well. There are hundred's of classic cars on display at Sandown each year from car clubs all across Victoria. It really is incredible.

That grandstand holds a special memory for me and so many people, and some of you reading this will know exactly what I’m talking about.

As a kid, I was enamoured by the unique echo of an Aussie V8 reverberating off the main grandstand on the front straight, and listening to the downshifts for turn one and standing on my tippy toes, just to get a glimpse of a brake light and the flash of a race car turning into turn one. Maybe even two or three wide such is the width of the track down at turn one.

This amazing video from back in the day is exactly what I remember. You can see the pits at the end of the front straight, packed crowds all around and also watch them coming onto the main straight.

I remember watching in awe, at the cars heading up the back straight and over the hill, for what seemed an eternity. The sunlight would catch the chrome moulding around the windscreen or the chrome side mirrors adding an aura to some of the cars. What a spectacle. You could still easily hear the roar of those V8’s from the far side of the track. Pure magic.

Something unique to Sandown, is that it has always doubled as a horse racing venue. And that is why it's called “The Home of Horsepower” not only due to it’s long front and back straights that reward real grunt - but also the fact it holds horse racing events too.

As a kid, knowing nothing about horse racing, I often wondered why they had betting windows underneath the grand stand at Sandown. Horse racing? What even is that I would ask myself. This a racing car track!

Another moment that stands out for me, was seeing Allan Moffats RX-7 being pushed through a crowded paddock engulfed by grid girls handing out posters and stickers. Paul Stubber who owns that RX-7, still often races it at VHRR events to this very day.

I was at my Mum’s house recently where there is an old book shelf wasting away in the garage, that still has an old .05 sticker on it from the Brock days – the one with the red wings on the sides. That sticker has stood the test of time! The smell of those stickers and posters is another thing I associate with those days. Very different to what we get nowadays.

When you really think about it, there are so many memories and moments that make Sandown a special place for an enormous amount of motor racing fans. The pits at Sandown used to be at the end of the front straight, and stretching around past turn one. I would walk around there with my Dad hunting for signatures.

I had a designated signature book. It was a small rectangular book with different coloured pages. Some yellow, some pink, some blue. I remember it being a hard back, in metallic blue. It was becoming worn at the time, with the spine being soft and fragile, with a few pages becoming unglued and threatening to fall out. So many great names had graced the pages of my little signature book, and I would flick through it before I went to sleep some nights dreaming of one day becoming a racing driver - but alas, that day would never come.

My younger brother, tells me that he remembers my Dad saying to Peter Brock at the back of the pits sometime in the late 80’s “hey Brocky, can you shake my son’s hand” of which he did of-course.

As I got older, I was in the TAFE smash repair team, as part of my panel beating apprenticeship. We would go along to events at Calder Park, Winton, Phillip Island, Sandown and even the early days of the AGP and repair race cars that needed it. The Sandown ATCC rounds were a highlight.

Being able to walk through the pits at the height of the ATCC through the 90’s was an absolute blast, and only a privileged few at the time were able to experience that – I for one, was one of those lucky few. The sights, sounds and smells of those Group A beasts through the 90's was unreal. You could just feel the energy.

I have a photo somewhere of me standing in front of Peter Brock who is sat in his HRT VR or VS Commodore in full kit in pit lane. He has his door open. I think it's on a negative in a box somewhere.

I also remember a very young Mark Webber walking around the Sandown paddock, donned in his Yellow Pages race suit as part of his, then Formula Ford duties as the support category to the ATCC.

At Historic Sandown, you can walk through those same pit boxes, and stand on the pit apron, or sit in that beautiful old grand stand, all whilst hearing that sweet symphony of racing engines from back in the day.

The amenities at Sandown these days are largely untouched, and is very much as it was back in the day. A piece of motor racing history preserved.

Take a stroll down to what used to be the "support sheds" at the bottom end of the paddock, where the tribute and sports sedan guys hang out and work on their cars. It’s like stepping back in time.

Experience history and the unique aura that is Sandown and immerse yourself in the sights, sounds and aroma of bygone era of motorsport.

Historic Sandown. November 7-9^th 2025. Friday is free entry. Patrons under 17 enter free and companion cards accepted.

Tickets on-line or at the gate.

Be There!