Adelaide Street Circuit

Adelaide Street Circuit

Adelaide , Australia
Route type:	semi-permanent racetrack
Opening:	1985
Formula 1 venue :	1985-1995
Grand Prix course
Route data
Important events:	formula 1
Route length:	3.780  km (2.35  mi )
Curves:	16
Records
Track record: (Formula 1)	1: 15.381 min. ( Damon Hill , Williams - Renault , 1993 )
Short version
Route data
Important events:	V8 supercars
Route length:	3.219  km (2  mi )
Curves:	15th

Coordinates: 34 ° 55 ′ 50 ″  S , 138 ° 37 ′ 14 ″  E

Start and finish straight

The Adelaide Street Circuit is a street racing course in Adelaide , Australia . From 1985 to 1995, the route was a regular venue for the Australian Grand Prix of Formula 1 and always the season finale. In 1986 and 1994 the world championship was decided there.

route

As a street circuit, the Adelaide Circuit does not act as a permanent race track. Rather, for the most part normal traffic roads are blocked off for the racing events. Similar to Monte Carlo, the grandstands are not set up until the race weekends. Only the last and first section of the route before the start and finish straight, which are located within the Victoria Park horse racing track , are designed as a permanent race track.

history

1985

The three-time reigning world champion Niki Lauda drove the last race of his Formula 1 career this season in Adelaide. He retired while in the lead. The race was won by Keke Rosberg , who thereby cemented his reputation as a specialist in street courses. Rosberg achieved four of his five racing victories on such routes; besides Adelaide, he had previously won in Monaco , Dallas and Detroit .

1986

The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was the last race of the season and three drivers were still able to become world champions: McLaren driver Alain Prost and the two Williams drivers Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet . Mansell arrived in Adelaide with a point advantage of six points on Prost and seven on Piquet and secured pole position in qualifying. In the race, however, he lost the title, which was within reach, due to a flat tire around 20 laps before the end. Alain Prost won the race and also the world championship.

1988

Alain Prost won the last race of the first turbo era of Formula 1 (1977 to 1988) in Adelaide. Due to the cancellation results, however, Prost had to admit defeat to his teammate Ayrton Senna , who had won more races this season.

1990

In 1990 the 500th Formula 1 Grand Prix in history took place in Adelaide. The three-time world champion Nelson Piquet in Benetton was the anniversary winner .

1991

Ayrton Senna won the shortest Grand Prix in Formula 1 history. The race was stopped after only 15 laps after torrential rain flooded the track.

1993

As it turned out in May 1994, Ayrton Senna won his 41st and last race here. His arch-rival Alain Prost drove the last Grand Prix of his career and finished the race in second behind Senna, who asked him to be on the top step of the podium as a gesture of reconciliation at the award ceremony.

1994

As in 1986, the 1994 World Cup was decided in the last race of the season in Adelaide. Michael Schumacher traveled to Australia one point ahead of his rival Damon Hill . The two drivers dominated the street circuit. On the 36th lap, Schumacher left the track in the lead after a driving error and hit a wall. He steered his car back on the track at a slower pace, where Hill tried to overtake him immediately. The two vehicles collided, Hill and Schumacher retired. The German's point lead was enough to win the world championship.

1995

The 1995 season finale was the last time a Formula 1 race took place on this track. The later double world champion Mika Häkkinen had a life-threatening accident in free Friday training . He had slashed the rear tire of his McLaren - Mercedes , spun and hit the side of a wall at high speed, which was only secured at this point by a row of tire stacks. The consequences were severe head and neck injuries, which made an immediate tracheal incision by racing doctor Prof. Sid Watkins necessary at the scene of the accident . Häkkinen recovered only gradually and the right half of his face has been paralyzed since then.

V8 supercars

Since 1999 Adelaide has hosted the annual Clipsal 500 race of the Australian touring car championship V8 Supercars .

statistics

F1 track records

• Qualification: 1: 13.371 min (Ayrton Senna, McLaren, 1993)
• Fastest race lap: 1: 15.381 min (Damon Hill, Williams, 1993)

All winners of Formula 1 races in Adelaide

No.	year	driver	constructor	engine	tires	time	Route length	Round	Ø pace	date	GP of
1	1985	Keke Rosberg	Williams	Honda	G	2: 00: 40.473 h	3,778 km	82	154.032 km / h	0Nov 3	Australia
2	1986	Alain Prost	McLaren	Porsche ( TAG )	G	1: 54: 20.388 h	3,779 km	82	162.609 km / h	Oct 26
3	1987	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	Ferrari	G	1: 52: 56.144 h	3,779 km	82	164.631 km / h	Nov 15
4th	1988	Alain Prost	McLaren	Honda	G	1: 53: 14.676 h	3,780 km	82	164.225 km / h	Nov 13
5	1989	Thierry Boutsen	Williams	Renault	G	2:00: 17.421 h	3,780 km	70	131.981 km / h	0Nov 5
6th	1990	Nelson Piquet	Benetton	ford	G	1: 49: 44.570 h	3,780 km	81	167.399 km / h	0Nov 4
7th	1991	Ayrton Senna	McLaren	Honda	G	0: 24: 34.899 h	3,780 km	14th	129.170 km / h	0Nov 3
8th	1992	Gerhard Berger	McLaren	Honda	G	1: 46: 54.786 h	3,780 km	81	171.829 km / h	0Nov 8
9	1993	Ayrton Senna	McLaren	ford	G	1: 43: 27.476 h	3,780 km	79	173.183 km / h	0Nov 7
10	1994	Nigel Mansell	Williams	Renault	G	1: 47: 51.480 h	3,780 km	81	170.324 km / h	Nov 13
11	1995	Damon Hill	Williams	Renault	G	1: 49: 15.946 h	3,780 km	81	168.130 km / h	Nov 12

Record winner
drivers: Gerhard Berger / Alain Prost / Ayrton Senna (2 each) • Driver nations: Brazil (3) • Constructors: McLaren (5) • Engine manufacturers: Honda (4) • Tire manufacturers: Goodyear (11)

Web links

Commons : Adelaide Street Circuit  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• History of the Grand Prix in Adelaide (English)
• Satellite image on Google Maps

Individual evidence

1. ^ "1995 - New engine, new misfortune" ( Memento of October 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (flyingfinn.de)
2. ^ "Formula 1 shocked - Mika Häkkinen is in a coma" (Welt.de on November 11, 1995)