Club History

The Sports Riders Club of Tasmania

The SRCT started in 1976 after separating from the STMCA (Southern Tasmanian Motor Cycle Association). The STMCA had started becoming more and more dirt focused and the side car racing members felt it was beneficial to continue under their own banner, forming the Side Car Racing Club of Tasmania.
In 1979 the SRCT held a major event under the name of the Tasmanian Grand Prix.
In 1984 the SRCT hosted its first round of the Australian Road Racing Championship (ARRC). Many further rounds were hosted, with the final ARRC round at Baskerville being held in 1999. In 1995, Baskerville held round 3 of the ARRC:

After a continual decline in racing participants, members and volunteers, the SRCT was dealt a life threatening blow when in 2003 Baskerville’s track license was pulled by Motorcycling Australia due to safety concerns about the distance between the track and the Armco railing, a concern many believe to be politically motivated.

With the guidance of the recently elected club president, Shaun Patmore, along with the dedication of the small remaining committee and help from some dedicated members, many working bees were organized and eventually in 2004 Motorcycling Australia reinstated the track license. By this time, club membership had all but dwindled away and the SRCT was at the bottom of a long climb back up the mountain again.

In 2009 two significant events in the modern history of the SRCT occurred. To start with it was decided that a name change of the club was in order. Actual motorcycle racing had not been hosted by the club for almost a decade, and the appearance of sidecars was but a distant memory to most members. Ride days had become the staple of the club and the running of these had become almost the sole focus of the residing committee. Unfortunately this was simply a sign of the times.

It was decided to change the name of the club to the “Sports Riders Club of Tasmania”. It was felt that by doing so the name more reflected the current identity of the club while still maintaining the heritage of its original name by maintaining the acronym of SRCT.

Ironically post name change 2009 also saw the return of racing to Baskerville albeit in a very casual and informal manner. Getting tired of simply running circles, many of the participants of the ride day “racers” group (a ride day group for fast and experienced riders with no restrictions on overtaking rules) decided to organize grid starts during the “racers” group ride day sessions. These were soon organized as “ride/race days” allowing the racers to actually race while maintaining the financial security to the club of ride days.

2011 saw the first major event hosted by the SRCT when it devised and organized the Tasmanian Historic Championships. The event was organized to coincide with the Australian Historic Championships round being held at Symmons plains the preceding weekend, with participants coming from all over the country to compete in both solo and sidecar races crossing almost every historic period class existing. The event, while not a financial success was a huge boost to morale within the club committee and much pride was taken in the huge number of compliments received from competitors and spectators alike.

Between 2009 and 2012 the racing continued to grow with the Tasmanian Motor Cycle Club (TMCC) also conducting regular race days and the number of participants growing slowly but consistently. In 2012 the SRCT and TMCC joined forces to return Interclub racing to Tasmania with a three round championship consisting of one round at Baskerville Raceway and two at Symmons plains Raceway. This also saw the return of standalone race days held at Baskerville by the SRCT.