Catalina Park Katoomba - Some more Pictures and info

[TonyG]

In order not to corrupt the Bruce Wells Collection posts I will post this info and photos which I have found on the net in this thread.

To the best of my knowledge the information is correct but please feel free to correct if wrong.

I will give credit where I can but many of the photos I have found are from other Forums that have sourced them from elsewhere and not given due credit but I am sure that they will not mind them being posted here.

If anyone knows who the photographers were or recognizes their own photos without credit as Dale Harvey has, please let me know so I can at least attempt to do the right thing and ask their permission and add due credit for these great images.

Firstly;
http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...na-Park-Part-1

http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...na-Park-Part-2

http://www.vsccwa.com.au/cms/uploads...ept-Page09.pdf

Program Covers
http://www.progcovers.com/motor/catalina.html

Catalina Race Track Info - A 1.3 mile circuit in New South Wales whose construction was started in 1954, but didn't officially open until 1960, and closed in 1969

[neale]

heres a rare incar clip of a lap of the track flat out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXSn_1oHM_Y

[Dale Harvey]

Some of the photos at the begining of this thread are mine. Even though I have no problems with them being posted here, it would have been nice if permission had been granted first.
Dale.

[TonyG]

Some of the photos at the begining of this thread are mine. Even though I have no problems with them being posted here, it would have been nice if permission had been granted first.
Dale.

My apologies Dale. As I stated at the start of the Thread I wanted to give credit to whomever I could for the images but the images at the start that must be yours I found on another forum where it was stated that they did not know who had taken them, as they themselves had copied them from another forum where no credit had been given.
Once again I sincerely apologise and I honestly would have asked if I had known who had taken them.
I too have been in your situation but the other way where my images have been ripped off and actually sold from here without my permission. I only post my images here because of what the Roaring Season is intended for - documenting Motor Racing History.

Regards
Tony Growden

[timbo61]

Long after motor racing had ceased at Catalina Park, and just before motoring activity stopped altogether, the VSCC held some regularity events on the track, including the Bol D'Or 1hr.
A very enjoyable out.



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[TonyG]

Wow great shots. Got any more?

[timbo61]

OK Here's a few more.



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[jim short]

Those last photos remind me of the cars running at York {Perth} a few years back

[GeebeeNZ]

Great to see these pictures. I recognise the green car behind the MGTC and Sunbeam Alpine as the Gazelle that came over for the Bruce Mclaren meeting. It is powered by an Elva Ford. The white V8 special with the red and white wheels looks like the Frank Walters So Cal Special.

[timbo61]

These photo's were taken in December 1997, showing you how nature is taking over the track. I was going to head up that way this weekend to have another look, but wet (typical?) weather means it will be a cold, damp, cloudy weekend, so I'll give it a miss.



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[AMCO72]

Looks like an interesting track. Is/was it public road. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a group formed to restore it to original. A good reach mower on a tractor would do most of it, and the surface isn't too bad at the moment. Fences...armco? still in place. But it wont last. Could be a bit of fun [that word again] to drive.

[Oldfart]

AMCO, have a look at the date Timbo showed! I find these things really sad, such a great facility gone for whatever reason.

[timbo61]

There was one section where there was a land slip, resulting in some armco fencing and support posts dangling in the air, which would require money to fix up.
I've been told there are groups who don't want motor sport (or even motoring) activities at the track, and for that matter, don't even want a McDonalds in the Blue Mountains (can't blame them on that), so it will slowly fade away into the scenery.
They do allow walking the dog activities on the old track however.

[Catalina Park]

Yeah it is a shame to see it slowly disappear back into the bush, I took a walk around a couple of months ago and its really starting to suffer the ravages of time. The outer fence along the straight has had some of the planks removed to open the area up, and there were small sections of track cut out on the way up to Craven A and down to Bosch not sure what they were doing but they were formed up ready for concrete?

It would be great to see some of it saved for historical purposes as there wouldn't be too many tracks around from that era that still had the original fabric they were built with. I doubt it would ever see any cars on it again some of the nearby house virtually back onto the circuit in places.

