{"id":604006,"date":"2026-04-13T11:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604006\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T11:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T11:52:18","slug":"adelaide-parklands-street-circuit-designer-outlines-major-issues-facing-motogp-track-redesign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/604006\/","title":{"rendered":"Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit designer outlines major issues facing MotoGP track redesign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BOB Barnard, the architect of the Adelaide Parklands\u2019 original Formula 1 track, has spoken out over the planned changes to the downtown street circuit to accommodate MotoGP\u2019s planned arrival in the City of Churches in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>While the final configuration has yet to be confirmed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.v8sleuth.com.au\/supercars-paddock-bracing-for-adelaide-circuit-change\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the planned changes will almost certainly affect the 3.219km layout that has been utilised by Supercars since 1999<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.v8sleuth.com.au\/the-positive-to-the-potential-demise-of-adelaides-turn-8\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Included in this is the possibility that the high-speed turn 8 section will be bypassed via a longer circuit configuration.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/v8-sleuth-magazine-issue-3?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/v8sleuth-mag-issue3_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Benetton-B190-in-Adelaide-III-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-127756\"  \/>Nelson Piquet at the 1990 Australian F1 Grand Prix. Pic: Supplied<\/p>\n<p>Following his founding role with the Adelaide Grand Prix, Barnard was the driving force behind the redevelopment of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit and the construction of Eastern Creek, now Sydney Motorsport Park.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, he has enjoyed a decorated career behind the scenes and in events at venues such as Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta, and the Daytona International Speedway, as well as numerous greenfield circuit builds.<\/p>\n<p>Barnard notes that to instigate change within the confines of the Parkland setting to accommodate motorcycles, substantial hurdles must be overcome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I built Adelaide for the Formula One, I was not allowed to take one tree out, not one, over the whole track,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/oxleybom.buzzsprout.com\/2181509\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said Barnard on the Oxley Bom MotoGP Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis thing went through the park, so there were trees I\u2019d love to have taken out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou literally had to work within those confines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, when I look at this plan, it\u2019s going to be over the park \u2013 they\u2019re just going to knock all these trees out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, the track isn\u2019t going to be related to what I built in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo I think it\u2019s a good idea? I don\u2019t, because they\u2019re going to get so much opposition.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, we had enough opposition (in 1985).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if you remember what happened at Albert Park \u2013 there were people who chained themselves to trees, and they went and protested outside Bernie Ecclestone\u2019s house in London.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re going to have the same group of people in Adelaide if you start showing them what you\u2019re going to knock over, and then who\u2019s paying for this?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, the state government is going to spend so much money to put this race on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re building a whole new pit complex \u2013 you\u2019re going to be $100 million or more easily rebuilding this track.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you\u2019ve got to say for what? You\u2019ve already got the Supercars that get a huge audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve got the Adelaide Motoring Festival that goes on in February.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re huge events.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/superstore.v8sleuth.com.au\/products\/1999-supercars-australian-touring-car-championship-sprint-races-only-highlights-dvd?utm_source=SRBuyButton&amp;utm_medium=website\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BHE7961_1024x1024.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Barnard recalled that the original iteration of the event was held within a strict budget, as a showcase to draw the world\u2019s attention to the city.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was chief estimator for a major construction company, so we put a bid in, and they worked out that I grew up in England, went to Brands House, went to Silverstone, knew what Formula 1 was, I\u2019d raced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew a lot of people \u2013 \u2018Bob was the obvious guy to build this racetrack\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I went, and I sat down with the Premier\u2019s chief of staff, and he says, \u2018You\u2019re not building a track for 24 prima donnas, you\u2019re showing off the city\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was the brief, and that\u2019s governed everything we did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause in those days, who the hell knew where Adelaide was?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went there, emigrated there, I had no idea where the bloody place was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll I knew was a good job waiting when I got there\u2026 You know, (the Formula 1 race) put Adelaide on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOB Barnard, the architect of the Adelaide Parklands\u2019 original Formula 1 track, has spoken out over the planned&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-604006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}