Australia’s Best Racing Circuits, and a Bit of Porsche News at the End.
Australia is a racing car enthusiast’s haven. When professional car racing first began in Australia, it lacked the local presence of manufacturers from brands like Ferrari and Mercedes – both of which helped establish a strong racing tradition in Europe. Despite Europe’s success, Australia was able to build racetracks down under that Australians and people around the world enjoyed visiting to watch – and even today they deliver some of the very best motor racing has to offer.
5 of the most famous racetracks in Australia would have to be:
- Phillip Island
You can find the Phillip Island Circuit situated about 2 hours outside of Melbourne City. Its racing heritage harks back to the 1920s. The current racetrack has been in use since 1956, although it has undergone minor changes during its life. Phillip Island is a wonderfully free-flowing circuit with a stunning backdrop of Port Phillip Bay. This famous track is loved by both motorcycle racers as well as those from the car racing fraternity. Phillip Island is currently a permanent yearly fixture for the MotoGP calendar.
Loads of motorbikes are included in the race circuit’s fastest lap times, with a Yamaha YZR–M1 ridden by Maverick Viñales in 2019 claiming the quickest lap time of 1 min:28 sec.49. You have to look down to 57th place before finding the quickest lap time accomplished by a car. 57th place was run in 1 min:38 sec.02 in a Porsche 918 Spyder driven by Matthias Hoffsummer. A 2020 BMW M3 ran around Phillips Island in 1 min: 45 sec.03 – a car that may be a little more recognisable and common to the masses.
- The Adelaide Street Circuit
The Adelaide Street Circuit hosted the Australian F1 Grand Prix in the 90s. This famous track saw racing icons Alain Prost, Aryton Senna, and Michael Schumacher score podiums on their journey to winning their F1 World Driver’s Championship. Because it was regularly the last race of the F1 season, the Adelaide Street Circuit track often had high stakes drama, with its competitors looking to win the last points of the season on what is a fast and flowing circuit. This drama added to the buzz in the air, playing host to a great party atmosphere once the final race was completed.
Although Melbourne has more recently created another famous racetrack – Albert Park – the Adelaide Street Circuit is still special. Although F1 cars no longer rip around this circuit, the V8 Supercars event has become one of the its best series.
The fastest time (1 min: 15 sec.381) ever recorded on the Adelaide Street Circuit was performed by Damon Hill back in 1993, while driving his Williams FW15C Renault Formula One.
- Albert Park
As mentioned above, Albert Park is in the seaside suburb of St Kilda, just outside the Melbourne CBD. Albert Park Circuit has played host to the Australian Grand Prix since 1996 and is a track that provides fantastic motor racing. Albert Park is also a track that anyone can tackle a lap of the circuit in their own car. It’s possible to drive around the circuit many times on any day of the week.
A Formula One Car called the Ferrari F1–75 driven by Charles Leclerc this year (2022) set a time of 1 min:20 sec.260, which is the fastest time ever set on the track. To give you an idea just how quick that is – Craig Baird drove his Mercedes AMG GT3 car around in 1 min: 54 sec.7311. Craig Baird’s record time in the GT3 Class is 8th quickest for a car more recognizable with cars can be driven on our roads legally.
- Sandown Raceway
Sandown Raceway is a track that, along with Phillip Island and Albert Park, enhances Victoria’s claim to possessing Australia’s greatest collection of famous racetracks. Until Albert Park arrived on the scene, Sandown was regarded by many as Victoria’s premier circuit. Sandown Raceway is where brilliant Aussie racers like Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, and other heroes have shown off their skills to a home audience. Sandown Raceway circuit still finds regular use today, most notably among drag racing enthusiasts.
- Bathurst/Mount Panorama
Formula One and MotoGP tracks inside Australia are rightfully famous. Events in these high-end categories are truly global, and even our home-grown Aussie drivers have made a name for themselves racing in these very events. But Mount Panorama/Bathurst is perhaps the most famous track of all to most Australians.
The New South Wales circuit plays a yearly host to the V8 Supercar race, and it has been a place where legendary battles between Ford and Holden have been played out before loyal fans. Mount Panorama is also where brilliant racers like Peter Brock and Craig Lowndes have cemented their status as giant motor racing legends.
The outright fastest time for getting around the Mount Panorama Track was accomplished in an Audi R8 LMS, where the 2 minute barrier was broken in a time of 1 min: 59 sec.2910; Christopher Mies was the R8’s driver. The quickest Touring Car that has ever made it round the circuit was a Ford Mustang GT driven by Chaz Mostert in the Supercars Championship of 2019 with a time of 2 min: 04 sec.7602.
Nurburgring (Germany)
And for something a little different… Porsche has just reclaimed the production EV Nürburgring lap record from Tesla, running a time of 7 min: 33 sec with a Porsche Taycan Turbo S EV. The Tesla Model S Plaid’s lap time was 7 min: 35 sec set in September of 2021.
The production performance EV class is rapidly growing and features a variety of body styles. This means Porsche will likely be challenged by faster EVs in the near future.
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