Club Facilities

This Club is fortunate that its administrators over the years since its inception in 1949 have been mindful of providing excellent facilities, especially by way of quality clubrooms. These rooms, located at Site 81 at the Ballarat Airport. Sunraysia Highway, were originally part of the quarters for the RAAF Radio School which was based there until the 1960s. Many alterations and additions have been made since then!

The rooms, which are available for hire to Club members or outside groups, contain a well equipped and recently renovated kitchen and a licensed bar. Because of the licence, we encourage a good standard of dress, we have a breath alcohol analysis machine and a telephone. The club also owns a large portable barbecue which gets plenty of use at club events. We own a full sized antique snooker table which dominates one end of the rooms. During club meetings it is in use continually for the whole evening.

The full sized antique snooker table which dominates one end of the rooms. Surrounded by two walls of motoring & motorsport publications dating back well into the 1960s.

Two walls of the area surrounding the snooker table are covered by bookshelves which house the club's library. Over the years members have brought along their collections of motoring and motorsport publications which have been boxed and shelved for members' benefit. We have many items dating back well into the 1960s.

Further equipment available for members' use and enjoyment are a colour television and VCR, a public address system which doubles as an amplifier for the TV system, a 16mm film projector and screen, a stereo system for radio, records and tapes and a collection of video tapes and 16mm films.

Trophy Cabinets Adorning the walls throughout is a treasured collection of Honour Boards, trophy cabinets, display cases, posters and photographs. This collection traces the history of the club and the exploits of its members over nearly fifty years. Visitors to the club are often awed by this treasury of memorabilia and spend much of their visit reading plaques and study the displays.

As part of the regular maintenance and improvements to our rooms the committee has recently decided to construct a new trophy case which will greet members and guests as they enter. There are many old trophies and a vast collection of LCCA memorabilia to be housed and protected in the new cabinet.

 

 

The walls surrounding the bar are known as "Champions Corner." It is a matter of great honour to have one's photograph mounted in this area. Winners of club, state and national championships receive this honour and it is a source of pride that few people are able to stay for more than a couple years such is the success that our members enjoy. Older photos are often removed to make room for new additions. Two storerooms in a neighboring building provide an easily accessible place for storing the range of paraphernalia needed to run rallies, trials, hillclimb's and other events. We have lots of Trestle tables, a large gateway/banner, bags of bunting and stacks of the signs and boards used to define rallies and trials.

The most popular part of the complex is the Autocross Track. This 1.3 km granite sand track is one of the best in Victoria. The Ballarat Light Car Club hold six or seven events a year and it is one of the main draw cards to the Nissan Car Club Challenge each year. And at the time of putting this page together the club is well under way to running in the other direction.

You can also see a lengthy section of the old airstrip. This is known as the "former" drag strip and is used by us mainly for bitumen motorkhana's. BLCC has hosted rounds of the Victorian series here in 1996 and 1997 and we plan another in '98. The Ballarat Drag Racing Club used to use this strip, but have relocated elsewhere at the airport. Unfortunately the surface is degrading rapidly but plans are afoot to begin a repair program to ensure its usefulness well into the future.

Peter Ellis' Driving Ambition is a local advanced driving skills company which uses the strip and the club rooms to teach defensive driving skills. Peter is also a long-time member of the BLCC.

The strip is also used regularly by members with purpose built race cars. This is a very useful location for testing car setup, braking and power which is completely legal and safe.

Cutting through the middle of the Autocross track you will note a long strip of lighter coloured ground. Known to the locals as the 'Bomber Strip' it is what remains of a third runway dating back to World War II when the whole area was an Air Force base for bombers. Originally sealed, the bitumen has broken up and what remains is the very solid gravel foundation. The area is superb for loose surface motorkhana's and we usually run three tests simultaneously along its length. We can run motorkhana's in any weather conditions. The bomber strip is completely impervious to weather conditions and we have never had to cancel an event due to track condition - not even snow!

There is a fully sewered toilet block and an administration complex consisting of a timing tower, scrutiny bay and catering area.

The toilets were a brilliant addition to the facility as the nearest other toilets were at the clubrooms previously. They were very expensive as the sewage lines had to brought many hundreds of metres to get to the track

The pines make an excellent wind break and provide shady parking in the paddock area. In hot weather everyone parks in under the trees. In wet weather the grassed areas become very soft while the area under the pines is quite firm.

If we ever resolve our lease issues the timing tower structure should be extended to include a second scrutiny bay with concrete floors being poured to improve the appearance and serviceability of the whole structure.

You can see why we are so proud of this complex! It lies less than 200 metres from our clubrooms as shown in this picture above. The track can be seen in the bottom left and the buildings circled at top right are our club rooms. The two facilities combined are an amazing resource for a club with about 140 members. If you would like to be part of such a well resourced organisation, see our joining up page.