Phillip Island

A permanent road course was opened on Phillip Island in March 1956, a couple of miles south of the public roads that had held the Australian Grand Prix before World War II. The first three editions of the touring car Armstrong 500 – the forerunner to the Bathurst 1000 – were held at Phillip Island before Australia’s Great Race moved on when the track surface broke up badly. It closed in 1962 and was sold to retired racing driver Len Lukey, who eventually reopened the facility in 1967. A fallow period was triggered by Lukey’s death in 1978, but it was redeveloped under new owners in during the mid-1980s and the a round of the Motorcycle World Championship was held in 1989 and 1990. A ban on tobacco and alcohol advertising in Victoria led to the race being lost for seven years. However, it was restored to the calendar in 1997 and has been staged every year except 2020 and 2021 when cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.