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When Adelaide
braced itself with the ominous task of staging a Grand
Prix, two questions arose: Could Adelaide do it, and if so
where. Looking for a circuit that would cause the minimum
inconvenience, the committee considered a layout starting
north of the Torrens, Running along King William Street,
the Albert Bridge by the Zoo, Botanic Park and Hackney
Road. They also thought of Wakefield Street, Pultney
Street and Hindmarsh Square. To their surprise, however, the
one site they had looked at, liked but discounted because it would
never be available was offered to them.
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Victoria Park was about to become the central section of a racing
layout that was to rewrite the world's definition of street
circuits. This had not been the Adelaide Grand Prix, nor the South
Australian Grand Prix: it was the Australian Grand Prix, a round
of one of the few sporting competitions that can truely claim
World Championship status.
Expectations for a first crowd in
1985 where for around 50.000 to 60,000 people. But ticket sales
and the interest in corporate platforms and boxes caused the
organisers to rapidly revise their thinking. The event sold out,
total ticket sales topping the 107,000 on race day and over
200,000 passing through the gates over the four day period. Due to
such unexpected enthusiasm, and the unavoidable recommendations,
the Adelaide circuit made some revisions which remained until the
Grand Finale in 1995. Following the 1985 events a further 12,000
grandstand seats where errected, mainly in the Victoria Park arena;
more corporate platforms and, importantly, a substantial upgrading
of the general admission areas.
Brahbam Straight was resurfaced
in '86, it's bumps one of the few sources of complaints about the
Adelaide circuit. In addition the chicane at the end of pit
straight was re-contoured due to drivers reservations about the
shape of the corner. Combinations of new track sections and
re-curbing resulted in a billiard table like surface making tyres
a infinately important factor to Adelaide racing. The drivers
duell for a total of 80 laps or so, (see the results section),
each of 3.78 kilometres, making 29 lightning-fast gear changes a
lap, for a total of more than 2300 changes during the race.
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