Bo Williams Says Sunshine Coast Motorsport Club Lease Clears Way For Doonan Track Expansion

The Sunshine Coast Motorsport Club is preparing to invest in its Doonan home after securing a 10-year lease over the Fellowship Drive site it has used for more than a decade. Sunshine Coast News reported that the lease, granted in January after years of permit-based use, gives the volunteer-run club the certainty it needs to expand and improve its racing facilities. Club president Bo Williams said the venue is set to be named Doonan Park later this year.

The change may sound administrative, but for a community sporting club it is the difference between temporary use and long-term planning. Mr Williams told Sunshine Coast News the club previously had to apply for permits each time it wanted to use the area, which was time-consuming and made it difficult to justify putting club money into improvements. He also said the club could not apply for grants without occupancy or ownership, limiting its ability to invest in the site.

With tenure now in place, the club plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars extending its existing tarmac circuit from about 900 metres to 1.2 kilometres. Sunshine Coast News reported the works have already been approved by Sunshine Coast Council and include widening and improving the track and building an internal bypass road. The club has already added a large roofed area to make events easier to run, which shows the lease is already turning into practical site planning rather than only paperwork.

The club's argument is partly about sport and partly about safety. Mr Williams told Sunshine Coast News the club was not about hooning, and that its focus was getting people off public roads and into a controlled environment where they can learn car control properly. That framing is important because motorsport can draw public concern around noise, risk and road culture. The club is positioning the Doonan site as a supervised skills venue rather than a free-for-all.

The membership base also shows why the lease matters beyond a small group of enthusiasts. Sunshine Coast News reported the club has about 320 members from across South-East Queensland. It stages eight to 10 events each year at Doonan and runs sprint events at venues including Nambour, Gympie and Lakeside Park in Pine Rivers. Members travel from as far south as the Gold Coast and north of Gympie, and drivers aged 12 and older can take part under supervision if they hold the required motorsport licence.

The Doonan lease now gives the club a chance to prove its case over a longer period. The opportunity is clear: better facilities, safer training, grant eligibility and a home base that can support family involvement in motorsport. The responsibility is just as clear: manage impacts, maintain safety standards and keep the club's promise that the site is about supervised skill development, not street-style behaviour. If the club delivers on that balance, the 10-year lease could become a turning point for a niche but committed Sunshine Coast sporting community.

For nearby residents, the lease will likely be judged by behaviour as much as infrastructure. Clear event management, communication and respect for conditions will matter if the club wants the expanded track to be seen as a community asset rather than a planning headache.