Adelaide continues festival success

Tuesday 04 December, 2018
The Adelaide Motorsport Festival has wrapped up for another year.

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival has wrapped up for another year with thousands of spectators from around the state being part of the action.

Fans were not left disappointed as a variety of sensational vehicles, classic competition and big names all combined in the entertaining spectacle.

The festival kicked off with the Shannons Adelaide Rally, taking place in the city’s surrounding forest and country roads.

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Ben Calder and 2018 CAMS Australian Rally Championship runner-up Steve Glenney were the big winners taking out the Modern Class victory, while Tim Sinclair and Karl Radziszewski won the Modern Challenge.

In the classic classes, Matt Selley and Hamish Mckendrick in the 1985 Hartge H35-24 claimed the Classics outright while the Classic Challenge went to Karl Von Sanden and Alexander Visintin in their 1983 Porsche 944. 

Click here for full results from the Shannons Adelaide Rally.

There was just as much action happening in the festival’s main base at Victoria Park sprints, which saw vehicles from 15 different categories light up the circuit.

The plethora of cars ranged from Ferraris to Historic Sport Sedans, GTs to V8 Sedans, there were hundreds of cars tearing up the track in front of the strong crowds.

However, when it came down to the actual competition, it was the Formula 1 cars that blew everyone away, claiming the fastest times of the day, as former Italian F1 star Ivan Capelli led the charge. 

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Behind the wheel of the special Leyton House. Capelli posted a record-breaking time of 42.5 seconds, half a second faster than the closest competitor in Josh Kean.

It was not just the sprints that caught the attention of the thousands of fans at the festival, with a host of other activations also taking place.

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival was Supercars legend Craig Lowndes’ first major appearance since his final race a full-time driver at the Newcastle 500 last month.

Lowndes was at the centre of the action on multiple occasions, taking part in a special three-way Lap of the Gods battle between Lowndes and other Australian racing legends John Bowe and Jim Richards. 

Behind the wheel of the LaFerrari, Lowndes also managed to give one lucky a fan a ride of a lifetime, Bernadette Thorpe sitting beside the three-time Supercars champion for a hot lap. 

Lowndes then got his own hot lap as a passenger, sitting beside Rally legend Alister McRae in rare 1993 Prodrive WRC Rally Car.

While there were up to 539 cars in action on track, off track there was just as much with fans getting up close and personal with more 600 classic and modern cars on display.  

With more than 1000 cars on display on and off track and more than 50,000 spectators attending the festival, Event Director, Tim Possingham was proud with how far the Festival has come. 

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“The event grows tremendously year on year in terms of spectators, reach and exposure,” Possingham said.

“It continues to do that every single year and I can safely say this Sunday was the biggest day we have ever had at the event.”

“I put this down to the fact we have a unique environment here in South Australia.

“When you take the fact we are racing cars in a capital city, as well as being so close to hotels, restaurant and bars in a beautiful park setting – that’s what makes it so successful.

“It really just works because the proximity of where everything is.”

Click here for more information on the Adelaide Motorsport Festival.