New $175m motorsport complex for Queensland

The powerful and wealthy Wagner family from south-east Queensland has taken another significant step towards building a world-class motorsport facility near Toowoomba.

The Queensland state government has committed $40 million to the project and called on the federal government to match its contribution.

If it does then the full $175 million budget would be achieved, as the Wagners have already committed $95 million to a project that first broke cover in 2014.

In its current form the Wellcamp Entertainment Precinct near Toowoomba, 125km inland from Brisbane, would include a motorsport and driver training facility named after Toowoomba-born Indy 500 winner Will Power.

It would cater for:

It would also serve as a 40,000-person venue for music festivals and major events, and be set up for business tourism and other programs with accommodation for up to 5000 people on-site.

Power has already confirmed he will have input into the racing track’s design. Mark Skaife, Mick Doohan and the circuit designer iEDM have also been linked to a 4.35km FIA Grade 2 circuit on the site in the past. Karting, rallycross and off-road tracks are also part of the facility.

The Wagner family says it wants to get construction underway in early 2021, but community consultation and planning approvals will still be required before that.

The Wagners – all up, there are currently four brothers involved – are one of the best-known business families in the Toowoomba area, making their fortune primarily from construction and infrastructure development.

They gained significant publicity in 2011-12 when they successfully sued the radio shock jock Alan Jones and the radio stations that broadcast him for $3.6 million when he alleged on-air that they were responsible for the deaths of 12 people during floods when a dam gave way in a quarry they owned.

The new facility will sit alongside the Wagners’ Wellcamp Airport, Australia’s first privately-funded public airport and the first to be built in 50 years.

While the WEP is being positioned as a site that could host motor racing up to world championship level, there is a bigger picture.

Queensland is working toward a 2032 Olympics bid and Wellcamp would benefit from that and the infrastructure spend that would come with it, including a new fast rail proposed for south-west Queensland.

WEP is also another sign Australia’s dearth of motor racing circuits has started to be addressed, following on from the establishment of the $100 million The Bend Motorsport Park at Tailem Bend in South Australia in 2018.