mmg.com.au

Benalla Auto Club has received a grant from the Victorian Government to go towards upgrades at Winton Motor Raceway.

The upgrades will cost more than $700000 to complete and the government contributed $300000 through the Putting Locals First program.

The construction of a 14400sq/m all-weather hard standing surface and upgrades to the power supply have been planned.

Winton’s manager of administration-corporate Heather Wallace said it had been talking about the upgrades and developments for a while.

‘‘A lot of clubs who hire the circuit here have expressed an interest into whether we’re getting a Motorkhana pad, which means they can stay over in the area, they can hire the circuit one day and the Motorkhana pad the next day.’’ Wallace said.

Wallace said it was hoped the base work for the Motorkhana pad would start at or just after Easter before the ground got too soft.

The upgrades to the power supply began in November.

‘‘We need a power upgrade because the events take more power to run things,’’ Wallace said.

‘‘We need it for the camping area because we want to do some work over there.

‘‘We’re building a new toilet block over there, so we need the power for that and to upgrade the camping facilities itself.’’

Wallace said it was hoped the upgrades would be completed by the time Winton hosted the V8 supercars in August, but other events would proceed as normal.

She said it was a ‘‘relief’’ to receive the grant.

‘‘It is a relief because now we can do something more for our spectators,’’ she said.

Winton Motor Raceway chief executive Mick Ronke said receiving the grant was a great morale boost for its members.

‘‘The auto club have been conducting Show ’n’ Shine and Motorkhana events at Winton for years, but now we will have an all-weather formal area on which to conduct these increasingly popular events,’’ Ronke said.

‘‘The area will also be available for motorcycle activities, trade displays and driver training.’’