Journalists from all over Australia recently had the rare chance to test drive the entire 2005 Maserati range at the Winton Raceway.

The journalists were all guests of Maserati Australia. The cars themselves were on loan from Lance Dixon Prestige, Maserati’s dealership in Melbourne, and were driven from there to the Winton Racetrack. Upon arrival the journalists had the opportunity to personally test the Maserati Trofeo race car.

Making a star appearance was the ex-Formula One driver Ivan Capelli, who took the journalists for hot laps in the Trofeo to show them the full potential of this exciting racing vehicle.

The Winton Raceway is owned by the Benalla Auto Club was originally founded Thursday 17 October 1957 by local school teacher, Bruce Watt. A year later the new club began planning to build a permanent motor racing track. The Club's first ever full on race meeting was conducted on the 25 January, 1959 and boasted over fifty entries.

In March 1959 CAMS inspected the Barjarg circuit and licensed it for open motor racing. 23 June the next year saw plans announced for the establishment of a motor racing track on the Winton Recreation Reserve. Development was enthusiastically supported by Winton residents and Benalla traders.

The construction of the 1.3 mile circuit was completed in just 12 months, with the top layer of blacktop put down just a few days before the inaugural meeting.
 

The total cost of the construction then was 10,000 pounds, and the first race meeting was conducted on 26 November, 1961.

The circuit's first meeting included the entry of local star Barry Stilo, who set the track's very first lap record, a now modest time of 1 minute 24.2 seconds in a Faux Pas. This compares to today's lap record for the short circuit is 52.9900s, set by Mark Larkham in April, 1992 in a Reynard 90D.

The Winton circuit continued to grow in stature through the second half of the last century, and it celebrated its 40th Anniversary in November 2001.

With recent additions such as construction of Pit Lane garages, a one thousand seat Corporate Pavilion, a new three-storey Race Control building and a "state of the art" Media Centre, Winton Raceway has grown to become one of the best facilitated race tracks in Australia.

As well as the picturesque setting of the Winton track, it also has the unique characteristic where the public can see all of the racing from almost any part of the facility.