'First stage of us trying to rebuild our track': Test for wider circuit

The club will debut the first stage of planned upgrades at its annual New Year's Day meeting on Monday, January 1.

Volunteers and contractors helped rip up its concrete pole line, which defined the race track, across four days prior to Christmas. It is now at least four metres wider in most parts.

A built-up dirt ledge now defines track limits in place of the concrete.

Club vice president Robbie Paton, who is among the volunteers helping with the changes, told The Standard it was "a work in progress".

"It's the first stage of us as a club looking to rebuild our race track," he said.

"We have had some issues over the past couple of seasons. We put a new surface in, new clay and it didn't perform the way we thought it would but there's no real recipe for this sort of stuff.

"You try things and they either work or they don't. We have addressed concerns from competitors and spectators as a club and gone 'we need to change some stuff and we have'.

"We have taken a gamble and we're all in. We are trying to make this place better and get it back to where it needs to be as far as a top venue for cars to race in."

Paton hopes the alterations, which will culminate in the removal and replacement of the contentious black dirt post-season, will please drivers and supporters who flock to the Allansford complex for its meetings.

More than 53 cars have registered for the January 1 show which will kick-start a bumper month for the club which will host the Flying Horse Bar and Brewery Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic and Australian title on back-to-back weekends.

Paton said the wider track had multiple benefits.

"I think it is more about spreading the cars out a little bit and giving the drivers more options as to the lines they want to take and just to try and reduce the risk of accidents by cars (not) racing so close together all the time," he said.

"It is to give the cars more room, more options and try and get back to some better racing."

Paton believed removing the concrete barrier was a smart decision.

"Our previous track was quite fast but quite narrow at those speeds. The technology in the cars has changed a lot over the years and we're now trying to keep up with that technology," he said.

"With the concrete there we had very limited options as to what we could do with track shape and design.

"That was, to my view, holding us back.

"The volunteers have been amazing. The club has come together and gone 'righto, we've got a project, we need to get into this'.

"It is just not possible without support from contractors and also racers. These people have given up the whole week before Christmas to do this. They've given up their family time, their leisure time."

Premier Speedway general manager Michael Parry is also bullish about the wider surface's ability to enhance racing.

He said a surveyor had used a drone to help map out the track's height.

"It (removing the concrete pole line) enabled us to change the shape at the bottom part of the track to really get two distinct lines," he said.

"We had sharp banking, or I guess you could say sharp gradient changes, throughout the surface.

"Widening the track has enabled us to flatten off some areas, it makes it just a little bit more technical for drivers to navigate."

Paton, who conceded wet weather was providing setbacks, said the alteration was a step forward.

The club remains hopeful it can find a suitable replacement dirt to replace its current clay.

Its season finishes in late March with the Easter sprintcar trail finale.

Public gates will open at 3pm on New Year's Day with on-track action from 5pm.