Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}

{{Use Australian English|date=September 2015}}

{{Motorsport venue

| Name = Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit

| Location = Orange, New South Wales

| Coordinates = {{coord|33|19|1|S|149|5|39|E|display=it}}

| Time = UTC+10:00

| Image = 250px

| Image_caption = Full Circuit (1953–1961)

| Events = Australian Touring Car Championship (1960)
Australian Drivers' Championship (1958–1959)

| Layout1 = Full Circuit (1953–1961)

| Length_km = 6.03

| Length_mi = 3.75

| Opened = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1953|01|24}}

| Closed = {{Start date and age|df=yes|1961|10|22}}

| Turns = 8

| Record_time = 2:07.4

| Record_driver = Jon Leighton

| Record_car = Cooper-Coventry Climax

| Record_year = 1960Jim Scaysbrook, Gnoo Blas, Motor Sport (magazine), May 2006, pages 84 to 87

| Record_class = Formula Libre

|}}

The Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit was a motor racing circuit at Orange, New South Wales, Australia. The circuit was formed from rural roads and highways outside the town, around the grounds of Bloomfield Hospital and what is now known as Sir Jack Brabham Park. It was {{cvt|6.03|km|mi|abbr=on}} long. The name came from the Aboriginal name for nearby Mount Canobolas.{{cite web |url=http://tasman-series.com/misc/lostcircuits/gnooblas/gnooblas.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030817174203/http://www.tasman-series.com/misc/lostcircuits/gnooblas/gnooblas.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 August 2003 |title=Gnoo Blas Fast and Furious |publisher=Tasman-Series.com: The 2.5L Tasman Series 1964–69 |accessdate=2008-07-24 |df=dmy-all }}

The first race meeting was staged over the Anniversary Day holiday weekend of 24 to 26 January 1953 and was organized by the Australian Sporting Car Club, the former promoters of the Easter car races at the Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223422016 |title=Orange To Stage Motor Cycle And Car Racing |newspaper=Lithgow Mercury |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=15 January 1953 |page=2 (CITY EDITION)}} The January 1955 meeting, which featured the 1955 South Pacific Championship for racing cars, was the first FIA sanctioned international race meeting to be staged in Australia.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150719000125/http://www.gnooblas.com/wp-content/uploads/car_show_entry_2015.pdf Gnoo Blas Classic, www.gnooblas.com, as archived at web.archive.org] The circuit played a crucial part in the growth of Australian open wheel racing in the post war era but faded before the peak created by the Tasman Series.

Gnoo Blas hosted the inaugural Australian Touring Car Championship event in 1960, the race being won by David McKay driving a Jaguar Mark 1 3.4-litre. Also competing were Bill Pitt (2nd), Ron Hodgson (3rd), Bruce McPhee, Des West, Ian Geoghegan and Brian Foley.

Continuing battles with New South Wales Police Force who authorised motor racing through the Speedway Act eventually forced the track's closure,{{cite book | title = Fast Tracks | last = Walker | first = Terry | publisher = Turton & Armstrong Pty Ltd Publishers | year = 1995 | isbn = 0-908031-55-6 | pages = 70 & 71}} with the last race meeting being held on 22 October 1961.Denis Gregory, October 1961: The last harrah, Chequered Times – A History of Gnoo Blas, Orange 1953–1961, pages 169–173

The locally based Gnoo Blas Classic Car Club hold an annual classic car show at the site.{{cite web | url=http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Orange/Gnoo_Blas_Circuit/info.aspx | title=Gnoo Blas Circuit – Sport and Recreation | publisher=Tourism New South Wales | accessdate=2008-07-24}}