John Cotton, Gulgong, 1960s
Source: Cheryl Cotton
Keith Keyssecker and Robert Nichols, early 1960s
Go Kart club and track, People’s Park, Gulgong
The track was started around 1959-1960. Athol Meers and Johny Cotton were some of the founding members. A clubhouse was moved there in 1962. The track was dirt then but was asphalted around 1962-63. It broke up on the corner during the first meeting and was redone with hot mix.
Back in those early days karts were homemade and powered by modified 2-stroke lawnmower motors. One of the fastest was Barry Clancy's 200cc. Francis Barnett won a lot of races including Lithgow, Orange, Bathurst and Grenfell. These times were the most fun with club meets most weekends.
Around the years 1964 to 65 the rules started to change for the use of motors and they were moving to controlled specs. McCulloch kart motors started to emerge. They were great but expensive and had a short life. So the weekend club meets consisted of tuning runs; that took a lot of the fun out of the sport and the club started to fade.
Barry Clancy's Mac 9 excelled as the fastest in the club beating Max Stewart at Orange. Athol Meers had one of the first twin-powered karts (twin Stihl-powered).
Members included Athol Meers, Johny Cotton, Fred Nichols, Warick Lee, Barry Clancy, L Gossage, Don Cuthel and Barry Cunningham, just to name a few.
The club folded at the end of 1966. The outline at people's Park can still be seen in aerial photos.
Source: Recollections of Adrian Peter Mackellar
Outline of go-kart track, People's Park
Source: Google Earth
Outline of go-kart track, People's Park
Source: sixmaps
Go Karts, Gulgong, 1961
Cars along Wynella Street
Source: Colin Evans
Gulgong Go-Kart Club Badge
Source: Libby Sills
