| AUS - AUSTRALIA | |||||||||||||
| MALLALA | |||||||||||||
| Description | Street circuit built in a former military airfield. It was first used for 1961 Australian GP (four-wheeled). In 1964 it was shortened by building a new link between tuns 5 and 7. Loop to turn 6 has not been used since. Due to the competition with Adelaide International Raceway, much closer to Adelaide, the circuit was closed adt the end of 1971. After years it was reopened and now it’s the mail circuit in South Australia. For more info, please see Mark Taylor’s guide, bottom of this page | ||||||||||||
| Location | Mallala SA - South Australia | ||||||||||||
| Location | Mallala, 60 km - 37 mi North of Adelaide | ||||||||||||
| Latitude - Longitude | - 34°24'56" +138°30'18" -34.415556 138.505 | ||||||||||||
| UTM Coordinates | X = 270693.815 - Y = 6188943.554 - Zone 54H | ||||||||||||
| Aerial photo / Map (*) |  OpenStreetMap - Google Maps - Bing Maps - Flash Earth - Wikimapia - NearMap | ||||||||||||
| Altitude AMSL | 46 m - 151 ft | ||||||||||||
| Inauguration | 1961 | ||||||||||||
| Closing | |||||||||||||
| Designer | |||||||||||||
| Sources and links (Translation) (**) |
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| Mallala | |||||
| Description | |||||
| Years | 1961÷1964 | ||||
| Direction |  Clockwise | ||||
 Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Permanent | ||||
| Inauguration | 1961 | ||||
| Closing | 1964 | ||||
| Last update of this page | July 8th 2007 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | KLG - Shell - Dunlop - Bosch - Repco - Penfolds | ||||
| length | 3200 m | 10499 ft | 1.988 mi | (1) | |
| length | 3379 m | 11086 ft | 2.1 mi | (3) | |
| Mallala | |||||
| Description | |||||
| Years | 1964÷... | ||||
| Direction | Clockwise | ||||
| Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | |||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Permanent | ||||
| Inauguration | 1964 | ||||
| Closing | |||||
| Last update of this page | July 8th 2007 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | KLG - Shell - Dunlop - Repco - Penfolds | ||||
| length | 2600 m | 8530 ft | 1.616 mi | (1) | |
Mallala 1961÷1964
Mallala 1964÷...
| MARK TAYLOR’S GUIDE |
| By Mark Taylor and reproduced here with his kind permission. Translation to Italian is mine. |
| Download this text in PDF format (15 KB) |
| It was 1961, and South Australia’s turn to host the (four-wheeled) Australian Grand Prix (AGP). However, South Australia had only one circuit, 2.1 km - 1.30 mi Port Wakefield. The AGP had been held there in 1955 but now, quoth the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), it was too short. South Australia had to find a longer circuit or lose its place in the AGP queue. A longer circuit was found at Mallala, a village about 60 km - 37 mi north of Adelaide. It was a disused RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) training airfield and although the runways were grass there was sufficient paving in the form of access roads and hardstanding to put together a circuit of 3.2 km - 2 mi. In 1964 a link from Turn 5 to Turn 7 was created, shortening the circuit to 2.6 km - 1.616 mi. To the best of my knowledge the loop down to Turn 6 and back to Turn 7 has not been used since and has probably now been ploughed under. Probably to do with vehicles travelling in opposite directions in close proximity. Construction of Adelaide International Raceway (AIR) only 16 km - 10 mi from Adelaide threw a scare into the owners of Mallala. Thinking that they could feel the winds of change, they closed it at the end of 1971 and sold it. The winds turned out to be, however, but a gentle zephyr. Due to a change of ownership and a dispute between the new owner and CAMS, Adelaide International Raceway was stilled in 1991. Fortunately, a former touring car racer, Clem Smith, had had more faith in Mallala than the previous owners. He had bought the property in 1983 and rehabilitated the circuit, and he was there to take over AIR’s role. Mallala now hosts annual rounds of the Australian Superbike Championships and V8 Supercar series, as well as a major historic meeting. It also serves South Australia’s club racing needs. There have been reports recently of a rapprochement between CAMS and the owner of Adelaide International Raceway, but Mallala is well entrenched now as the premier South Australia circuit, and will no doubt staunchly resist any encroachment by Adelaide International Raceway on its space. |
| Updates | |||||||
| Date | Track layout | Years | Description by | Map by | Thanks to | Note | |
| February 19th 2006 | 1961÷1964 | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | Mark Taylor | New | Description with map | |
| February 19th 2006 | 1964÷... | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | Mark Taylor | New | Description with map | |
| Not all eventual updates issued in last years are already visible in this list | |||||||
