Another historic motorsport stadium is soon to be no more. The iconic Wembley Stadium that was used from the early 1930’s will be auctioned on July 2. Situated in Turffontein, Johannesburg, the Wembley Stadium was the home of speedway racing in South Africa. Speedway Racing was introduced in South Africas in 1928 from Australia.
It soon became very popular and its popularity spread like wildfire throughout the then Transvaal. n the 1940’s stadium racing at Wembley stadium was the thing.
Every Friday evening, the public would gather to watch speedway motor cycles compete around the oval track, the excitement was great attracting competitors from as far afield as the UK.
A great attraction in the early years was the international events that were held there. Billed as tests, team’s from the United Kingdon, Holland, New Zealand and Australia were regular visitors to South Africa for the tests.
Some great names also featured in the history of Wembley. Henry Long, “Mr Speedway” Buddy Fuller, Doug Serrurier and his brothers who had their own team, and Syd van der Vyver.
But it was not just speedway racing that became popular. Oval car racing and hot-rods also featured. As the years went by speedway racing also spread to other areas in the country such as Durban and Killarney in Cape Town.
But today the racing is no longer there and the valuable property has outlived its time, but thanks to the efforts of clubs the sport lives on..
Today the facility is still there, however the real estate measuring 7 Hectares has become too
valuable to retain as a fun venue. It is for this reason that the owners have decided to dispose of the facility by public auction. It is a unique opportunity to acquire 70 000m2 in the heart of the Johannesburg Metropole with two grandstands, a warehouse and a registered helipad and tons of land for development.