Craig

[Steve Holmes]

Amazing thread Tony! Love the old pics, and also really love those posted above by timbo. Who actually owns the land the track is built on? Unfortunately it appears the local resident housing has surrounded the track, so there is no way racing could ever take place here again, which is a real shame. Mind you, even in the early 1960s photos the housing is very near the track. Would have been amazing if the track and fencing and pits etc could have been restored to how it once was, and Australia could have had its very own Goodwood Revival event, held just once or twice a year as a very high end historic racing event.

[Steve Holmes]

OK Here's a few more.



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This is a neat looking car. Got any more info on it? I assume by the 3 exhaust pipes and wheels its Ford flathead V8 powered?

[GeebeeNZ]

Steve I think this should answer it.

Car No 41 (above) represents a quality that typifies the early post-war days of Australian Motor Racing. It was was written up in the
"Sports Cars and Specials" magazine of November 1956 (Price 3 shillings)
The writer - John Bartlett - described it as one of the best-known and most consistent cars ever to race on Australian circuits. It was strongly built,
could easily run at 120 mph, and often beat some of the most expensive imported cars.
SoCal was never a non starter, and never retired, in the 70 odd races that owner-driver Frank Walters entered during the two and a half years he
owned the car. And in those races -- averaging one a fortnight -- Walters usually managed to finish in the money.
What is more remarkable still is the fact that he always drove the car to every meeting he competed in. He used the car as a personal transport
around Sydney between meetings, and did all his own maintenance work on the SoCal in his home garage.
George Reed, Jesse Griffiths, Frank Walters & Alex Xydias
George Reed built SoCal in 1948 using a Ford chassis, a Mercury V8 engine and a standard four box as a basis.
Jesse Griffiths took it over and put in a Wilson preselector box. This was not particularly unusual. Tom Sulman had one on his old Maserati.
Griffiths, who was not at the time a member of the Australian Sporting Car club, took the car to Mt Druitt. But since he was not permitted to race,
he offered the car to Frank Walters to drive in the last race. The cars were already going into the grid. Frank hopped in and drove to the end of the airstrip and back to the grid. That was all the practice
he had in it. And SoCal won the race.
Frank was clearly impresed with the car, and managed to buy it. Soon after, he got in touch with an American V8 specialist, Alex Xydias,
who ran the SoCal speed shop in Burbank, Southern California. From then on Xydias actually developed the car by correspondence.
Xydias first sent out the Edelbrock head which was regarded as the basic step.
That worked fine but the stock ignition wouldn't handle anything past about 4200 revs per minute. The American sent out a Kong Guild
ignition set up. With this system Xydias said, the engine could go to 8000 rpm. Frank never exceeded 5500 rpm, and at that speed the
engine was as 'clean as can be'.
With the Kong ignition such a success, Frank decided that a special camshaft would be in order. he drew a map of the Mountt Druitt
circuit a and marked the rises and falls, making a note of the engine’s rpm at various points, the change points -- the lot.
Then he wrote a long description of every move he made during one lap of Mt Druitt. He posted this information to Xydias.
A new camshaft was made specially to match the car to Mt Druitt. Then Xydias completed the job by sending out an Edelbrock triple
manifold setup.
All done by correspondence !
Reliabiity
One time, Frank drove the car to Bathurst, took off the windscreen, fitted the aero screen, turned the headlights around and went on the track. He won one event and came third in the main event after leading up to the last lap, when the brakes failed at the top of the last straight
and he had to coast down the straight round the corner and over the line. Two other cars passed him in the process.
He fixed the brakes in the pits, drove to Orange the next morning, ran sixth in his event and drove home to Sydney that night.
In all the SoCal took part in about 70 or 75 races . Frank won the Racing Car Championship at Mount Druitt.in 1954.

Thanks to motomarques for the above information

[Steve Holmes]

Ahhh, thanks for that. So it was the SoCal. We featured a period racing photo of it in one of its guises in The Bruce Wells Collection at Catalina Park Part 1: http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...na-Park-Part-1

[bry3500]

[Steve Holmes]

Wow, that is a cool piece of footage. That track is amazing. There are virtually no straights, and its constant undulation. And there are no run-off areas at all!