Adelaide track designer estimates MotoGP remodel could cost more than $100m
Bob Barnard designed the Adelaide Street Circuit in the 1980s. (Supplied: SA Government/SA Motor Sport Board)
In short:
The designer of the Adelaide Street Circuit, which will be remodelled to host the Australian MotoGP, estimates the project will cost more than $100 million.
The track hosted the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995, and a shortened version now hosts the Adelaide Grand Final, which is the Supercars championship event.
What's next?
The MotoGP will be held in Adelaide on a remodelled track from 2027, but the premier says he has not been told it will cost as much as Bob Barnard estimates.
The designer of the track that hosted the first Australian Grand Prix says he would not want to be involved in remodelling the course to host the Australian MotoGP, estimating it could cost more than $100 million.
Bob Barnard was the engineering project manager for the Adelaide Street Circuit, which hosted the inaugural Australian Formula One GP in 1985.
The track will be remodelled to host the MotoGP from 2027. A shortened version currently hosts the Adelaide Grand Final, which is the Supercars championship event.
Mr Barnard told 891 ABC Adelaide that while he was not involved in the project and was "not going anywhere near it" even if asked, he believed the remodelling could cost more than $100 million.
"The cost of this stuff keeps going up all the time … but it's certainly north of $100 million,"he said.
Peter Malinauskas says he is not aware of a $100 million price tag. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said there had been no suggestion of a $100 million bill.
"No-one has made any suggestion to me of a $100 million figure, let's just be clear about that," he said.
"But we have been transparent there is a cost to remodel the track, as you'd reasonably expect, to be able to host an international world-class event."
Mr Barnard questioned why money was being spent on hosting the MotoGP, which was nabbed from Victoria.
"I don't really see what the point is when the government's already got the Adelaide [Grand Final] and the automotive festival," he said.
"They've got two great events there already. Why are we spending all this money building another one?"
It is unclear how much hosting the MotoGP will cost South Australian taxpayers.
Compatibility and safety concerns
Mr Barnard said having a track host both the Adelaide 500 supercars and the MotoGP would be "very difficult to make compatible", while others have raised safety concerns.
He said the circuit layout would need to be changed to meet the MotoGP's safety requirements.
"Look at the Albert Park area and see the vast expanses of gravel traps … that are needed for a Formula One race," he said.
Peter Malinauskas announces the MotoGP is moving to Adelaide. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
"Imagine someone on a motorcycle doing 200 miles an hour outside of their vehicle, not nicely strapped inside.
"You're dealing with a totally different problem, and this is not going to be easy."
At the time of the February announcement, MotoGP chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta said the street circuit could be made safe.
"You can install temporary gravel beds in the same way that's already done for the amazing Supercar events that SA holds; all the barriers will be temporary," he said.
Different tree approach
When Mr Barnard designed the street circuit in Adelaide, he said he was explicitly told by the government of the day not to remove any trees.
"In most instances, we didn't need to, but there were certainly a couple, at least two in my memory, that I'd loved to have, but we weren't allowed to even touch it," he said.
The remodelling of the track to host the MotoGP is expected to require the removal of about 45 trees.
The redevelopment of the North Adelaide Golf Course has resulted in the removal of 585 trees, prompting protests about tree felling in the parkland.
The government says any trees removed for the golf course redevelopment and the MotoGP will be replaced three-fold. (ABC News: Daniel Taylor)
Mr Barnard said it was difficult to design the original track without removing trees, but it was possible with some creativity.
"It was like threading the needle to get out of Victoria Park back onto Wakefield Road, but we did it,"he said.
"It's still regarded as the best street circuit in the world, so what we did … we made it possible."
SA Motor Sport Board (SAMSB) chief executive Mark Warren said he understood the community concerns around the loss of trees.
"I share a lot of the concerns and we're here to deliver the circuit redevelopment," he said on Wednesday afternoon.
"We are putting all efforts in to look at how we minimise impacts across the board."
Mr Warren said works on the new MotoGP circuit were expected to begin in spring this year and would "overlap" with the Adelaide Grand Final in November.
Protecting butterflies
Butterfly Conservation South Australia has raised concerns about the proximity of the MotoGP track to a butterfly conservation zone in Park 16/Pakapakanthi in the south-east corner of Victoria Park, and its impact to the colony of chequered copper butterfly there.
The chequered copper butterfly is found in Victoria Park. (Supplied: Butterfly Conservation South Australia)
Its chair Gerry Butler spoke on Wednesday afternoon at an Adelaide Park Lands Authority meeting, a subsidiary of the Adelaide City Council that advises the council and state government on the parklands.
"Once this area is degraded by vehicle and foot traffic associated with the MotoGP this habitat would be destroyed and these butterflies would be lost forever," Mr Butler said.
He said in an April meeting with SAMSB to discuss the layout of the track "the staff expressed … that the track clipped the habitat".
But on Wednesday, Mr Warren said labelling the area as a butterfly conservation zone in their previous presentations was possibly "a misnomer" and noted the area as "nothing more than known weeds".
"We will stand corrected if there are plans to rehabilitate that area properly to be a proper butterfly conservation area, but as we understand it the main butterfly habitat is actually in the native grassland areas," Mr Warren said.
Mr Warren said the design for the MotoGP track was yet to be finalised and he would take the feedback on as part of consultation.