by Terry S » Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:21 am
SPECTATING AT WARWICK FARM
As this thread has WF in title I'd like to put in a few thoughts on this, particularly ease of getting to.
WF was a wonderful circuit because you could see so much from so many places.
In its later years the best viewing was from the esses after you had gone across the two bridges over the track.
The great advantage of WF in our pre driving days was that you could get a train right into the circuit. There was a full station right behind the grandstands. We caught the train from Cronulla into Central and then out to WF. It took a long time but it was worth it.
The other Sydney circuit you could get to by train was Catalina Park. Catch the train to Katoomba then walk down the hill.
The magical thing about this, and reason I'm mentioning, was it wetted our appetite for racing which we still have all these years later. Even before we could drive. My first WF meeting was in December 1962 seeing Bob Jane's Jag winning.
Oran Park was in the country and Amaroo did not really start before we were driving.
These days it is not as easy for young people to get to circuits. In Sydney there is only Eastern Creek which I believe you can possibly get a long bus ride sometimes from Blacktown railway station. Wakefield Park is really in the country, far beyond public transport.
So Sydney young people basically miss out on getting "hooked" as we have.
I recall being at a Calder meeting in Melbourne where the train line ran along the back straight. Sometimes for bigger meetings they would run a train out, BUT there was no station, you had to jump out of the train when it stopped. Not a pretty sight.
I don't know about NZ, whether this a problem there for young people?
SPECTATING AT WARWICK FARM
As this thread has WF in title I'd like to put in a few thoughts on this, particularly ease of getting to.
WF was a wonderful circuit because you could see so much from so many places.
In its later years the best viewing was from the esses after you had gone across the two bridges over the track.
The great advantage of WF in our pre driving days was that you could get a train right into the circuit. There was a full station right behind the grandstands. We caught the train from Cronulla into Central and then out to WF. It took a long time but it was worth it.
The other Sydney circuit you could get to by train was Catalina Park. Catch the train to Katoomba then walk down the hill.
The magical thing about this, and reason I'm mentioning, was it wetted our appetite for racing which we still have all these years later. Even before we could drive. My first WF meeting was in December 1962 seeing Bob Jane's Jag winning.
Oran Park was in the country and Amaroo did not really start before we were driving.
These days it is not as easy for young people to get to circuits. In Sydney there is only Eastern Creek which I believe you can possibly get a long bus ride sometimes from Blacktown railway station. Wakefield Park is really in the country, far beyond public transport.
So Sydney young people basically miss out on getting "hooked" as we have.
I recall being at a Calder meeting in Melbourne where the train line ran along the back straight. Sometimes for bigger meetings they would run a train out, BUT there was no station, you had to jump out of the train when it stopped. Not a pretty sight.
I don't know about NZ, whether this a problem there for young people?