Our first club track day at SMP GP circuit
28 September 2025 / Words by Bryan Shedden, Photos by Jimmy Shen
Our first ever club track day at the Gardner (GP) circuit of Sydney Motorsport Park was on Saturday 16 August 2025, organised by Club Lotus Australia as Round 4 of the CSCA Supersprint Series. We counted it as Round 3 of the MX-5 Club Sprint Championship. Several of our track day competitors were already familiar with the track from the NSW Regularity Relay but this was a unique opportunity to sample the circuit in a track day format. The GP circuit is formidably high speed. The 90 degree turn 1 is taken at around 160km/hr, and word-of-the-day was to treat it with respect, owing to a fatality that occurred there only a few weeks prior. We all sign the disclaimer that states "Motorsport Activities are inherently dangerous recreational activities and there is significant risk of injury, disability or death." Such incidents give us all time to reflect!
The Shannons Sydney Classic, organised by CMC, was also booked for the same weekend. Stall holders were given exclusive access for the pitlane garages for the entire weekend, such that we were only able to use the carports on a first-come-first-served basis. Motorsport Secretary Chris Andry tried his best to save us some carports but despite arriving at precisely 7:00am, every carport was gone. Instead, Chris and his dad Jonathan claimed a large space in the parking area and set up a gazebo for some shade. The weather played ball, and it was a lovely warm day with clear skies.
A solid field of 76 drivers competed on the day, 39 of whom were members of the MX-5 Club of NSW. All five of our Club vehicle classes were thoroughly represented, with between 6 and 12 drivers per class. The fastest times were set in the first runs of the day, as the temperature rose after that and a head-wind developed on the main straight. Our Club's 21yo Motorsport Secretary is attracting younger people to our motorsport events, with 7 of today's MX-5 competitors aged under 30 years. Fantastic!
Tyler Schaafsma's NDRF was heard making some very strange noises on the track, which was pinpointed to a lose chassis brace flapping around under his car. Equipment and parts were quickly shared in the pits and Tyler was back on track with minimal interruption. Another driver had a nasty incident at turn 16, losing the rear of his racecar, then snapping and sliding into the concrete wall. His racecar was heavily damaged but has since been repaired after spending a couple weeks with Lou Iezzi.
One of the fantastic things about running at the CSCA Supersprints is seeing the huge variety of classic sports cars that rock up to fang around the track. My personal highlight at this round was an original 1968 Ford GT40 presented in gorgeous Gulf Racing livery. Wow! I hope the owner didn't mind wiping our drool off his car.
Sadly, there was a very long delay for the release of the results on the Natsoft website. They are usually published on the Monday night after the event, allowing the CSCA delegates to confirm the results are accurate and drivers are correctly allocated to their home clubs. However, we had to wait nine days which is disappointing to say the least. Hopefully, the CSCA delegates will reconsider this practice and publish lap-times immediately at the conclusion of each event in future.
Since this was our first club track day at SMP GP, the benchmark times were estimated from about 20 years of records at NSW Supersprints. We thought they would be a decent approximation and we will adjust them for next year, based on these new results. Three drivers beat their benchmark time: Jie Ren (102.06%), Bryan Shedden (101.35%), and Chris Andry (101.25%), claiming the top three outright places in our Motorsport Championship, and Standard Class too. Clubman Class places were John Karayannis 1st, Glenn Thomas 2nd, Tyler Schaafsma 3rd. Modified Class places were Luke Kovacic 1st, Kyle Robinson 2nd, Reece Lyndon 3rd. Open Class places were Brett Lansley 1st , Jason Russell 2nd, Matthew Tarrant 3rd. Non-MX-5 Class places were Ralph Thompson 1st, Andrew Mclaughlin 2nd, David Phillips 3rd. The full results are here and the updated pointscore after Round 3.
Click here for all of Jimmy's hires photos.
