The National Capital Motorsports Club hopes new lights at its Fairbairn track will be the beacon to bring more speedway action back to Canberra and revive the sport.
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The ACT's Tralee Speedway - or Fraser Park - was a popular venue for Australian titles from the 1970s until 1997, when the growth of Jerrabomberra and related issues with residential noise restrictions forced its closure.
The sport has been steadily trying to rebuild at the Fairbairn-based track, but hopes the recent installation of lights and planned erection of noise barriers will enable it to thrive by hosting night-time events.
More than 70 cars covering six divisions will contest this Sunday's ACT Speedway titles, with interstate competitors travelling from Newcastle, Sydney and the NSW south coast.
But National Capital Motorsports Club vice-president Murray Johnson would like to think it will be the last ACT titles contested as a day-time event.
The club raised more than $150,000 to erect lights, but the next major hurdle before hosting more popular night-time events is to comply with noise restrictions.
The club has held initial discussions with the Environment Protection Authority and has been conducting its own testing before proceeding with a formal application for night-time approval. Johnson said the aim was to try to get the green light to host night events next summer.
"Once we.go to the evening it'll take off big time," Johnson predicted.
"They're kicking goals with their crowds. They have that many divisions that want to run there that they knock them back. Here we are a lot of time struggling for numbers because most people don't want to race on a Sunday.
"We can better that, but we need to go to the night time."
Johnson was confident a move to night events would boost interstate entry numbers and therefore economic impact.
The ACT speedway season currently runs from October to June, but the track generally has to close during the hottest months of January and February. Johnson said night events would enable speedway to condense its season, possibly from November to March.
"Our biggest problem is we run during the day on a clay surface. You get direct sun and it's tough to control the track conditions as we'd like to," Johnson said.
