The World of Motorsport Descends on South Australia for the Adelaide Motorsport Festival
Supercars, loud engines and even louder fans descended on the Adelaide Parklands Circuit for the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.
The event kicked off on Gouger Street under Friday night lights as the cars made the journey from the Adelaide Parklands Circuit to officially launch the festivities.
Ferrari, Mercedes and Porche were some of the supercars present, while the Holden and Ford were just some of the classic Australian cars present.
Peter Hughes, Holden’s lead designer from 1996-2005 had this to say about Holden:
“Holdens are uniquely Australian. People trust Holden. While we are not making them anymore, they will continue to trickle down through the generations.”
Peter Hughes played a large role in the design of the HSV W427. The iconic Holden made an appearance alongside the legendary designer on Saturday. The HSV W427 was a road car that was built to perform. The engine was designed for a C6 Z06 Corvette.
“We wanted to go the next level with the Holden, the bits under there [the car] had nothing to do with me. I’m just responsible for the pretty stuff on top.”
Peter elaborated on the car and how it was never meant to be.
“I worked for two months on a Sunday for nothing, to get the car to a level where we could show [our bosses] and end up with a budget to build a show car.”
“We didn’t want to get into trouble for working on it behind the scenes, we wanted to get it to a point where they couldn’t say no.”
The car is one of the main attractions at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival. The car was commissioned in 2008, just before the Global Financial Crisis. Holden originally said that 427 cars would be built; that number was then pulled back to 200. Then as the order book slammed shut in April of 2009, only 127 were ever made.
That statistic alone showcases just how valuable the Adelaide Motorsport Festival can be. It brings petrolheads from all over the world with an opportunity to see the rarest cars, not only up close and personal, but on track as well. With the event being a week before the Grand Prix in Melbourne, it often brings some massive names.
Damon Hill won the 1995 iteration of the Australian Grand Prix, the last in Adelaide. Interestingly, he did say that it might not be the final Grand Prix in Adelaide. However, Hill didn’t elaborate any further.
“In ‘95, I’d had a dreadful season, I’d been thrashed all season long. I felt dejected.”
“Me and David Coulthard had the worse race we’ve ever raced in Japan, and I remember getting changed in Japan and I literally didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, it was that bad.”
“Then we came here and everyone either broke down or crashed, including David and we won the race by two laps.”
“I could see the guy in second ahead of me. It went from one extreme to the other, in the space of a few days.”
The Australian Grand Prix was held around the Adelaide Parklands, prior to its relocation to Albert Park in Melbourne. In 1994, the race saw Micheal Schumacher and Damon Hill fighting for the F1 World Championship.
David Brabham saw the Championship finish and said that he was present for “half” the incident.
“I came round the corner saw Michael on that angle and Damon limping along.”
“As I went past Damon I could see the bent suspension and I thought what a way to finish the championship.”
Damon Hill offered some more insight.
“He got slightly ahead of me, while he went past a backmarker, and I got held up.”
“It was flat-out, and we were miles from anyone.”
“When I went round the corner and saw him coming back onto the track, I didn’t know he hit the wall. In Suzaku, I’d saw him going off and coming back on.”
“Even though I’d lost the Championship. I didn’t feel like I’d lost anything. I never expected to be in that situation. What we all thought was happening was Schumacher vs Senna.”
Valtteri Bottas was another of the key figures at the Motorsport Festival. The Formula 1 driver saying that he didn’t see himself leaving anytime soon.
“I’m 34, Fernando Alonso is 65,” (the Spaniard is really only 42, still eight years older than Valtteri).
When asked on his retirement plans and particularly on rally cars, Valtteri had this to say:
“It’s difficult to jump into the main category, these guys have trained all their lives to be rally drivers.”
“But I’m not saying no to anything. I’ll try rallying I’m sure, maybe even the V8 supercars in Australia.”
“Soon [we will start talking],” Valtteri said, when asked about the Audi project.
“It will be a bit more in background.”
Valtteri was asked around his former teammate in Lewis Hamilton. The news at the beginning of February that broke the F1 world was the Brit’s move to Ferrari. Bottas shared the stage with David Croft, Sky Sports lead commentator and the Adelaide Motorsport Festival guest interviewer for Sunday.
David Croft joked, “Did you call Toto Wolff, [The Mercedes Team Principal and CEO] tell him that he should’ve kept you?”
Valtteri’s response back was just as funny, “I was the reason we won [the Championships].”
David then exclaimed to the excited Adelaide crowd, “There is your exclusive for today!”
“They’ve had trouble,” said Croft, talking about Mercedes on a serious note.
“The regulations changed everything,” Valtteri said.
“I can’t blame it on one reason why.”
Another attraction was the B190. The car was driven by Formula 1 three-time world champion Nelson Piquet.
“It’s hard work [to drive]. I’ve just done a quarter of an hour.” Owner John Reaks said.
“It’s fast, it’s quite brutal, [it] just kind of slams your head back.
“You have to position, gearbox, break and then turn in through the corners.”
The car won at both Japan and Australia, Nelson Piquet piloting the car on both occasions.
The Adelaide Motorsport Festival had so many stars, with Craig Lowndes, Valtteri Bottas, Damon Hill, Guenther Steiner and David Croft being just some of the names present. The cars themselves were not only visually pleasing, but so very, very fast. So make sure you get down to the parklands in 2025, for the noise and excitement of motorsport. Luckily for those who love to plan ahead, the festival has already been locked in for March 1st and 2nd of next year.