A proposal has been put to the Adelaide Park Lands Authority regarding an ‘associated motorsport event’ to be held on November 20-22, the weekend prior to this year’s Adelaide Grand Final.
It has now been confirmed by the SAMB that the event would be an additional weekend of racing on the NAPA-backed speedway, which has operated inside the Adelaide Grand Final precinct for the last two years.
If the plan comes to fruition there will be speedway action on both weekends, allowing organisers to expand the portfolio of categories that could take part.
It would also act as a safety net for poor weather after rain stifled speedway action during the Adelaide event last year.
The first weekend does, however, clash with the 2026/2027 running of the Australian Sprintcar Titles in Toowoomba, a complicating factor given 410 Sprintcars are traditionally the headline act.
Speaking to FiveAA radio in Adelaide, SAMB boss Mark Warren explained that the additional weekend is still in the consultation phase and nothing is locked in.
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“The key thing to understand is that we go through a consultation process to flag these things,” said Warren.
“In this case, this is one we’re examining as an opportunity. It’s certainly not set in stone that there’s actually going to be an additional event.
“The event that we are looking into is an expansion of the speedway. It’s fantastic as the speedway has been incredibly popular over the last couple of years for the BP Adelaide Grand Final.
“Such is the case that we’ve had great demand from other speedway participants who would like to be part of it, and different categories of racing within speedway.
“So we’re certainly looking at the opportunity. Whether it’s possible or not is another matter. But we’re very keen through this consultation process to understand what the views are around having this additional event.”
Warren then moved to allay fears that an additional event would cause more disruption to the city than the traditional four-day Adelaide Grand Final format.
“I will also emphasise the point, if people are talking about what space is needed and so on, this is all with the confines of the area of the BP Adelaide Grand Final,” he said.
“It’s not additional space. It’s all within the closure periods we have for the event space and also road closures. There are no additional closures as a result of looking into this additional event.”
The inception of the NAPA Speedway in the City as part of the Adelaide event was a significant development for the discipline in South Australia, which lost its permanent metropolitan venue, Speedway City, in 2019.
According to Warren, revitalisation of the privately-owned venue would come at significant cost, making extended use of the temporary inner-city speedway a more efficient way for the sport to service Adelaide.
“Originally the intent was to bring speedway to the attention of the motorsport community and the general community and we’ve definitely done that,” he said.
“The NAPA speedway, right in the heart of the city, hasn’t been done before and speedway hasn’t been seen in the city for a long time.
“I think it has achieved a lot and we’re probably a victim of our own success there. Now the demand is such that people want to see more of it.”
The SAMB is poised to announce that the speedway will return to the Adelaide Grand Final, at least during the event itself, imminently.
However, confirmation of the double-header could take some time, given consultation is ongoing.
“Realistically we’re a couple months away before we can determine if it is possible,” added Warren.
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