The old Mitsubishi testing ground in Tailem Bend, South Australia, could be turned into Australia's first green motor sport centre.
Coorong District Council purchased the site earlier this year, and is currently sorting through numerous expressions of interest, with the ultimate goal of the development being to create jobs and boost the area's economy.
"Essentially we want to bring investment to the district and certainly create some jobs. The other main thing is looking at diversifying our local economy, which is very much focused on primary production,” said Tim Tol, manager of development and environmental services at Coorong District Council. “We certainly want to continue to try and support the primary industry area, but we feel the need to diversify our economy and bring other industries or land uses into the district.”
A Western Australian developer, Cockles, hopes to use the site to build the country's first green motor sports centre, comprising a race track, research centre and museum, as well as tourist facilities and a community gathering centre.
A Chinese-Israeli consortium, including Shanghai-based Alan Zhiang and Israeli Yaakov Gorr, is backing the development idea. "A green motor sport facility will prove to the public how easy it is to turn their cars green without loss of performance," said Gorr.
While a development application is yet to be officially lodged at council, mayor Roger Strothe has spoken publicly about the possibility of a motor sports venue and Tol agrees that sort of development would simply make sense.
"The site has some infrastructure from when Mitsubishi used it as a testing ground, which is basically a 1.6 km drag-strip, some off-road tracks and things like that ... One thing that also may lend the site to some sort of motor sport activity is that the current zoning is actually for a motor vehicle test track, and whilst it was looking more at driver training and vehicle testing, it's pretty close to what you may allow as a motor sport type venue," Tol said.
