{"id":554841,"date":"2026-03-21T11:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554841\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:36:23","slug":"motorsport-australias-new-chief-josh-blanksby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554841\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorsport Australia\u2019s new chief Josh Blanksby"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOTORSPORT Australia has a new supremo at the helm, and he\u2019s quickly making a good impression.<\/p>\n

V8 Sleuth catches up with Josh Blanksby to discuss his background, his vision, the hot topic of infrastructure, and more.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: G\u2019day, Josh. We know you\u2019ve come from the Melbourne Racing Club. But in terms of motorsport itself, do you have much of a background there?<\/p>\n

JOSH BLANKSBY: From a professional perspective, Melbourne Racing Club operated Sandown, so it was a key revenue line for us running the motorsport track there.<\/p>\n

In terms of my history, motorsport hasn\u2019t been in my family or a sport I\u2019ve been directly involved with other than as a fan.<\/p>\n

I remember growing up on the Gold Coast and whenever Indy came to town, it was a big deal. And then there\u2019s a connection through my son, who has shown a great interest in F1 like a lot of kids have. Otherwise it\u2019s all quite new to me.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Q: So, why did the gig appeal to you?<\/p>\n

JB: It\u2019s more the opportunity that the sport has. I\u2019ve probably attended five 12-year-old go-karting parties, there\u2019s just that passion among kids. It\u2019s a sport that\u2019s global and has global appeal, and I think it\u2019s a sport that\u2019s on the rise.<\/p>\n

So being part of that and helping an organisation that wears two hats, both being the regulator of the sport but also as a member-based organisation \u2013 there\u2019s that secondary part to really helping grow its membership base and grow participation \u2013 that was exciting.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you feel as though you\u2019ll be able to bring fresh ideas to the table?<\/p>\n

JB: I think so. I\u2019m coming in with no biased views. I\u2019m just looking at the sport as someone who hasn\u2019t been inside the bubble. And as someone who was in horse racing for 10 years, I think at times it was a sport that was guilty of being in the bubble, like a lot of sports, to be honest.<\/p>\n

What I will say is that people have such passion for motorsport and they want you to have that same passion, so when they\u2019re explaining it to you, they\u2019re really doing it not in a condescending way, they\u2019re doing it in a way where they want you to feel what they feel about the sport. I\u2019ve found that quite welcoming.<\/p>\n

Even recently I went to South Australia to visit The Bend and Sam Shahin showed me around, and I was just blown away by not only the level of investment he\u2019s put in and how good it is, but just how he sees how motorsport can bring people together. He\u2019s gone and put his money where his mouth is.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said to people internally, every day I get more excited about the opportunity.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Q: Is there a particular vision you have?<\/p>\n

JB: I think it\u2019s probably a little bit premature in terms of establishing that exactly. I\u2019ve started at a very busy time in the calendar which has been great because I have been able to meet a lot of people and see people in action, but equally I\u2019ve also just been observing. Things such as the Grand Prix and the launch of Supercars were already well in motion before I started, so I\u2019m just allowing people to get through that.<\/p>\n

What I would say is I am keen for Motorsport Australia to be seen as a welcoming organisation that is customer-focused. I think that\u2019s something through no fault, but maybe just a few circumstances on the back of COVID and staff departures, where the organisation has become a little bit regulatory-focused. That always needs to be there because we are the FIA delegate and we are the national sporting organisation, but I \u00a0think we can still we can take that customer and member focus.<\/p>\n

So I think the vision longer term is to be known in that regard and be known as people who are trying to facilitate more motorsport for more people.<\/p>\n

Q: The Avalon project was a big-ticket item on the Motorsport Australia agenda not that long ago, but seems to have gone quiet. What can you say on that front?<\/p>\n

JB: We might have missed the boat there, because now I think the airshow is back and a few other things, so Avalon is probably going to be turning more into a business park type of arrangement.<\/p>\n

But infrastructure is a key strategic pillar that I\u2019m keen to understand.<\/p>\n

There are some amazing facilities that are privately owned and there are some other facilities that could do with some investment, and I think it\u2019s important that we have an infrastructure network that services the top end of the sport but is also accessible as we move down through the categories and especially at grassroots level.<\/p>\n

The feedback I\u2019m getting at a club level is it\u2019s extremely expensive for clubs to access infrastructure and have their club days and things.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a unique sport where the professional and amateur arms meet so clearly. You don\u2019t have grassroots clubs playing at the Gabba or on the MCG, yet we do that in motorsport. So how can we have that network of infrastructure that actually services the entire sport?<\/p>\n

\"\"Pic: Mark Walker<\/p>\n

Q: And it would be remiss of me not to ask about Sandown, given your history there and how its future has been a never-ending topic\u2026<\/p>\n

JB: I think its future is pretty positive. Obviously the decision has been made by the current executive and board at the Melbourne Racing Club for Sandown to maintain the facility. I\u2019m acutely aware that motorsport was a very important part of the revenue and profit from that venue.<\/p>\n

In early meetings I\u2019ve had with Melbourne Racing Club representatives, they\u2019ve indicated that they\u2019re looking to invest into the motorsport facilities, which for a long time hasn\u2019t been invested into at a significant level. So I think all of a sudden Sandown now does become part of a future infrastructure network we can look at.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s somewhat ironic from my perspective, I get it, but it\u2019s also exciting that there is another major historical motorsport track that the owner sees a future in. I think the business model has shifted there in the positive because of things such as track days and people using single-track licences to go and enjoy the sport.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty keen to work closely with all owners to understand their business model and how all aspects of motorsport participants can enjoy it.<\/p>\n

2007 V8 Utes Series Rd 1 – Adelaide – Race 1<\/p>\n

Commentators Aaron Noonan and Wade Aunger bring you the first race of the 2007 V8 Ute Racing Series on the streets of Adelaide as the Holden and Ford V8 Ute aces go head to head!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOTORSPORT Australia has a new supremo at the helm, and he\u2019s quickly making a good impression. V8 Sleuth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-554841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}