Claremont Speedway, former speedway track in Claremont, Perth, Australia
Claremont Speedway was a 586-metre dirt oval on the Claremont Showground in Perth, Western Australia. The track was originally about 650 metres long but was shortened and relaid when seating was built over part of the spectator area. It hosted solo and sidecar motorcycle races and car racing, with electric lighting introduced for night meetings in September 1927. Safety barriers and fences were improved over time to keep out-of-control vehicles away from spectators.
Claremont Speedway held its first meeting on 14 May 1927 and its last on 31 March 2000, after 72 years of operation. The first night racing under electric lights took place on 10 September 1927. The track was originally about 650 metres long but was shortened to 586 metres when seating was added. After the 1999/2000 season, racing moved to a new 500-metre venue at the Quit Motorplex near Kwinana.
The name comes from the suburb and the Showground. The first meetings combined solo and sidecar motorcycles with car racing, and the first meeting under electric lights was held on 19 September 1927. A plaque placed at the Showground in 2003 honours the 17 competitors fatally injured at the site.
The site is easy to reach, as it was located on the Claremont Showgrounds in Perth, a well-known events venue. Visitors can still see memorial plaques today that commemorate the site's history and those who lost their lives there, as they remain on the grounds.
Claremont hosted the first Race of the World Series Sprintcars in 1987, a three-day event that drew top drivers from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. A young driver named Jeff Gordon, who later became famous, was only 15 years old when he competed in that event.
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