MICK DOOHAN RACEWAY, BRISBANE
Photo taken by Jocelyn Dare during the last junior race in 2025.
The long term future of junior development and community sports infrastructure across South East Queensland has reached a critical turning point. Following the permanent closure of key metropolitan racing facilities, newly released correspondence from the highest levels of local government has officially confirmed the growing logistical pressures facing the region's sporting families.
In an official response to an inquiry by Nomad Dirt Culture, Brisbane Deputy Mayor Cr Fiona Cunningham explicitly acknowledged the deep community connection families shared with the former North Brisbane Speedway facility at Banyo, noting the undeniable "sense of loss being felt, particularly by young riders and their families, following the closure of this facility."
Critically, the correspondence reveals a significant gap in long term metropolitan planning. The Deputy Mayor formally confirmed that the city currently does "not have an alternative metropolitan site identified to replace North Brisbane Speedway," a deficit the administration admits "has a real impact on junior participation pathways."
This high level admission directly underscores the economic and structural hurdles now shifted onto working class families. When historic sporting land is absorbed by commercial real estate frameworks without immediate, local infrastructure replacements, participation becomes an issue of financial accessibility.
Reflecting on these shifting regional dynamics, long-time community advocate Badly Williams captured the ground-level reality facing the next generation of competitors: “You know, families can’t afford to travel far distance.”
A sustainable regional framework cannot rely on treating 100 years of cultural heritage as mere real estate marketing lots or noise complaints. For grassroots motorsport to survive, regional planning must move beyond acknowledging the loss of junior pathways and actively commit to securing dedicated, accessible and permanent spaces for the youth of tomorrow.
Comment below: The city has officially confirmed there is no current replacement site for our lost metropolitan speedway tracks. How does this lack of local infrastructure impact your family's future in the sport?
2 comments
It is generous of the Deputy Mayor to acknowledge this after the facility is gone. Nudgee was in the perfect location for a racetrack, hidden away in an industrial estate, as was Archerfield. Over the past 20-30 years we have lost Lakeside, the Exhibition, Tivoli, Wheelstanders and other riding locations which were well located until real estate developers got involved. We can turn a city park into a new stadium on the promise of generating income for the city but non-mainstream sports are not catered for in any way. QMP is a great facility but it is a long way from anywhere and doesn’t support flat track or speedway. There is an option now on the table at Beechmere and the Deputy Premier is now playing politics rather than committing. These facilties, especiallly Lakeside, offer a great location for rider and driver education and this should be championed. Imagine if all our new riders did dirt training before engaging with the car fraternity. It may save a few more lives than speed cameras.
I don’t agree with that . There’s many sports that require playing fields. Horse Racing, Football ( especially NRL and AFL), Soccer, cricket, all of these are heritage sports. The Elite in these sports enjoy being played in Stadiums and race tracks. With parking issues, traffic issues and plenty of noise. The difference is they provide high revenues for State Governments, Councils and Media. That is the reason why they are tolerated. Purely money. Most of the people living in these areas just accept it. Speedway noise is no different to what exists in the elitist sports as mentioned above. Whereas Councils and State Governments don’t get the high revenue that attracts them which sadly is the way they look at it.