Speedway Royale at the Adelaide Showground
Huge crowds in the Adelaide Showground main arena watching the Speedway Royale in 1928. Photo courtesy of State Library of South Australia, [B 40558]
The early years of the RA&HS and the Adelaide Showground are inseparable from Speedway racing. In 1927, less than two years after the Showground in Wayville became an active venue, the first Speedway meets, known as the “Speedway Royale” were regularly held. Famous riders such as Harry Butler, Jack Chapman, and Alby Taylor were household names and regularly featured on the front and back pages of newspapers. The bigger Speedway events at the Showground attracted crowds in excess of 20,000, but by 1934 Speedway had finished its first run at Wayville, and it would be decades before its return. Whilst the cause of Speedway’s long absence has yet to be verified to this archivist (there are many more archival records to scour through), it is possible that weekly harness racing and regular Speedway meets struggled to coexist on the same track. Speedway relocated to Camden Motordrome on Anzac Hwy in 1935 until 1941, with petrol rationing for World War Two putting a halt to speedway racing until 1946.
Harness racing having left Wayville in the 1970s, Mark Gilbert of Wayville Speedway Promotions (and later Gilbert Racing), possibly buoyed by the successful staging of speedway demonstrations at the 1983 and 1984 Royal Adelaide Shows, successfully convinced Unley Council and the RA&HS of the wisdom of once again holding speedway events at the Showground. In 1986, after a 52-year absence, West End International Speedway brought full racing events back to the Showground to enthusiastic crowds. With the recent addition at the time of the Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix, motorsport was riding high in South Australia, perhaps influencing the powers that be of the viability and attraction of holding these events once again. Speedway events were held intermittently up until 2002, 76-years after those first race days in the early years of Adelaide Showground. Many visitors to the museum at the Showground have shared their fond memories of watching Speedway at the Showground.
Speedway Royale at the Adelaide Showground
Huge crowds in the Adelaide Showground main arena watching the Speedway Royale in 1928. Photo courtesy of State Library of South Australia, [B 40558]
The early years of the RA&HS and the Adelaide Showground are inseparable from Speedway racing. In 1927, less than two years after the Showground in Wayville became an active venue, the first Speedway meets, known as the “Speedway Royale” were regularly held. Famous riders such as Harry Butler, Jack Chapman, and Alby Taylor were household names and regularly featured on the front and back pages of newspapers. The bigger Speedway events at the Showground attracted crowds in excess of 20,000, but by 1934 Speedway had finished its first run at Wayville, and it would be decades before its return. Whilst the cause of Speedway’s long absence has yet to be verified to this archivist (there are many more archival records to scour through), it is possible that weekly harness racing and regular Speedway meets struggled to coexist on the same track. Speedway relocated to Camden Motordrome on Anzac Hwy in 1935 until 1941, with petrol rationing for World War Two putting a halt to speedway racing until 1946.
Harness racing having left Wayville in the 1970s, Mark Gilbert of Wayville Speedway Promotions (and later Gilbert Racing), possibly buoyed by the successful staging of speedway demonstrations at the 1983 and 1984 Royal Adelaide Shows, successfully convinced Unley Council and the RA&HS of the wisdom of once again holding speedway events at the Showground. In 1986, after a 52-year absence, West End International Speedway brought full racing events back to the Showground to enthusiastic crowds. With the recent addition at the time of the Adelaide Formula One Grand Prix, motorsport was riding high in South Australia, perhaps influencing the powers that be of the viability and attraction of holding these events once again. Speedway events were held intermittently up until 2002, 76-years after those first race days in the early years of Adelaide Showground. Many visitors to the museum at the Showground have shared their fond memories of watching Speedway at the Showground.
