Canberra school kids now have their own racetrack to learn the basics of driving

It might not be a Lamborghini Aventador – let alone a screaming F1 car – but Thoroughbred Park in Lyneham has opened its gates to an arguably more important type of car this week.

It’s one of Fifth Gear Motoring’s branded Minis, with a driver trainer in the passenger seat and a school student from Marist College at the wheel.

The Canberra Racing Club, which operates Thoroughbred Park, has done a deal with Fifth Gear Motoring that will allow the local driving school to conduct training courses on the 750-metre tarmac circuit the club constructed for the Canberra Festival of Speed in March.

For that two-day event, the circuit allowed visitors to hear – as well as see – various exotic machines under throttle.

But as for what it can do the rest of the year, why not teach teenagers how to drive?

“Fifth Gear Motoring was here for the Festival of Speed – they saw the facilities we had and they happened to be looking for a new facility so they could run these sort of school programs more often,” Thoroughbred Park representative Chris Polglase says.

“We’re more than happy to have them.”

For now, Fifth Gear Motoring will work with the ACT Road Ready Centre to deliver the program to Year 9 students from three local schools – Marist College, Merici College and soon Burgmann College – where it forms an optional (and obviously highly desirable) elective.

The day includes sessions on road rules, basic mechanical work (like changing a tyre) and, best of all, time on the track.

“The idea is to prepare these young students for getting a Learner’s permit and for learning to drive out on the road, so by the time they get in the car with mum or dad, they can already drive,” Road Ready Centre CEO Steve Lake says.

“The ultimate goal is to reduce road trauma and reduce the number of young people involved in crashes.”

Fifth Gear Motoring has previously put about 600 students from Marist through a similar program held at the Sutton Road Training Centre, but this all changed in 2019 when the ACT Government leased the site out largely as a training and skills centre for government agencies.

“We’ve used other circuits around Canberra, but they’re very difficult and expensive to book now, whereas Thoroughbred Park has a really fantastic little circuit here, and they’ve just been amazing, so welcoming,” Fifth Gear Motoring co-CEO Dean Chapman says.

Since signing the deal with Thoroughbred Park, both the Road Ready Centre and Fifth Gear Motoring have been in talks with the ACT Government about how a relatively small government grant could transform the circuit into a fully-equipped driver training hub.

“Every young person that gets killed on the road, it just doesn’t need to happen,” Mr Lake says.

“Putting aside all the trauma, and family breakups and mental health issues it leads to, the latest figure is that it costs $1 million per fatality. If the ACT Government gave us $1 million, we could put in a skid pan and a truck manoeuvring area here and be able to run lots of extra training courses for just a fraction of what they’re spending on other road safety measures.”

Ideally, they would like to run the course two to three times a week and offer it to every school in the ACT – public and private.

“Minsters, come out and look at this program and tell me it’s not worth some investment,” Mr Chapman adds.

Meanwhile, the next Canberra Festival of Speed is set for the Australia Day long weekend in January 2025, and there will be some changes.

Based on feedback from drivers at the inaugural event in March 2024, the circuit has been widened in two key areas largely to allow F1 cars – with their wider track and fatter tyres – to navigate safely.

Overpasses will also be built to allow visitors to more freely cross to and from the circuit’s infield without having to wait for a gap in the cars.

Tickets to the Canberra Festival of Speed 2025 are on sale now.