It may not bring back the heady days of Fraser Park and the Pepsi Powerdome but for speedway fans all around the Canberra region, fresh light is being shed on an unfashionable sport which for years has been racing in the shadows.
Two separate Sport and Recreation Investment Scheme grants for a combined $180,000 have been awarded to the National Capital Motorsports Club which operates ACT Speedway. This will fund three new LED light towers for the pit area and replace the current track lights with powerful floodlights.
For the Pialligo venue which has struggled under the yoke of noise restrictions and relied on the goodwill of volunteers to keep operating, it's been described as a "game changer".
And in a territory where smelly, noisy motor racing has rarely had a long shelf life - with the Canberra 400 V8 race lasting just two meetings and an Exhibition Park revival attempt last year quashed - speedway racing is defying the odds.
"This infrastructure is a shot in the arm for us and the sport in Canberra," Speedway president Murray Johnson said.
"We've just concluded our best season yet with the sprint cars back here for the first time in years and the biggest crowd yet; it was brilliant."
Unlike most other forms of motorsport, speedway traditionally races at night because as the day's heat goes out of the clay, the moisture rises and the track changes. Drivers who can adapt to the changing track are often the most successful.
But it's been a hard road for speedway in Canberra since the old Fraser Park at Hume - now unrecognisable from its glory days as one of the biggest race venues in the region - was shut down and earmarked for residential tracts.
The decibels at Pialligo are capped, as are the Speedway meeting numbers - just five per season during the daylight saving months - and any noisy cars black-flagged and sent off. Nearby residents - all some kilometres away - run their own noise meters and are straight onto authorities if there's a breach.
But Mr Johnson has tackled all the dirt thrown at the racers with a glass-half-full approach.
"We struggled for a long time to get a night permit we could work with because speedway is all about twilight and night-time racing, which is when engine and exhaust noise is naturally amplified," he said.
"We were just looking for a fair go.
"But credit where it's due: [Greens leader] Shane Rattenbury opened some doors for us and we managed to work a compromise. It turns out that as a young fella, Shane spent a lot of time at the Speedway."
Around 3000 turned up at the Speedway's peak event in March to watch local star Michael Stewart produce some brave outside passes and win the first sprint car title to be awarded in the ACT for 27 years.
"It was a massive night; when the racing finished, hundreds of people came into the pits, there so many families around and the kids just loved it," Stewart said.
"Getting that good lighting all around the track and in the pits will be great for the sport and will bring more people to race here, for sure."
An engineer has been assigned and the lighting work is expected to start soon, with completion ready for the November season kick-off.
