The Bathurst Kart Club hopes to start construction of its long-awaited and controversial Mount Panorama track "as soon as possible", but opponents say they will continue to fight the development.
In an extraordinary meeting, the Bathurst Regional Council re-affirmed its commitment to provide $2.5 million to the construction of the track after a rescission motion to overturn the decision failed.
"We're very, very excited that we're actually going to get a chance … to turn this project into a reality," kart club president Mark Dunbar said.
"As everyone knows, Mount Panorama is the icon of motorsport and this is the jewel in the crown for our sport.
"I think it's the missing link for motorsport in Bathurst."
About 120 protesters, who met at a park opposite the council chambers before the meeting, disagreed.
"The issue has never been about no go-karts, the issue has always been about the location," Jan Page, an organiser from the Save McPhillamy Park group, said.
She said locals were concerned that a park that had been donated to the community was going to be used for the track.
And, she said, there were also concerns about the potential impact on what some Aboriginal elders said was a sacred women's site.
"I sincerely hope we don't have to have people camped up there, and I hope we don't have to have people chaining themselves to fences and things like that," Ms Page said.
Opposition to the use of ratepayer funds to build the track, which will cost an estimated $4.5 million, have also strengthened.
In an at-times tense meeting, councillors supportive of the track argued the situation was no different from when other sporting facilities had been built around the city.
Lawyers warn of 'consequences'
The decision came after lawyers for the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation sent two letters to the council ahead of the meeting, pleading for the go-kart track to be moved.
The first letter, seen by the ABC, said the corporation had "no objection to the development of a go-kart track" if it was moved to the same part of the Mount Panorama precinct as a proposed second car-racing circuit.
The corporation lodged an application for protection of the whole of Mount Panorama with the federal Department of Environment but, in the letter, offered to change the scope of the application if the track was moved to the second circuit site.
A second letter warned the council not to begin construction work before the application was decided, saying "significant consequences may flow".
"It is unclear why council is pursuing the current site given the divisiveness it is causing within the local community and particularly within the local Aboriginal community," the letter said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Environment said the protection applications remained under consideration.
