Originally a 'summer camp' for the traditional land owners of the area, then as white man progressed further west from Sydney, it became a permanent home as they retreated. In the 1950's the traditional owners of the land were forced out and the area became a recreation 'fun park', race track and has since 2002 been returned back to it's traditional owners. The area is currently undergoing a large makeover, with boardwalks and information panels along the racetrack circuit and grounds. The 2.1 km race circuit opened in the early 1960s and remained in use until the 1990s. Originally used for top level motorsport including touring car, open wheeler, motorcycle and sidecar racing in the 1960s. The mountain location caused problems with fog, causing delays in the race programs, also the track was very narrow by today's standards and surrounded by walls, armco railings and hillside. The track became used less with the opening of other circuits nearer to Sydney such as Oran Park and Amaroo Park . Bruce Weston is the current lap record holder.
In the 1970s the circuit was used for Rallycross, where the cars would use half the bitumen track and a dirt infield section with jumps, like Motorcross
By the 1980s the track was only being used for lap dashes with single cars on track at one time and was used until the mid 1990s for this.
The circuit still exists and can be walked around however it has deteriorated quite badly with grass growing through the track surface on what was Lockhead Straight and Dunlop Corner, and water seepage has caused part of the track to collapse between Craven A Corner and Castrol corner.
More information on this park and area can be found on the Blue Mountains Local Studies Blog
http://bmlocalstudies.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/catalina-park-katoomba.html
This Cache could be treated as 'Park & Grab' however there is so much more to this area, than that! I suggest you find your own entry point (other than the most obvious) and be enriched by the history of this unique park. This is our first cache and has been placed with a few TB's and a few motorsport related swaps. The cache is a black 1.2L Sistema with room for swaps and TBs/GCs.