Bringing MotoGP to the center of Adelaide is not going to be an easy task, but Bob Barnard goes one step further and considers it unviable. At least that’s what he said in an interview conducted on the Oxley Bom MotoGP podcast starring Mat Oxley and Peter Bom.
Two of the most experienced and influential reporters when it comes to talking about MotoGP have been able to chat with Barnard, the designer of the Adelaide circuit for F1 which, after all, is the one we know today, and on which the basis of the track that will host MotoGP from 2027 will be laid.
For Bob it will not be a simple matter. What’s more, he doesn’t see it as possible. According to Barnard, the idea of putting MotoGP in the city is not so simple and he thinks that only with a disproportionate investment would it be something viable in terms of safety for motorcycles. And, be careful, here’s the thing because it doesn’t say that it can’t be done, but rather that it can’t be done safely and without spending huge amounts of money.
At the end of the day, we must not forget that, as has been said from the beginning although it was later rectified, the Adelaide circuit as designed is a purely urban circuit. This implies that you circulate through places where competition takes place on the weekend and complicates the situation quite a bit.
But returning to the words of Barnard, who now lives in Spain and who has to his credit not only Adelaide, but Eastern Creek, Phillip Island, Road Atlanta, Daytona, SpeedVegas, Laguna Seca and a multitude of other private tracks that, like the previous ones, he has either created from scratch or remodeled, the Australian not only expects economic complications in the process but also social ones.
And when the Victorian state government promoted the creation of Albert Park, there were large demonstrations in Melbourne with people chained to trees. Precisely those trees are one of the complications because he remembers that, back in Adelaide, when he designed the circuit he was not allowed to cut down a single tree. So much so that he recognizes that he had to give up the original idea to end up being what it is today.
Bob Barnard places the amount needed for the remodeling at more than $100 million.
To top it all off, Bob Barnard ends by pointing out the real costs that adapting the circuit will have, which he estimates to be at least 100 million dollars. An outstanding amount for a region that already has multiple sporting events scheduled and that leads to the last question: Who is going to pay for it?
There is no doubt that the challenge ahead for MotoGP and the Australian GP promoter in particular is going to be tough. More so if we take into account that the deadline to carry out all the security reforms and achieve the necessary investment is just over a year and a half.
Will we see MotoGP in Adelaide? Barnard is clear about his opinion and it would not be the first time in recent years that a new circuit has not finished arriving, such as, for example, KymiRing in Finland or Wales in the United Kingdom, which were announced with great fanfare and never hosted a GP.
