Adelaide Motorsport Festival 2024

After getting over to RADelaide for the 2023 Adelaide Motorsport Festival, I ventured back for the 2024 running, and plan to make it a a staple of my annual travels.

I find it such a great event to get along to, with a host of amazing vehicles; probably too much to see and capture.

Despite having no work since September last year, and no clients booked in, I managed to scrounge up (just) enough funding for flights, accomodation, hire car and food for 4 days in RADelaide.

I was off to the Airport real early on Friday morning, but even pre-6am I was almost run out of my lane when a Camry decided to invade from the far right to the far left. Luckily quick reactions on my part meant that I avoided the headaches and delays that come with accidents.
We always joke that there's no time zones at the airport and that beer freely flows despite the hour, but upon arrival at 5:50am and trying to order a schooner, I was promptly denied, as their liquor licence only commences at 6am. My flight was boarding at 6:10am and I couldn't convince myself to down a beer that quickly at that time of the morning.

The flight was on-time and we were on the ground in Adelaide shortly after 8am. After luggage collection & car-hire, I made my way over to Victoria Park hoping to be trackside for the first (and only) drift session of Friday's Practice day. I made it in, setup gear, signed on and got briefed to catch the last 2-3 laps of the 15 minute session. I spent the remainder of the on-track practice time exploring the surrounds and catching up with people before checking out my AirBnB around 2:30pm, as they used the track for some branding and promotional content creation & partner activations.

After settling into the AirBnB, a quick supply shop and sneaky Suntory Minus 196 Double Peach, it was time to head up Gougher St and find a vantage point as a group of the hero cars of the festival made their way from the track to town for a Street Party. It was an amazing sight to see the street lined with people along a route from Victoria Park to the centre of Gougher St.

After a few hours of Street Party #SNIPING; trying to capture the vibe and crowd interactions of owners and enthusiasts, it was time for the heroes to return to Vic Park and ready themselves for a couple days of circuit action. As I was making my way back to the car to head back to my AirBnB, I ran into some of the drift boys sinking a few beers at a pub, and promptly stopped in for a pint and some banter before some photo sorting, editing and crashing out in bed.

My images from the street party are here on Facebook.

We were into the AMF bright and early to hunt some sunrise shots before the crowds and track action began. Seeing past generations of Formula 1 cars running around part of the old F1 circuit is just an awesome experience.

I love the invitational class as it brings a variety of amazing and unique cars. The Leighton House Porsche 962C was back again this year, after not being able to run last year due to some mechanical issues. This years bonus was that Liam Lawson - Redbull reserve driver was driving the car, in addition to the Ford e-Transit SuperVan 4.2 and Rodin FZED.
The legendary Mazda 767B #1 (of 3 built) of Senji Hoshino took to the track with it's beautiful quad-rotor scream, although subdued from it's last Australian appearance at World Time Attack Challenge in 2017, where it ran without silencers on the exhaust. Hoshino-San, in his Grand Marquee interview told us that he wanted people to experience the gentleman sound of the engine, as it had been designed, as well as recounting some interesting stories of how he came to own such a car, and battles between it and the 787B; including engine impressions.
The Norax C2 (another limited 3 car build, this one being hand built in Adelaide) joined in the rotary fun, alongside several NASCARs, a Castrol ProSport LM3000 (one of 30 built), and a gorgeous Porsche 956.

Both days of track action ended with a drifting competition run by DriftingSA. It was good exposure for the field of 16 drifters, and something that was (once again) well received. Seeing the faces and reactions of the crowd to see such a different display of automotive prowess is something great for the sport, and hopefully something that continues to expand both at AMF and also into the DriftingSA events and beyond. Matt Harvey won Saturdays mini comp, and went on to take the top spot of the weekend overall, with Jarrad Klingberg winning Sundays comp and third place overall. Bogga was consistent enough throughout the weekend to claim an overall second place.

I like exploring different food options and venues when I can, especially Italian. Last year I got to Amalfi after a recommendation from some friends, but this year I did some Googling (for Carbonara) and found Borsa Pasta Cucina for dinner on Saturday night, and it 10/10 met my expectations!! The Carbonara was nicely creamy, and they served up a few slices of bread with butter and oil to accompany the meal too. Sunday night I was in the moody for some Gyoza. A quick search brought up Gyoza Gyoza, but then when I also saw Ryo's Noodles in the same vicinity, it was Ramen & Gyoza for me.

I flew out of Adelaide on Monday evening. I had the intention of finding a place to camp and edit photos, but decided this time around to do some brunch and go for a little bit of a drive. Brunch was at Peter Rabbit; one of my staples when in town, before going for a drive down towards the beaches - Henleys Beach, through to some areas around Port Adelaide, eventually stopping in at a beach side cafe for a coffee and some slight photo sorting & edits, and then ending up at the airport for more work and a few brews.

I've published a set of images summarising my view of the festival here

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival 2025 will run on the 1st & 2nd of March. I'm looking at heading back again!! For more details visit Adelaide Motorsport Festival.