Wakefield Park

Wakefield Park at a glance

Location

Goulburn, New South Wales

Type

road course

Length

2.35 km (1.46 mi)

Turns

13

Direction

clockwise

Surface

asphalt

Opened

1994

Owner

Steve Shelley

Address

Braidwood Road

Website

oneraceway.com.au

Track map and layout

Wakefield Park is a 2.35-kilometre, 13-turn road course about 10 kilometres south of Goulburn, roughly halfway between Sydney and Canberra. The circuit closed in 2022 after a long-running noise dispute with the local council, then reopened in October 2024 under new owner Steve Shelley with a rebuild and rebrand as One Raceway - the name it now trades under, though Wakefield Park remains the name most fans, satellite navigation and search engines still use. The rebuild added new banked corners (lifting the turn count from 10 to 13) and 10-metre noise-mitigation walls at each end that double as elevated viewing platforms, and made it Australia's first fully bi-directional circuit, able to run clockwise or anticlockwise depending on the meeting. The layout mixes fast, sweeping sections with tighter technical corners on a hilly, undulating site.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

Since reopening, the venue has returned to the national calendar with rounds of the Australian Superbike Championship (its reopening event in October 2024, now typically held in December). Supercars also tested at the rebuilt circuit shortly after it reopened. Regular public 1R Track Days and club meetings run through the rest of the year for car and motorcycle clubs.

Getting there and parking

The circuit is on Braidwood Road about 10 kilometres south of Goulburn, roughly midway between Sydney and Canberra and an easy detour off the Hume Highway. Canberra Airport is the nearer commercial gateway, around 45 minutes to an hour's drive, while Sydney Airport is a longer drive of around two and a half hours for visitors coming from the coast.

• Canberra Airport (CBR) · about 55 min drive

Search under both names when planning a trip - some maps, older bookmarks and satellite navigation systems still list the venue as Wakefield Park Raceway rather than One Raceway.

Hotels and camping near Wakefield Park

Goulburn, a regional city about 10-15 minutes' drive north, has the closest and widest range of accommodation - motels and hotels including chains such as Best Western - and is the practical base for most visitors. Canberra, about an hour away, offers a much larger city's worth of hotel choice for those combining a visit with other Canberra plans, while Sydney-based visitors sometimes stay overnight in Goulburn rather than attempt the round trip in a day. There is no on-site camping or accommodation at the circuit itself.

Where to look

Goulburn (closest and most practical, 10-15 minutes away) or Canberra (about an hour away, far more hotel choice for a longer stay).

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

One Raceway runs its own public 1R Track Days through the year, bookable directly via the venue, and independent operators including Track Day Club and RaceAway Track Time run additional open-pitlane track days and Arrive 'n' Drive race-car-hire packages with driver coaching. The circuit's licensing covers car, motorcycle and karting use, so club meetings for all three run regularly outside the national-category weekends.

Who runs days here

• One Raceway (1R Track Days)both
• Track Day Club (weekend track days)car
• RaceAway Track Time (Arrive 'n' Drive)car

Lap records

Spectator guide

The 2024 rebuild's 10-metre noise walls at the north and south ends of the circuit double as elevated viewing platforms, a genuinely unusual spectator feature that gives fans a higher vantage point than the grass banks typical of most Australian club circuits. The venue's hilly site otherwise offers reasonable sightlines across several corners from most viewing areas.

Best places to watch

The elevated viewing platforms built into the new noise-mitigation walls at each end of the circuit give the best combined view of the layout.

Weather

• Dec: Southern Tablelands early summer: warm days around 25-27°C, with a genuine chance of a cool change or afternoon storm

History of Wakefield Park

Built for a gap in the market

Wakefield Park was built between October 1993 and May 1994 near Goulburn, in the New South Wales Southern Tablelands, at a time when Sydney's Amaroo Park and Oran Park were both expected to close - a gap the new circuit was explicitly designed to help fill for amateur and club racers. It opened on 8 May 1994 as a 2.2-kilometre, 10-turn layout under the ownership of the Benalla Auto Club, which ran it for nearly three decades.

The noise dispute and closure

Wakefield Park's original approval limited it to 48 days of operation a year because of noise concerns, but by the early 2020s the circuit was running for more than 270 days annually. A protracted legal battle involving the Benalla Auto Club, Goulburn Mulwaree Council and the NSW Land and Environment Court ended with restrictions that made continued operation unviable, and the circuit closed in September 2022. A public petition against the closure gathered nearly 29,000 signatures, reportedly a record for an e-petition in NSW government history, reflecting how significant the venue had become to grassroots motorsport in the region.

Rebuilt and reborn as One Raceway

Businessman Steve Shelley bought the circuit in 2023 and rebuilt it with noise mitigation front and centre: 10-metre walls at each end of the site cut noise for neighbours while doubling as spectator terraces, and the track itself was reshaped and extended to 2.35 kilometres and 13 turns, becoming Australia's first genuinely bi-directional circuit. The rebuilt venue reopened under the new name One Raceway on the first weekend of October 2024, headlined by a round of the Australian Superbike Championship, and has since returned to hosting national categories alongside a full public track-day and club racing calendar - a genuine second life for a circuit many assumed had closed for good.

Frequently asked questions

Other tracks nearby

• Oran Park Raceway · 134 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Catalina Park · 138 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst · 155 km · street circuit
• Sydney Motorsport Park · 158 km · road course
• Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit · 168 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Amaroo Park · 175 km · historic circuit (defunct)