It’s only gone and happened. Labia Media have officially dumped the best track on the MotoGP calendar and will replace it with a coma-friendly street circuit in 2027. Seriously? What’s happening? We find out…
So what’s this Phillip’s Island place?
Ask any true MotoGP fan what their favourite track is and most would say Phillip Island. Furthermore those that didn’t say Phillip Island would be wrong, because it is.
Why is it so great?
Phillip Island is MotoGP’s wildest rollercoaster where riders blast along a cliff-edge straight, get flung through ridiculously fast scenic bends, and then fall off at one of the two off-cambered hairpins. Better still there’s the ever-present chance of a rider hitting a seagull up it’s egg-chute at 200 mph which is enough to wipe the smile off its beaks once and for all.
Sounds great, especially the dead seagulls aspect, so why would MotoGP ever want to ditch it?
Great question.
Phillip Island is an old school track that’s actually quite old. Access can be tricky – especially if the local Aboriginal boatmen are on strike again or away selling their kids. Added to that the constant swarms of wreckage from the latest plane crash in the nearby Bermuda triangle being washed up and you have some unique challenges.
And that’s exactly what MotoGP owners Labia Media don’t want. They don’t want old and awesome – they want new, shiny and crap. (See F1 for more details)
Really?
Yes, and it’s also probably money
So it’s moving to Adelaide in 2027? To a street circuit?
Apparently. And this is the layout:
Blimey, looks a tad dangerous.
Street circuits and MotoGP don’t mix. Indeed motorcycle racing in general on any street circuit is a golden ticket to a life in a wheelchair consuming delicious purees. It’s the exact opposite direction that Dorna have been trying to promote for many years.
It runs through a park…don’t parks tend to have trees?
Most parks have trees and dog poo. And the thing about trees is that they tend to be solid. Ask any rider who’s ridden Oliver’s Mount. The only way to make the proposed track ‘safe’ would be to chop down all the trees and dump them in the middle part of Australia where nobody ever goes.
It’s a great plan, however if there’s one thing we know it’s how the green-losers get into a mega tofu-beef at the prospect of cutting down trees…unless it’s to build a windfarm shipped in from China.
Maybe it could be a safe street circuit?
It could, in theory, have been run in a carpark. This could ensure slow speeds, twisty corners and even the occasional shopping trolley drifting on the track and overtaking a Yamaha. This would be far safer than an actual street circuit but we already have the Valencian race – and that’s one too many.
Well this is depressing. Next you’ll be telling me MotoGP will be switching over to hybrid bikes?
Give it time.
I’ll order some rope from Amazon. In the meantime is there any way I can still watch a world championship motorcycle event at Phillip Island that has fantastic racing and some of the best riders in the world?
No. The best you can do is watch World Superbikes there?
Has that rope arrived yet?
