Speed events were the preferred form of motor sport for both organisers and competitors. The Club turned to quarter mile sprints after the Rushforth Hillclimbs were no longer available. The date of the first quarter mile sprint meeting is not recorded but I can remember searching for a section of level sealed road that would be suitable for this type of event. The answer came in the form of gear’s Lane as it was then named; it is now named Great Marlow Road. It has a narrow sealed straight section with a slight uphill grade and, at the time, carried little traffic. Approval was received to use the road for sprint events providing through traffic was allowed to proceed with minimal delay.

Although a number of sprints were held on this course, the only known results were published in the Racing Car news for a meeting held on 10 September 1961. Fastest time of the day was recorded by Noel Hall driving his Cooper Climax. The time was a very fast 13.21 seconds. John Hough was second fastest driving the HWM Jaguar in a time of 14.56 seconds; sixteen entries were received for this event which was the final event held on this course.

Sprints were relocated to the Old Glen Innes Road as this provided better vantage areas for spectators and a better road surface for competitors. The results of the first meeting on this course on 6 May 1962 were published in the Daily Examiner the following day. Twenty three competitors were given three times runs on the slightly downhill course. There were two entries from Sydney, three from Kempsey and six form Coffs harbour. Fastest time of the day was recorded by Les Weiley Driving an MG TC. The time was 17.34 seconds. The report stated that several hundred spectators lined the course.

A second sprint meeting was held on this course in December of the same year and the results were again published the following day. Class records were broken in every class and a new outright record was set by Bob Rawsthorne driving the HWM Jaguar in GT form in a time of 15.4 seconds. The car was entered by Geary Sports Cars of Brisbane, having recently bought the car from Bob Rawsthorne. Competitors came from Brisbane, Lismore, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey and Inverell together with the Grafton entries indicating the willingness of entrants to travel long distances on road that were generally poor by today’s standard for three runs at a Sunday afternoon event..

The final quarter mile sprint event held on this course was on 26 May 1963. Motor sport speed events on public roads had finally come to an end. This event attracted a field of 33 entries, again from Brisbane and northern and north west NSW. A new course record was set by Noel Hall driving a Renmax. The previous record was lowered by 2 seconds with a time of 13.4 seconds. The report recorded Noel’s speed at the finish line exceeding 120 mph. The proceeds of this event were donated to the Grafton District Nursing Service.