$200m motorsport facility to rev up Pakenham
A $200 million motorsports track has been given the green light at Pakenham in Victoria’s south-east, with the new facility expected to be built within two years.
The world class motorsport complex, labelled as the Cardinia Motor Recreation and Education Park, was approved for development by Cardinia Shire Council at a meeting earlier this week, according to the Pakenham Gazette.
The star attraction at the McGregor Rd site will be a 3.6km racetrack that can accommodate V8 Supercars, while the facility will also include a drag straight, pit facilities, a 1.4km rallycross circuit, driver education and experience centre, 900 metre go-karting circuit, 50,000sqm of viewing and grandstand areas, a sport shooting range and vehicle storage buildings.
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A hotel with views over the track will also be constructed, soaring up to 10 storeys high.
According to reports, Cr Brett Owen told the meeting the complex was beyond anything the Pakenham area had ever seen and had taken more than a decade to come to fruition.
“Motorsports is a legitimate recreation in our shire that has, in my opinion, been forgotten about for a long time,” Cr Owen said.
“It’s been 15 years in relation to this site to get where we are now.
“Council purchased 335 McGregor Rd back in 2004 and now the planning process is before us.”
While some residents expressed concerns about noise, given the track is 1.3km away from homes, developers expect to turn the first sod in the first quarter of 2020.
The facility will see three major motorsport tracks within a two-hour drive, with Phillip Island an hour to the south and Sandown about 30 minutes to the north-west.
