We have been busy planning the new facility, ensuring our design has accommodated all the great inputs from all stakeholders. We have now been given the green light from council to commence works onsite.

Rhondda was a suburb adjacent to Wakefield that serviced the community needs of the coal mine. This is how the road Rhondda Road got its name and is the location of BlackRock. It had a pub, post office, general store and workers accommodation. BlackRock will revitalise the land and bring back the community that was once there. This is where the name BlackRock comes from, named after the ‘black rocks’ or coal mined from the Rhondda Colliery.

A motor resort is unlike anything else in Australia and based on European, Asian and American concepts. It’s not a race track for motorsport but rather a safe contained road for driver training and enjoying cars. BlackRock is very much a hospitality business with a focus on providing a great day out.

We are deploying a significant solar power system that will have about 80 EV charging stations onsite. The GoKarts are all electric and charged from Solar. This pays tribute to the old Rhondda Colliery who also produced their own electricity onsite. We are reserving green spaces not to be touched and the current bushland retained. We are building all our buildings on grass areas with no trees needing to be cut down for the buildings. We are preserving the wetlands as a water bird sanctuary including nesting vegetation. The roads onsite are following the old mining roads that are still in use. Our operations will also be carbon neutral once we are up and running.

We love tree’s at BlackRock as well. We have worked at length with the architect to ensure no tree’s will need to be cut down for any of the buildings. All buildings will be built in grassed areas. This is something we are very proud of.

We have designed BlackRock to avoid all the old mine shafts and they will be left alone. This is a great example of how old mines can be repurposed into community spaces.

We have 3 boundaries to existing and very active mines and quarries in commercial operation. Our western boundary is residential, so we have decided to not develop the Western third of the property to create a green space. All of the buildings will be on the Eastern and Northern side of the property in the grass fields, adjacent to existing commercial activities..

BlackRock is under strict noise control from the governing bodies. The majority of the cars using the facility are the same as the cars travelling along Wakefield Rd. We will have 4 audio monitoring stations installed around the facility to monitor and control sound levels. Our automated systems will tell cars to stop running if they are too noisy. We have designed the facility to be as far away from houses as possible with significant preserved green space between. Sound abatement earth mounds will be built. We are not racing cars and simply providing a safe and contained driver training and experiences facility.

BlackRock has worked closely with the Awabakal Land Council during planning. After much collaboration and research there were no indigenous artefacts or areas or respect found onsite. An area on the south fence may have been used for indigenous activities but can’t be confirmed. Out of respect BlackRock has decided to preserve that area as a green space. We hope to have a long and close relationship with the land council and Awabakal people. We are planning for indigenous plantings and traditional land management.

No. BlackRock is designed for driver training activities and no racing. We don’t have the capacity/space/infrastructure to hold these large events. We are passionate about road safety and this is the main purpose of the driving facility. This includes; Learners and Provisional training, advanced/defensive driver training, an academy to train future professional drivers, exotic car owners who can’t register their cars for road use, car manufacturers driver training days, driving/passenger experiences, e-sports driving simulators and electric GoKarts. We want to hold community events throughout the year like a duathlon, kids days, mountain bikes, markets and we welcome any suggestions and ideas from the community.

No, BlackRock is open to the entire community and we want to create a community hub for everyone to use. There will be a cafe, restaurant, and a small hotel for everyone’s use. Yes there will be members but only 50 memberships available.

Yes, we welcome all car clubs from across Australia and community organisations to use our facilities. We will have a show’n’shine area for car clubs to park their vehicles whilst enjoying a delicious meal at the restaurant or cafe. We can organise driving sessions for your club and even provide driver training sessions as well.

BlackRock was founded by Central Coast resident Tony Palmer many years ago. This was in response to personal tragedy in his life and trying to find a way to improve driving standards on public roads. For years Tony ran driver education and experiences at Sydney Motorsport Park. He found the need for a facility that is centred around driver training rather than racing and motorsport was needed. We hope the users of BlackRock leave with a greater knowledge of safe driving and also have some fun along the way.

Yes. We work very closely with the fantastic team at Lake Macquarie Council and have followed their development application process. Over many years we have worked with various regulatory bodies to ensure 100% compliance and approvals, like; Transport for NSW, Rural Fire Service, State Planning, Environmental Protection Agency, Awabakal Land Council, and former coal mine owners Yancoal.

Works have commenced onsite and we are going to open BlackRock in stages. The first stage is due to open around the end of 2025 with the whole facility hopefully completed in 2027. Updates will get posted through various channels along the way.

Yes, with the industrial areas in Toronto, Cardiff and Warners Bay we have everything we need to build BlackRock. We are using local architects and consultants. We will employ local workers with our first staff member’s family from Wangi Wangi. We also want to engage and display art from the local and vibrant art community.

We will develop various portals for updates along the way, via social media and this website. Keep tuned for more information on this exciting project. Here is a link for the local community to get in contact with us during construction.