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Lobethal
By Ray Bell
There is no pretender to Lobethal's
crown. When we look at the circuits that have seen racing in
Australia, we might place Bathurst at the top of the list, or
Phillip Island, or Gnoo Blas or some other. But they’re all on a
different list to Lobethal. As a circuit, in its magnitude, in its
mystery and in its innocence, always alone.
I first saw the name in Bill Tuckey’s
book. Scene of the 1939 Australian Grand Prix - 60,000 spectators in
the hot sun. That was all, because Bill hadn’t seen it. Then, during
the running of the 12-hour race at Surfers Paradise in 1966 I was
talking to Doug Whiteford, and I asked him what circuit he thought
was our greatest. "Lobethal!" No hesitation, no questions - just a
raft of comment about the inadequacy of the circuits of our day.
On October 8, 1972 I
drove a Datsun 180B SSS round Lobethal to begin an obsession. I had
seen some of the great ones. Longford and the fabulous 1965 Grand
Prix, Bathurst, even Southport and the striking Victor Harbour could
not hold a candle to Lobethal. I had seen it. Rising from somebody’s
dream in 1937, Lobethal township in the hills East of Adelaide was
the focus of motor racing activity after the awakening brought about
by the Centenary GP through Port Elliott the previous year. Today
the originator of that dream has been forgotten, though it may have
been Claude Black, a local car dealer, or possibly another local who
saw the benefits racing brought to the community at Victor Harbour.
There had been hill
climbs at Lobethal in 1936 and 1937, but these were on a metalled
track out of town in the opposite direction to the circuit that was
to come. When the movement to a race began, a group called Lobethal
Carnivals was formed, and the Sporting Car Club of South Australia
together with motorcycle racing people collaborated to make a
reality of the first all-sealed road circuit in Australia.
Click on the map For a lap at
Lobethal
Reality. That’s a word
that comes to mind with Lobethal. The reality of 8.65 miles of
high-crowned bitumen roads wandering through the farmlands to
converge on this pretty town. The reality of roads so dauntingly
fast that - more than anywhere else in Australian racing history -
they rewarded the ones who combined skill with bravery.
In 1938, when racing first came to
Lobethal, it was the K3 MGs that set the pace on what was our first
completely sealed road circuit. Spectators caught the train direct
to the spectator areas at Kayannie Corner or the Grandstands at the
start finish area at the Mt Torrens end.
The raw speed was what they wanted to
see, and the Alfa of Englishman Alan Sinclair was expected to
provide it. Instead the K3 of Lyster Jackson set the initial
practice pace at around 6:56, eclipsed in the second session by
Colin Dunne’s K3 with a 6:36. By race day the times were really
tumbling as Dunne got down to a 6:02 and Reg Nutt in the Day Special
broke six minutes to come close to an 89mph lap average. The legend
had begun.
One can wonder today what impact this
and the later Bathurst AGP meeting had on Alf Barrett and his Morris
Special, a Lombard radiator sitting in place of the passenger's seat
to add cooling capacity. A year later he was back with the Alfa
Monza (bought for L950!) and ready to show some real pace, and
Kleinig's legendary Hudson along with the 2 9 Alfa of Jack Saywell
were out to beat him. With an ever more competitive bunch of cars,
this was to be the fastest road race run in Australia in the pre-war
years despite a shortage of suitable tyres for the sustained high
speeds.
Oh, to have been there, perched in
the paddock above the esses, or on Schubert's farm watching the
faster cars fly through that stretch. On these downhill swoops there
were many cars reached higher speeds than they were capable of
touching on the run to Kayannie. And just picture the sight through
the township as the exhausts echoed from the shop fronts - and Colin
Dunne mounted the footpath to pass one slower car!
This was the longest circuit ever raced
on in Australia, and it begs comparison with the
Spa Francorchamps
of the same era. The same length, the same lap speeds for comparable
cars, the same number of slow corners, more of the fast ones and
less straight road.
But while Spa was part of a circle of tracks visited by professional
teams in the course of their annual competition, Lobethal was a
remote outpost visited by gentlemen participants in a sport in its
infancy, a vestige of a time long past, a dream of an enthusiast and
a creation of enthusiasm. 60,000 saw its one truly great race
meeting - by 1940 the clouds of war were gathering as the racers
returned.
Lobethal sleeps today.
It will not be woken by those who read this and go to visit, nor by
those who find it by some other means. It’s like a grave that has
been visited by a doting family a thousand times, getting older, but
only returning the love of those who hold it dear in their
imaginings. The coming of each New Year adds another year since its
quiet end, when nobody knew it would slip into an eternal sleep. The
echoes of exhausts from Woodside soon ended, but fabulous Lobethal
will remain alone in the Adelaide Hills, the envy of every place any
racing car has ever been driven, the dream of anyone who’s been
there.
Discuss this circuit at the forum.
The photos covering the present day lap of Lobethal were taken by Australian
motor racing journalist
Ray Bell at the beginning of 2002. Much of the information about this circuit is
from Ray's archives
and those who have helped him explain to the world just how great a circuit it
was.
© Text and pictures: Ray Bell
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