Mildura’s grand motorsport plan

The Mildura Rural City Council is forging ahead with plans to build a new motorsport complex in the northern Victorian location.

Stage one of the project, which would include a 3km race track for both two- and four-wheel motorsport, a skid pan, pits and control tower, is expected to cost about $21 million.

The full project will include a wide array of motor sport related facilities, including go-kart track, jet boat course, drag strip and more.

The project is currently seeking commitments from both the public and private sectors, and recently took its ambitious plans to Parliament House in Melbourne.

Three-time Australia superbike champion Josh Waters has thrown his support behind the project.

“To sleep in your own bed and to go to the races, just personally it would be unbelievable,” Josh said.

“What it would do for the town, I know how big it would be… I know what it does to those towns [that have a race track]and see it first-hand. I really think we can do it better and I know the town will be rapt.”

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Confederation of Australian Motor Sport CEO Eugene Arocca said the project's cost would be a small price to pay for the significant boost to the local and state economy.

“In terms of raw economic return, it’s going to be an outstanding return on investment,” Arocca said.

“It’s a very large motor sport precinct, there’s everything from jet boats, to speedway, to karting. There are very few tracks in this country that have such a holistic approach. So for CAMS, it’s great to have 3km of bitumen track, but for me it’s more about bringing it all under one precinct.

“It’s a unique opportunity, so any investors out there, private or government really need to look at this and embrace it and we couldn’t be happier to have been involved almost from day one.”

Mildura Mayor Cr Mark Eckel said the regional city clearly had “fuel in the blood” and was ready for construction to start on the project immediately.

“It’s going to mean enormous things for the Mildura region, particularly as far as jobs are concerned,” Cr Eckel said.

“The passion that’s here for this project. It’s wonderful to have the doyens of the sport talk the way they have, not just about the Mildura region but about motor sports, sports in general and our wonderful Mildura Future Ready Project, which is going to mean so much not only to the Mildura economy but to the state’s economy."

Mildura is located within 400km of Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, and has direct flights to all those capital cities.

The proposed complex would be 15km from the heart of Mildura, and financial modelling is claimed to show a projected return for private investors from year one.