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The Bend Motorsport Park

Motorsport track in South Australia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bend Motorsport Parkmap
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The Bend Motorsport Park, currently known as Shell V-Power Motorsport Park for naming rights reasons, is a 7.770 km (4.828 mi) bitumen motor racing circuit at Tailem Bend, South Australia, Australia, about 100 km (62 mi) south-east of the state capital, Adelaide.

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The complex has a bitumen circuit, drag racing strip, and drift racing circuit.[1]

The race circuits are of a high international standard and licensed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for car racing and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) for motorcycle racing. Along with Sydney Motorsport Park, Surfers Paradise Street Circuit and the only Grade 1 track, the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, The Bend is one of only four race circuits in Australia with an FIA Grade 2 track licence or better, while it is also one of only two Australian race tracks along with the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit (which hosts the annual Australian MotoGP and Superbike World Championship (WSBK) rounds), to carry an FIM Category A track licence.

The circuit name was changed to Shell V-Power Motorsport Park in August 2023.[2]

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History

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Circuit Construction progress in July 2017

In February 2015, Peregrine Corporation lodged plans with the Government of South Australia to redevelop the former Mitsubishi Motors Australia test track at Tailem Bend, South Australia which had lay dormant since Mitsubishi ceased their Australian production in 2008 with the closure of their Adelaide manufacturing plant at Tonsley and their engine plant at Lonsdale.[3] Approval was granted in May 2015[4] with construction commencing in March 2016.[5] Initially titled the South Australian Motorsport Park, by the time construction commenced, The Bend Motorsport Park name had been adopted.[6]

The address of the site was originally in Elwomple. In September 2017, before the facility opened, the boundary between Tailem Bend and Elwomple was adjusted so that The Bend Motorsport Park is officially in Tailem Bend, not Elwomple.[7][8]

The first major event was the Revolve24 Endurance Cycling Challenge on 13–14 January 2018, an ultra-distance cycling festival featuring 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour races.[9][10] It hosted The Bend SuperSprint, a round of the 2018 Supercars Championship, in August 2018.[11] It has a desire to hold a MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix round.[12][13]

On 4–14 January 2019, the circuit hosted the 25th Australian Scout Jamboree.[14] From January 10–12, 2020 it hosted a round of the 2019–20 Asian Le Mans Series season as the 4 Hours of The Bend[15] and the Supercars sprint round will be replaced by a new endurance event, The Bend 500.[16] The Supercars race was later dropped from the calendar altogether, in a shortened calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with circuit managing director Sam Shahin openly critical of the cancellation.[17] After multiple changes in the Supercars calendar, it was announced that the track will held a doubleheader in late September.[18]

Sam Shahin also offered up the facility for Hotel Quarantine during the Covid pandemic, but this was not taken up by the South Australian Government.[19]

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Facilities

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Jamie Whincup won the Sunday race at the first Supercars Championship event at the circuit in 2018.

International Circuit

Length: 4.950 km (3.076 mi)

  • Used for majority of events including Supercars, Superbikes and national series events, through to state racing, club racing and track hire

GT Circuit

Length: 7.770 km (4.828 mi)

  • The Bend's GT Circuit is used for endurance racing, specialist racing events, private hire and test days. It is the longest motor racing circuit in Australia since the closure of the 7.242 km (4.500 mi) Longford Circuit in Tasmania in 1968.

At 7.770 km (4.828 mi) long, the 35 turn GT Circuit is the second longest permanent race track in the world behind only the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany which is 20.832 km (12.944 mi) long. It is also one of only 4 permanent race circuits in the world with an official length of at least 7.000 km (4.350 mi), the others being the 154 turn Nürburgring, the 7.220 km (4.486 mi), 23 turn Utah Motorsports Campus (formerly known as the Miller Motorsports Park) in the USA, and the 7.004 km (4.352 mi), 20 turn Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

The circuit hosted a four-hour Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) event in January 2020 called the 4 Hours of The Bend. Unfortunately it has proven to be a one off race as the planned return of the ALMS did not eventuate due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced that the ALMS would return in 2021/22 and 2022/23, but the global pandemic and a change in series focus to an annual series, plus cutting costs for the teams (including travel), has seen that to date (2025), the ALMS has not returned to Australia or The Bend.[20][21]

As of June 2025, the fastest official lap for the GT Circuit was set in qualifying for the 4 Hours of The Bend by British driver Ben Barnicoat who took pole position in a Dallara P217 LMP2 with a time of 2:35.698. The circuit's official lap record, set during the 4 Hours of The Bend race, is 2:38.673 by New Zealand's Aidan Read driving a Ligier JS P217 LMP2.[22][23]

West Circuit

Length: 3.410 km (2.119 mi)

  • Used for the majority of short track events. Includes club racing, testing, sprint events, “cruising” events, driver/rider training
  • Used for 2020 OTR SuperSprint The Bend event in 2020 Supercars Championship
  • Can be used independently from the East Circuit

East Circuit

Length: 3.930 km (2.442 mi)

  • Used for driver/rider training, drifting, testing, club days, private days
  • Can be used independently from the West Circuit[24]

West PLUS Circuit

Length: 3.660 km (2.274 mi)

Sprint Circuit

Length: 2.784 km (1.730 mi)

Southwest Circuit

Length: 1.811 km (1.125 mi)

North Circuit

Length: 1.341 km (0.833 mi)

Karting Circuit

Length: 1.101 km (0.684 mi)

Drag Strip

Length: 0.402 km (0.250 mi)

The drag racing strip at The Bend opened to fanfare and a capacity 20,000 crowd in October 2023. The drag strip itself is approximately 1.250 km (0.777 mi) in total length by 18.5 m (61 ft) wide, built to international standards. The Bend's drag racing strip has taken over from the older (and shorter) Adelaide International Raceway as South Australia's main drag racing venue.

Pit building and hotel

Construction commenced in February 2017 for the 300 m (980 ft) long pit building which includes hotel accommodation in the upper levels of the four-storey building. There are 34 pit garages.[25] The 100 room Rydges Pit Lane Hotel opened in 2019.[26]

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Events

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Lap records

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As of July 2025, the fastest official race lap records at The Bend Motorsport Park are listed as:[27][28][29]

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Notes

    References

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