Rob Roy: Australia's Historic Hillclimb

Australian racetracks have a special atmosphere that is unlike any in the world. The brown grass, patch like, with moments of green throughout the year. The professional Australian accent over the p.a system that echoes around the paddock, and the kangaroos and aussie bush land that often have a presence on the outskirts of the track. 

Rob Roy is no different, one hour from the Melbourne CBD, it is what I would call a hidden gem, not only in Australian motorsport, but in the international hill climb community.

Rob Roy was Australia’s first purpose built race track, which was established by the Light Car Club in 1937. It held it’s first event on the 1st of February that same year. A year later the track would hold its first Australian Hillclimb Championship and the following year in 1939, the track would be resurfaced to bitumen. This would make it only the third purpose built hill climb in the world to have a surface of bitumen.

It’s amazing to know that a racetrack this historic is so close to home.

Overall, Rob Roy would hold nine Australian Hillclimb Championships and would be raced on until 1962 when the track and surrounding areas, would be ravaged by bushfires and fell into disrepair.

However, this story doesn’t have a sad ending, although you probably figured that didn’t you.

In 1992, the MG Car Club was able to attain a ten year lease on the property and lots of work was put in to return the track to its former glory. It held it's first event in 30 years in 1993 with great success, and has been drawing people back ever since.

In 2009, the old PBR brake shoes, rescued from the old Templestowe Hillclimb, were placed at the Rob Roy start line.

So, now that you know a bit of the history behind the Rob Roy Hillclimb, let me show you the track.

Before the cars start their run, they have 15 metres of asphalt to warm up their tires by spinning the wheels. After returning to the start line, they get given the green light to start their run.

​​The drivers begin the climb into turn one, which is a long but sharp right-hander. 

The track drops back down again as the cars straighten up and fly past the lake and pit entry.

As they pass the lake, the cars really begin to climb. Cars tend to bottom out as the track's angle suddenly increases.

The climb continues through a long, gradual left-hander until the finish line, and before you know it, a lap of Rob Roy is complete. The lap record is 17.3 seconds set by Andrew Howell in a Gould GR55B, but to give a taste of what it's like to take a lap around Australia's historic hill climb, here is a lap of 21.7 seconds in a Subaru WRX.

Bonus Gallery