Although present since the 20s, the competition on Phillip Island has always been quite erratic.
It all started with the construction of a permanent circuit inaugurated in December 1956. The latter, initially owned by the Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC) has seen numerous car races take place such as the Australian Motorsport Magazine Trophy Race, the Phillip Island Trophy and especially the Armstrong 500 which, during its 1962 edition, was seriously damaged the track and led to its closure.
As PIARC did not have the financial capacity to carry out the work, the circuit was sold to Len Lukey (driver, exhaust manufacturer and businessman) in 1963.
Reopening in 1966, therefore, for a whole series of automobile competitions until the end of the 70s. The circuit deteriorated and was not maintained, which led to its resale to the company Placetac Pty Ltd in 1985.
In 1988 Bob Barnard (Barfield Pty Ltd) was awarded a round of the Motorcycle World Championship and undertook the renovation and improvement of the facilities. It is therefore thanks to the motorbike if the circuit still exists today!
The next year, in April 1989, the first round of the world championship took place on Phillip Island, won by local Wayne Gardner in 500cc in front of 90 spectators.
The impact is obviously enormous, but it will ultimately harm the circuit since the Australian government intends to take advantage of this notoriety by moving the Grand Prix to Sydney (Eastern Creek) after its 1990 edition (the year of the arrival of Superbike at Phillip Island).
However, the Grands Prix will definitely return to the windy island in 1997.
Today, the circuit belongs to the Linfox corporation and Wayne Gardner is still there, through his son Remy who is spending the end of the season with the Tasca racing team while participating in the FIM CEV European Championship.
Remy Gardner was already a wildcard in 2014, 25 after his father's victory, which brought us some fond memories of the latter: “Piloter devant tous ces fans m’a donné tellement
d’énergie, c’était comme mettre plus de super dans mon réservoir
d’essence. Bien qu’il y avait beaucoup de bruits aérodynamiques et
que j’avais un moteur hurlant en-dessous de moi, je pouvais encore
sentir l’énergie des spectateurs et entendre leurs encouragements
en arrière-plan. Cela m’a donné l’énergie pour continuer à pousser
sans arrêt, jusqu’au point où j’ai continué à trouver de plus en
plus de réserves dans les cris des gens.
Il est dur de croire que 25 ans plus tard, je retournerai à
Phillip Island avec mon propre fils et en course.”
Wayne Gardner's memories are always pleasant to hear, and we hope to quickly hear new ones this year, despite his last incident that occurred last week in Motegi qui vaut au champion du monde d’être toujours “retenu” au Japon…
