Adelaide 500 cancelled

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"At its peak, this event attracted around 300,000 fans across the four days of racing, but has been in steady decline in recent years.
The Adelaide race has been in operation since 1999 and has been the Supercars' season opener since 2002. Just over 200,000 people attended the event last year, its lowest figure in 17 years."


I wonder how much this has to do with how expensive the event was becoming. Every year they'd jack up the entry fee and it put a lot of people off imo.
 

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Covid - or the threat of it returning and the need to sell only half the tickets for seated areas, especially expensive corporate boxes/tickets, controlling crowds in the standing areas, having to cancel the post race concerts which sell tickets separately for, is the reason why 2021 has been cancelled. Its economics.

Why has post 2021 race not been renewed?? Does the government have to give it a big subsidy outside the cost of putting up then taking down the grandstand?

Or is it part of a long term deal to make The Bend Motorsport Park the best facility for the Supercars outside of Bathurst? Have the Shahins done a deal with government for funding which is less than the subsidy they have to give the Adelaide race??
 
Pappagallo said:
I wonder if something else has been lined up. Formula E was mentioned a little while back.
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There's no way on earth that a formula E race in the city would get anywhere near the crowds of a supercars event.
Outside of Bathurst the Adelaide race was head and shoulders the biggest event on the country.

My take is they have been reducing investment in the event for about the last 5 years .... while making it more expensive. You only needed to walk around the track and go anywhere outside of the area behind the main pit grandstand to see it. Less catering, less activations etc.
It feels like the removal of the event was on the cards for a while and COVID has become the excuse.
 
RussellEbertHandball said:
Or is it part of a long term deal to make The Bend Motorsport Park the best facility for the Supercars outside of Bathurst? Have the Shahins done a deal with government for funding which is less than the subsidy they have to give the Adelaide race??
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I go to both events, never in a million years will The Bend be anything remotely close to the 500. The 500 was an event, the Bend is a race ... and basically a regional race.
The Bend is the best facility outside of Bathurst already in terms of the physical facility, pits, actual track etc... but its missing any form of 'aura' about it, and its virtually impossible to generate that.
 
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It's a dying series.

I mean poorly built American Mustangs V even more poorly built Chevrolet Camaro's....who gives a *? Their insistence on clinging to the outdated Ford v Holden V8 model will be their undoing.

Now a Le Mans series race like the Bathurst 12 Hour.....yes please.
 
“Costs were going up, crowds were going down, we saw that commercial support was reducing and COVID made it even more difficult going forward”, Mr Marshall told a press conference on Friday Morning.

The old never waste a crisis concept. It was on the decline and businesses who hadn't left, might not be in the position to get fully behind again for a few years post covid.

Will be interesting to see what commercial support happens for Port in 2021. Businesses will be reluctant to pay 100% prices for corporate boxes yet only 50% of seats be available to use. Cost cutting will see corporates be reluctant to take up packages.
 
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Malibu#27 said:
I go to both events, never in a million years will The Bend be anything remotely close to the 500. The 500 was an event, the Bend is a race ... and basically a regional race.
The Bend is the best facility outside of Bathurst already in terms of the physical facility, pits, actual track etc... but its missing any form of 'aura' about it, and its virtually impossible to generate that.
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Its the best facility, as long as your a corporate with access into it.

Otherwise, GA is literally sitting in a paddock.
 
Hodges 153! said:
Its the best facility, as long as your a corporate with access into it.

Otherwise, GA is literally sitting in a paddock.
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Sorry - I worded that wrong ... I was referring to the facilities that the teams get to use. For the punters, unless you are sitting on top of the hotel, the views are crap and the catering and activations are even worse.
 
Malibu#27 said:
There's no way on earth that a formula E race in the city would get anywhere near the crowds of a supercars event.
Outside of Bathurst the Adelaide race was head and shoulders the biggest event on the country.

My take is they have been reducing investment in the event for about the last 5 years .... while making it more expensive. You only needed to walk around the track and go anywhere outside of the area behind the main pit grandstand to see it. Less catering, less activations etc.
It feels like the removal of the event was on the cards for a while and COVID has become the excuse.
Click to expand...

We need to think ahead though. Supercars will be dead within the decade anyway. Formula E is just starting to wind up and the event would give us international exposure. We should also get in on its associated tech and start building some EVs.
 
DaTBird187 said:
It's a dying series.

I mean poorly built American Mustangs V even more poorly built Chevrolet Camaro's....who gives a fu**? Their insistence on clinging to the outdated Ford v Holden V8 model will be their undoing.

Now a Le Mans series race like the Bathurst 12 Hour.....yes please.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the Le Mans race was cancelled after one event, also because of political reasons.
 
The Adelaide street circuit has an iconic status among motor sport ethusiasts all over the world. It would be a great shame to see it no longer used.
 
Adelaide was only ever a top tier event when Holden had a factory here and the majority of the population had 'skin in the game' to see them succeed. The SA government also sees the writing on the wall when it comes to promoting SA as some sort of zero emission utopia by 2030 (which is the current goal) but at the same time hosting a carbon polluting car race.

I can see them hosting a race of the new Electric Production Car Series:

"After delivering the first race-prepared car to a team in its headline race series last week in Barcelona, Electric GT Holdings technical management together with its engineering team have published the strategic technical plan for the first five seasons. Following interest from many international manufacturers, the championship will be open to all constructors and will set the trend for electric racing in the coming years.

In its fourth year, the series will become an open-platform series, following GT/LMP closed-wheel style body specifications.

All vehicles will share the same base (including chassis, cockpit, suspension, brakes, safety equipment, battery and BMS), but featuring OEM specific bodywork, and with transmission, motor and powertrain open to be developed by each manufacturer.

To qualify for this GT class, manufacturers will need to deliver a minimum of 500 units for the production version of the car.

A number of global manufacturers, including a growing number of Asian constructors, have shown great interest in joining the championship, and are already in contact with Electric GT Holdings Technical Director to draw up common regulations that meet the interests of all manufacturers.

Entry to the championship from season one is open to any OEM, provided that their cars offer a minimum of 70 kWh of available energy, a minimum power/weight ratio of 0.3 bhp/kg, a minimum/maximum weight of 1200/2500 kg and with dimensions that are within +/- 15% of the current EPCS Tesla P100DL. Vehicles will need to comply with FIA safety requirements and crash tests.

In the first season of the EPCS all drivers will compete with identical specification EPCS Tesla P100DLs. With 778 bhp (585kW) and 995Nm of torque, the car can reach 0-100 km/h in 2.1s, with speeds of up to 250 km/h."

So basically what Supercars was before they had a cry about the Nissan GT-R beating them all the time.

P.S. The new Tesla Model S Plaid can go from 0-100 km/h in 1.9 seconds, with speeds over 300 km/h and it's a production car:



We are the future, Charles, not them.
 
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