Following Adelaide being awarded a round of the 1985 Formula One World Championship in October 1984, construction commenced on the circuit.[1] The first event was held in 1985 as the final event of the season. The last Formula One race at the circuit was held in 1995 after which the rights were lost to Melbourne and the event moved to the Albert Park Street Circuit.[2]
Supercars
The street circuit as seen from a helicopter in November 2024
During Adelaide's era hosting the Australian Grand Prix, the circuit hosted annual non-championship races for the Group A and later Group 3A touring cars.
From 1999 until 2020, the track hosted the Adelaide 500 for Supercars, in most years a 2 x 250km race) on a shorter, 3.219km (2.000mi) variant of the track. The event became one of the most acclaimed on the Supercars calendar, and is the only event added to the Supercars Hall of Fame.[3][4] The event returned in 2022 but as the last event of the year, having previously usually been the opening event.[5]
The view looking North down Victoria Park pit straight towards the Senna Chicane during Friday qualifying of the 2008 Adelaide 500
The Adelaide Street Circuit commences pit straight in Victoria Park. It is 500m (550yd) long and faces northwest. All the buildings and grandstands are temporary and were removed each year.
At the end of the straight, drivers negotiate the Senna Chicane, named after Ayrton Senna following his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.[7] After the chicane the cars take a fast left turn to go uphill on a short straight on Wakefield Road to East Terrace before the first of three 90 degree corners. A fourth 90 degree followed onto Bartels Road back across the parklands. Then the track follows the fast turn 8 sweeper.
The full Grand Prix circuit bypasses the turn onto Bartels Road and continues with a sweeping left-right-right into Stag Turn (turn 9). This leads onto the 360m (390yd) long Rundle Road that was named after Alan Jones.
In 2017, the building and opening of the O-Bahn Busway access and tunnel running off of Grenfell Street and across the circuit where the sweeping left-right-right (turns 7, 8 and 9) were made it necessary to actually move turns 7 and 8 approximately 100 metres to the south. While not affecting the overall length of the full circuit, it would make the run from turn 6 shorter and the run to turn 9 longer. The sweeping bends were also known as Banana Bend due to its location adjacent to the Adelaide Fruit Markets.
The Dequetteville Terrace straight (named after Jack Brabham for Formula One and Peter Brock for the Adelaide 500) was a 900m (980yd) stretch where the over 1,000bhp (746kW; 1,014PS) Formula One cars in the turbo era (1985–88) were reaching speeds in excess of 200mph (320km/h) making Adelaide easily the fastest street circuit of the time as the only others were the much tighter Monaco, Detroit and Phoenix circuits.[citation needed] The short form of the track rejoins Brabham Straight two-thirds of the way down, so the 640m (700yd) long Bartels Road straight is longest on that layout. In 2007 this section of track was renamed Brock Straight after touring car driver Peter Brock.[citation needed]
Hairpin corner at the end of the Dequetteville Terrace straight
At the end of Brabham Straight is a right hand hairpin turn (at the Britannia Roundabout) that directs the driver back onto Wakefield Road.
After accelerating out of the hairpin the driver faces a left turn and a long sweeping right-hand curve back into Victoria Park behind the pit area. The lap concludes with another right-hand hairpin (Racetrack Hairpin) onto the pit straight.
The track is essentially flat except for a small valley on the Brock Straight, and a slight incline on Jones Straight, while the run-up Wakefield Road from turns 3 to 4 also has a slight incline.[citation needed] All of these sections of the track run in an east–west direction. The elevation ranges from 36–53m (118–174ft).[citation needed]
During the Formula One and early V8 Supercar eras the Victoria Park Racecourse, a horse racing track, was located at the park, though has since been removed.[citation needed]
Sprint Circuit
Between 2014 and 2018, an annual Adelaide Motorsport Festival ran on the Victoria Park Sprint Circuit, a shortened 1.4km (0.87mi) layout. The layout turned right along Wakefield Street after the Senna Chicane and then rejoined the main circuit for the final corners.[8] The event had attracted older Formula One machinery, with Ivan Capelli holding the lap record in a March CG891.[9] The event was returned on March 24–26, 2023; and was also held on March 15–17, 2024.[10][11]
Events
Aaron Cameron set the S5000 lap record for the Supercars Circuit on 24 November 2023
The fastest ever recorded lap of the original 3.780km (2.349mi) Grand Prix Circuit was 1:13.371 by triple World ChampionAyrton Senna driving a McLaren MP4/8Ford during qualifying for the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.[12] However, as this was in qualifying and not a race, it does not count as the lap record.
The fastest recorded lap of the 1.4km (0.87mi) Victoria Park Sprint circuit is 0:42.5753 set by Ivan Capelli on 2 December 2018 driving a March CG891 car from the 1989 Formula One season.
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Aaron Cameron, Rogers AF01/V8, 2023, S5000 )
Damon Hill, Williams FW15C, 1993, F1 )
