So last week the FIA MotoGP announced that they were leaving Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, located south of Melbourne, NSW, and will be moved to Adelaide, SA, after the 2026 season.
MotoGP to roar into city streets of Adelaide from 2027
I'm not an avid MotoGP fan, and I don't know a whole lot about motorcycle racing, but, on the surface, MotoGP moving to Adelaide brings forth a lot of safety concerns. MotoGP hasn't had a street race since Montjuïc, Spain, in 1974. A track that even F1 acknowledged was too dangerous to race on after 4 people were killed at the 1975 Grand Prix. One look at V8 Supercar highlights from Adelaide's "Brewery Corner" brings a lot of questions about how they're going to make that safe for motorcycles.
Today, Trans-Am Australia announced that it, too, was unable to reach an agreement with the track owners after a scheduling conflict made the date at PI infeasible.
‘Left with no choice’: Trans Am ditches Phillip Island finale
Independently, tracks losing their dates is always unfortunate, but two announcements in a week points more towards an owner, ownership group, or promoter, not interested in maintaining the race track. With so many tracks being swallowed up by the financial lure of real-estate developers, I wonder if Phillip Island will be another track to disappear, in the near future.
I'm pretty torn;
On one hand, fuck you, good riddance, you flat, boring, piece-of-shit, garbage-ass race track. I hope you get removed from every racing sim and video game in existence. I hope they run a magnet over every hard-drive and server that has any bit of laser-scan and photogrammetry data about any square millimeter of your property.
On the other hand, it's always a tragedy - for someone, I guess - when a track is lost, especially one with such a long history as Phillip Island. And a track that seems so perfectly suited for motorcycles and semi-professional motorsports, with it's long sweeping turns and absolutely MASSIVE run-offs space. I don't mind street circuits, but it's disappointing when the tracks take away from established permanent circuits. It's such a picturesque setting, on the cliffs of the small island off the coast of New South Whales, but I'm sure there are a lot more people, with a lot more money than race car drivers/fans, who want that land and view for other purposes. And, if the land-owner/track manager isn't fully committed to racing, and only making business decisions, the other purposes will almost always win out.
Nothing is official, yet. It's all rumours and speculation. But it's definitely not looking good for a lot of motorsports fans, in the area and around the world.
MotoGP to roar into city streets of Adelaide from 2027
I'm not an avid MotoGP fan, and I don't know a whole lot about motorcycle racing, but, on the surface, MotoGP moving to Adelaide brings forth a lot of safety concerns. MotoGP hasn't had a street race since Montjuïc, Spain, in 1974. A track that even F1 acknowledged was too dangerous to race on after 4 people were killed at the 1975 Grand Prix. One look at V8 Supercar highlights from Adelaide's "Brewery Corner" brings a lot of questions about how they're going to make that safe for motorcycles.
Today, Trans-Am Australia announced that it, too, was unable to reach an agreement with the track owners after a scheduling conflict made the date at PI infeasible.
‘Left with no choice’: Trans Am ditches Phillip Island finale
Independently, tracks losing their dates is always unfortunate, but two announcements in a week points more towards an owner, ownership group, or promoter, not interested in maintaining the race track. With so many tracks being swallowed up by the financial lure of real-estate developers, I wonder if Phillip Island will be another track to disappear, in the near future.
I'm pretty torn;
On one hand, fuck you, good riddance, you flat, boring, piece-of-shit, garbage-ass race track. I hope you get removed from every racing sim and video game in existence. I hope they run a magnet over every hard-drive and server that has any bit of laser-scan and photogrammetry data about any square millimeter of your property.
On the other hand, it's always a tragedy - for someone, I guess - when a track is lost, especially one with such a long history as Phillip Island. And a track that seems so perfectly suited for motorcycles and semi-professional motorsports, with it's long sweeping turns and absolutely MASSIVE run-offs space. I don't mind street circuits, but it's disappointing when the tracks take away from established permanent circuits. It's such a picturesque setting, on the cliffs of the small island off the coast of New South Whales, but I'm sure there are a lot more people, with a lot more money than race car drivers/fans, who want that land and view for other purposes. And, if the land-owner/track manager isn't fully committed to racing, and only making business decisions, the other purposes will almost always win out.
Nothing is official, yet. It's all rumours and speculation. But it's definitely not looking good for a lot of motorsports fans, in the area and around the world.
