The Past and The Present: Adelaide Street Circuit

The First World championship race in Formula One was in 1950 at Silverstone. Since then 76 circuits have witnessed the tyres grating through their tracks. As a Formula One enthusiast, it feels like our responsibility to revisit history and embrace its forgotten glory. The Past and the Present will be covering former and present tracks and give a brief glimpse into them. Tag along as we start with the Adelaide Street Circuit. 

Adelaide is a temporary street circuit in the East Parklands adjacent to the Adelaide central business district. It is also known as the Adelaide Parklands Circuit. The circuit currently hosts the Adelaide 500. They hosted the Australian Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995. A total number of 11 races happened here.

Inaugural race

The inaugural race at Adelaide Street Circuit was in 1985. It was also the final arc of the 1985 Championship. The race was the 50th running of the Australian Grand Prix. The circuit was widely received. It was mainly due to the circuit being a street circuit that was well different from the cliche. The circuit had parklands, streets and even a horse racing venue instead of short straights, narrow roads and hairpin or right angle corners. 

Alan Jones was given the honor of driving the first Formula One car out of the new circuit. Additionally A straight was renamed to honor him. The first race was won by the Finnish driver Keke Rosberg. The race marked the last victory for the Finnish driver. Since it was the last race, there was championship postulates. McLaren was clearly in the lead and they wanted Ferrari not on the podium even if they don’t get points. Since no Ferrari won, McLaren got the Constructors too.

Adelaide Street Circuit Layout

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Important Turns or Other key regions

Senna Chicane (Turns 1, 2 and 3)

Drivers must navigate the Senna Chicane, which was given that moniker after triple World Champion Ayrton Senna after his passing during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Senna started from the pole position for the inaugural Adelaide Grand Prix in 1985. He went on to win the race in 1991.

Stag Corner (Turn 9)

The turn onto Bartels Road is avoided on the whole Grand Prix circuit, which instead continues with a sweeping left-right-right into Stag Turn (turn 9). This leads to the 360 m (390 yd) long Jones Straight, which is named after Australia’s 1980 World Champion Alan Jones and is known as Rundle Road the rest of the year.

Victoria Park (Turns 12, 13, 14 and 15)

The driver encounters a left turn and a lengthy, sweeping right hand curve back into Victoria Park behind the pit area after speeding out of the hairpin. Another right-hand hairpin (Racetrack Hairpin) onto the pit straight marks the end of the lap.

Circuit Records

Lap Record in a Race: Damon Hill (1:15:381, Williams-Renault)

Non-Race Lap Record: Ayrton Senna (1:13:371, McLaren-Ford)

Most Pole Positions: 6 (Ayrton Senna)

Most Successful Driver: Ayrton Senna (1991,1993); Gerhard Burger (1987,1992)

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