AUSTRALIAN motorsport and motoring history is being demolished in Melbourne with the dismantling of the former homes of the Holden Racing Team and Holden Special Vehicles.
The business park at 1508 Centre Road in Clayton South that housed to the HRT and HSV is being redeveloped and, as these photos by V8 Sleuth show, the workshops that once belonged to the iconic brands are being confined to history.
Building 20, the home of the Holden Racing Team during its glory years from the mid 1990s into the early 2000s, is being wiped out.
The building produced cars that won championships for HRT for Craig Lowndes (1996, 1998, 1999) and Mark Skaife (2000, 2001, 2002) as well as numerous Bathurst 1000 victories and V8 Supercar race wins.
The old HRT workshop in 2000. Pic: an1images.com
After HRT moved to another building in the same business park, Building 20 became home to the engine shop and dynos, machine shop and stores. It also served for a period as the location for new race car builds.
Also going is the old HSV main office building and the old HSV production line factory that produced a range of Aussie modern muscle cars.
The former HSV headquarters (top photo) and production line buildings (above) are being demolished also. Pics: an1images.com
The building on the business park that formerly housed the Holden Young Lions operation, whichmorphed into Kmart Racing and then the HSV Dealer Team, reportedly remains standing being used as a site office.
After the departure of the Kelly family from the Clayton fold to establish their own Kelly Racing outfit, the ex-HSVDT building became Walkinshaw Racing’s fabrication and paint shop.
The Clayton South site owned by global development firm Goodman Group had plans filed in 2023 to be redeveloped, with many of the warehouses on the site to be demolished to make way for redevelopment as a business park with four main precincts.
Walkinshaw Andretti United will move from its current facility, also in Clayton South, to a new $100 million base in Dandenong South that brings all of the Walkinshaw Group’s operations under one roof.
The WAU team is set to move across in April next year.
The demolition works in the Clayton Business Park mean yet another former Holden factory racing workshop/building is being confined to history.
Harry Firth’s former workshop in Queens Avenue in Auburn that housed the Holden Dealer Team from its formation was demolished in 2020.
HDT’s last home, in Bertie Street in Port Melbourne during Peter Brock’s time in control, is long gone and now a Bunnings car park.