‘Shock’: Supercars may take over park lands for extra weekend
News has emerged of the annual Supercars event in the Adelaide CBD potentially taking over more of the park lands, riling the Lord Mayor.
A new consultation report anticipates the organiser of the 2026 Adelaide Grand Final – the annual Supercars event in Adelaide – will take over an extra 142,920sqm of park lands this year.
The Adelaide Park Lands Authority will meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the proposed changes to the tourism drawcard event that last year saw nearby residents flee the city for quieter accommodation interstate and delivered an economic benefit of $100 million to the state in 2025.
And a ‘New Associated Motor Sport Event’ will take place the weekend prior to the 2026 Adelaide Grand Final from November 20 to 22, the consultation report written by the Adelaide City Council associate director city culture, reads.
City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Jane Lomax-Smith, who chairs the park lands authority, said this morning on ABC Radio that the changes were a “bit of a shock”.
“There are various changes coming through, we don’t know all the details, we haven’t got all the facts,” she said, adding that the council was powerless to intervene as it was declared a ‘major event’.
Lomax-Smith was concerned about the growing scale of the main event, which this year will take over more of the Adelaide park lands from November 26 to 29.
It was expected that the larger zone would include the ‘Butterfly Conservation Zone’ in the southern end of Victoria Park/Pakapakanthi – a vital refuge for the Chequered Copper Butterfly. This area was included in last year’s event.
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Butterfly Conservation SA earlier this year raised concerns over the 2027 MotoGP circuit, which could damage the environment and habitat of the rare Chequered Copper Butterfly species in Victoria Park.
The MotoGP is set to be held in November 2027 on a similar city street circuit that was once used for the Formula One Grand Prix from 1985 to 1995.
A toilet block in Victoria Park was also expected to be removed following consultation with interested groups, the report reads.
And the event will expand by 130,000sqm in Carriageway Park/Tuthangga (Park 17) in the south-east of the park lands near the wetlands, Lomax-Smith concerned about its use for car parking with an area formerly used for car parking unavailable due to preparatory works for the 2027 MotoGP.
“The declared area for the 2026 bp Adelaide Grand Final will include an area of Park 17,” a South Australian Motor Sports Board spokeperson said.
“This temporary expansion will remain unfenced and will only be used for parking during the event itself, given parts of the usual event footprint will be unavailable due to preparatory works for the MotoGP Grand Prix of Australia,” the spokesperson said.
Lomax-Smith said she was “concerned” about expansion into the southern park lands.
“They’re taking an area which is on the other side of the wetlands and using it for car parking,” she said.
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“It means that the public, we are concerned, will be parking their cars on Greenhill Road.
“It’s inevitable that even if we have the butterfly conservation zone fenced, human nature is such that if you’ve got to get from one side of the fence to the other, people tend to just jump over a fence and keep going.”
She would ask questions at the upcoming meeting to receive clarity over the impact on the park lands and to discern what the new motorsports event the week prior would entail.
“What we’re looking at now in Victoria Park is another associated car race, the nature of which we haven’t been told – it’s still under wraps,” she said.
“We are not being obstructive but… we are asking questions because we have the right to ask questions because we’ve maintained this for 150 years and we just need to know what’s being done.”
The latest developments follow passionate protests over the state government’s removal of trees to make way for a redeveloped North Adelaide Golf Course.
A 78-year-old self-proclaimed ‘granny’ was arrested and charged with trespass earlier this month after entering the North Adelaide Golf Course site during a protest, saying she was “gutted” to see the “destruction” of trees and wildlife for its development.
Protesters have been angered by 585 trees being felled for the $45 million golf course redevelopment on the Adelaide Park Lands in North Adelaide. A petition objecting to the plan has now amassed 49,269 signatures.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said that three trees would be planted for every mature-aged tree felled in Possum Park.
A protest on Friday evening at Parliament House attracted hundreds of people showing their anger towards the government’s plans, which were first announced last year to accommodate the 2028 edition of LIV Golf Adelaide.
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