First opened as a horse racing venue in the late 19th Century, Sandown in the Melbourne suburbs is truly a home to both types of horsepower. In fact, Sandown hosted Australia’s first-ever motor race, in March 1904.

After the horse racing course closed in the 1930s as part of a government rationalisation programme, the site was later redeveloped in the 1960s as a permanent motor racing venue, with a course laid out around the outside of the horse course.

Those works to reopen the site were spearheaded by the local Victorian Amateur Turf Club, which created a dual-purpose horse and car racing facility. The circuit formally opened in 1962.

The first Australian Touring Car Championship race was held in 1965, although the circuit hosted the first staging of the long-running Sandown 500 endurance race a year earlier (when the event was actually a 6-Hour race).

In the 1980s, ambitions at the circuit grew. The Light Car Club of Australia wanted to attract Formula One to the circuit, and so in 1984 a new infield loop was added, taking the circuit length to 2.41 miles.

The pit and paddock were also moved to their present-day location, having previously been located between the current Turns 1 and 4.

In the end, the state government wouldn’t support the F1 bid, and after the new track proved unpopular, and with financial losses from hosting the FIA World Sportscar Championship in 1984, and again in 1988, the longer circuit was effectively abandoned.

In 2002, the horse racing turf course was expanded, killing off the extended car track once and for all.

Upgrades to facilities came in 2013, with new catch fencing, an upgraded grandstand, and extended runoff at Turn 6.