Yogi rides the Old Vale Circuit

Well, it was a very hot day and I'd just been out to Ben Chifley Dam for a ride to catch up with my daughters and their friends who had gone out earlier in the morning to do some water-skiing, wake boarding and tube riding. On the way back from the Dam, I decided to take my time and ride the old Vale motorcycle racing circuit, or the Vale Circuit as it was known, and take some photos along the way.

A quick bit of history - the Vale Circuit was home to motorcycle racing in Bathurst between 1931 and 1938 before racing was transferred to Mt Panorama. During this period it was home to the NSW Grand Prix or NSW TT and hosted the Australian TT in 1934 and 1936 and the Australian Grand Prix three times. The circuit was approximately 6 3/4 miles (11.5km) in length and apart from a small section of bitumen surface at the sale yards, was a gravel surface track. The outright lap record was set in 1937 by Art Senior who completed the circuit in 6 minutes 11 seconds (circuit average speed of just over 112 kph). Given the circuit in the main was a gravel surface and climbed and dipped quite a bit between the Lagoon Road and Wright's Corner (Lloyd's Road) - one can only imagine what those bikes and riders looked like wrestling their motorcycles around the circuit in the clouds of dust. Initially the circuit was raced in an anti clockwise direction, but in 1934 its direction was changed to clockwise, supposedly as riders had complained about being blinded by the afternoon sun and dust as they headed westwards down the main straight Wright's Corner to the start finish line.

http://www.visitbathurst.com.au/motor-racing/vale-circuit


Maps showing the roads as they are today and the old circuit (circa 1934).
The red circles show where a couple of hundred metres of the circuit has disappeared today.
The numbers denote the approximate locations of the photos that follow.


The Vale Circuit sign where the Pits were located (1)




The starting point, opposite the old Bathurst Sale Yards (2)




The starting and finishing point was opposite the old Bathurst Sale Yards and the circuit initially followed what was and still is the main road between Bathurst and Goulburn.

View of road/circuit heading south past the saleyards towards Perthville and Goulburn (3)
The power pole on the left of the road displays the Finish location sign for the circuit.


Heading down the first straight (Sammy's Straight) (4)


Approaching what was known as Suicide Bend (5)


The first left hand 90 degree corner onto Lagoon Road (6)








On Lagoon Road, the circuit crosses the Vale Creek at Kabels Bridge and then bears right until the second 90 degree left hand turn. This turn does not exist today as this small portion of the track (highlighted with the red circles on the maps) has been taken over by private landholders.

Just over Kabels Bridge looking up the hill towards the highest part of the track at Mt. Tamar (7)


Today, we continue on Lagoon Road and then turn left onto the gravel Gorman's Hill Road, picking up the old circuit at what was Devil's Elbow, but today is just a straight piece of gravel road. You can still see the route the old circuit took from both the Lagoon Road and also Gorman's Hill Road, and Devil's Elbow must have been an interesting corner to negotiate, particularly when the circuit changed direction in 1934.

Looking up the track at the right hander after Devil's Elbow (8)


The next left hander heading towards the top of the circuit (9)




Heading down from Mt. Tamar (10)


Approaching a slight left hander on Gormans Hill Road (11)


Wright's Corner (12)


Looking down the final straight towards Palmer's Bridge from Wright's Corner (13)





Back at the Pits/Start (14)


Throughout my ride around the circuit, I couldn't help but think of those racers in the 1930s, on their Velocettes and Ariels, rigid frames, girder forks, no suspension, braving the gravel surface and billowing dust (or muddy and slippery when it was raining). Today, on my small modern road bike that is capable of perhaps 200kph (not with me on it though :( ), I am nervous doing anything over 80kph on gravel surfaces. So I could only admire the feats of those early racers and know that had it been me, I perhaps wouldn't have made it past Devils Elbow or perhaps the first corner onto the Lagoon Road !! :)

A great ride into a part of history that is there for everyone to enjoy still.