Adelaide Street Circuit
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| Location | Adelaide, Australia | |
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| Time zone | UTC+9.5 (UTC+10.5 DST) | |
| Major Events | F1, V8 Supercars, ALMS | |
| Formula One circuit | ||
| Circuit Length | 3.78 km (2.35 mi) | |
| Turns | 14 | |
| Lap Record | 1:15.381 / 180.523 km/h (Damon Hill, Williams Renault, 1993) | |
| V8 Supercar circuit | ||
| Circuit Length | 3.22 km (2.00 mi) | |
| Turns | 13 | |
The Adelaide Street Circuit ( ) is a temporary race track in the East Parklands adjacent to the central business district of the city of Adelaide in South Australia.
The track has hosted eleven Formula One Australian Grand Prix events from 1985 to 1995 as well as an American Le Mans Series endurance race on New Year's Eve in 2000 (The Race of a Thousand Years) on the long form (3.78 km) of the track.
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[edit] V8 Supercars
Since 1999, the track has hosted an annual V8 Supercar race called the Adelaide 500 (2x250km) on a shorter (3.22 km) variant of the track. Cars race clockwise around the circuit. Murray Walker went to the event in 2005 and called it ‘the best touring car event in the world’; he has been back every year since. In 2008 the event will be carbon neutral.[citation needed]
[edit] Memorable F1 moments
1986: Nigel Mansell blows his tyre on Brabham straight, destroying his world title chance. Luckily he manages to drive the car to safety and avoid a heavy impact with the wall. Alain Prost won the title after his first victory in Adelaide.
1991: In the shortest race in Formula 1 history, the race is stopped after 14 laps. Race winner Ayrton Senna had waved furiously from his cockpit that the conditions were too wet to race.[1]
1994: For the second time the World Championship was decided in Adelaide. Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher pulled away from the pack and closely battled for the lead. On lap 35, Michael Schumacher goes wide and damages his car. He regains the lead but is vulnerable for the next corner. Hill decides to go for it and sneak on the inside but Schumacher holds his line. The two touch wheels and Schumacher is lifted in the air, slams into the tyre barrier and retires. Damon goes out with a broken suspension. The title is won by Schumacher in very controversial circumstances.
1995: Mika Häkkinen had a major accident during free practice. Häkkinen had a tyre failure during free practice, which resulted in him crashing heavily into the wall. He was saved only due to an emergency tracheotomy that was performed by the side of the track.
[edit] The Circuit
The pit straight is inside the Victoria Park horse racing track. The buildings and grandstands are temporary and removed so that spectators can see the whole horse racetrack during the rest of the year. At the end of the straight, drivers negotiate the Senna Chicane and a left turn to go uphill on a short straight on Wakefield Road to East Terrace. They then have a series of rightangle turns along East Terrace. The short form of the track has three of these, followed by another right turn onto Bartels Road back across the parklands. The long form continues with another left-right-right to Jones Straight (known as Rundle Road for the rest of the year). Then there is a fast right-hand sweeper onto the longest straight, Brabham Straight, on Dequetteville Terrace. The short form of the track rejoins halfway down this straight, so the Bartels Road straight is longest on that layout. In 2007 this was re-named Brock Straight. At the end of Brabham Straight is a righthand hairpin turn (at the Britannia Roundabout) onto Wakefield Road, then a left turn and long sweeping righthand curve back into Victoria Park behind the pit area. The lap concludes with another right-hand hairpin onto the pit straight.
When the idea of holding a Grand Prix in the parklands was first raised, there was some opposition from people concerned about environmental damage, as the parks have a number of mature trees with birds and possums living in them. There is no larger wildlife in the parklands, as they are heavily developed. These concerns seem to have been proven unfounded, as spectators often watch magpies and rosellas when there is nothing happening on the track. Indeed, the total road traffic during race weekend is significantly less than there is any other day of the year.
The race meetings have the feature race, but also a number of races for "lesser" categories, making three or four days of entertainment for the crowds of spectators, without long periods of boredom that could occur if only practice and qualifying for the main event preceded it. Many of the events also have after-race concerts on a stage erected for the purpose on a playing field in the middle of the track.
The stadium section will be reprofiled during the upcoming years to increase the flow of the track and add overtaking opportunities. The work is due to start after the 2007 V8 Supercars race, with the 2008 race still being run on the old track and the new configuration used for the first time during the 2009 race.
[edit] External links
- Grandprix.com GP Encyclopedia: Circuits: Adelaide
- Grandprix.com Globetrotter: "Thank You Adelaide"
- Satellite picture by Google Maps
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