PLANS TO REVIVE ADELAIDE MOTORSPORT FESTIVAL

Plans to revive Adelaide Motorsport Festival – Image: InSyde Media

South Australian opposition leader Peter Malinauskas has announced that the popular Adelaide Motorsport Festival will be revived if he is elected as state premier.

By DAN McCARTHY

This announcement comes exactly two months after the South Australian Premier Steven Marshall axed the Adelaide 500.

Like the Adelaide 500, the Adelaide Motorsport Festival will also return should the Malinauskas Labor government be elected in March of 2022.

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival was run successfully from 2014-2018 by a small team of motorsport enthusiasts, before state funding was cut, and forced the sudden and unexpected cancellation of the event.

Organisers had hoped to bring the event back to life in 2020, but this did not come to fruition.

Labor has vowed to reinstate the funding and work with sporting car clubs and other associations to deliver a bigger and better event than ever before.

“The Adelaide Motorsport Festival was first held in 2014 and in its inaugural year was named 2014 CAMS SA/NT State Event of the Year,” Malinauskas said.

“The event grew from humble beginnings where about 1800 people attended to more than 50,000 people being engaged in all elements of the event during its last year.

“While the Marshall Liberal Government is focused on cancelling events, Labor is focused on reinstating our title as the Festival State.

“Events like the Adelaide Motorsport Festival and Adelaide 500 attract interstate and overseas visitors and support jobs in our tourism, hospitality and retail industries.”

The sprint ran around a shortened Adelaide Parklands Circuit, which utilised Victoria Park and Wakefield Road.

The event was known for its diverse fields of classic racing cars, from V8 Supercars to Group A Touring Cars, sports cars, motorbikes and classic road cars.

It also drew in a large array of motorsport legends including Craig Lowndes, former F1 driver Ivan Capelli, Le Mans winner David Brabham and seven-time Bathurst winner Jim Richards, who all participated in the event.

The sprint at Victoria Park was not the only part of the festival, other events such as the Adelaide Classic Rally took place in the Adelaide Hills, as well as the Gouger Street Party which celebrated all things motorsport in the Adelaide CBD.

The Malinauskas Labor party has said that the Adelaide Motorsport Festival was one of Australia’s premier motorsport events and a real contributor to South Australia’s tourism economy, delivering more than $3.5 million in economic benefits to the State.

It attracted thousands of interstate and international visitors, with those tourists spending money at local hotels, shops and restaurants and like the Adelaide 500 needed to return for the passionate South Australian motorsport fans.

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