Star power for Adelaide Motorsport Festival

The 2017 running of the Adelaide Motorsport Festival kicks off during the second week of December. And to mark the occasion, the event organisers have cobbled together a colourful promotional video that combines renowned racers with race machines running through the streets of Adelaide for the event.

Featuring John Bowe in a Group C Holden Torana A9/X and Troy Bayliss on a Ducatti Superbike, the video also stars Supercar drivers Josh Kean, Cam Waters and Tim Slade – these three driving F1 cars from different eras. Kean, an Adelaide native, drove a Jos Verstappen's V10 Arrows A21 from 2000 for the film. Tim Slade, also from Adelaide, drove another Arrows, a FA15, powered by a Ford Cosworth V8 and driven by Christian Fittipaldi in the 1994 (Adelaide) AGP. Cam Waters was paired up with the ex-Gerhard Berger Benetton B186, which has a turbocharged BMW four-cylinder providing the motive power.

“It was something very interesting! The car revs to 17,000 RPM and trying to keep it tame was very difficult,” Kean said of the A21.

“The car idles at five-grand so it was pushing me through the corners because I was trying to go slower. It was so exciting.

“It is one of the coolest things I’ve done – the surprise of everyone around us was awesome.

“I think it’s going to blow everyone’s mind. I hope it gets a lot of people here for the event. These cars are very cool and interesting and there’s not many times you get to see things like this happen.”

Tim Possingham, the video's director – and also event director for the Adelaide Motorsport Festival – paid tribute to the South Australian police and emergency services for their assistance during the production of the film, and also expressed his gratitude to the locally-based collector who owns the vehicles that took part.

The film, which doesn't take itself too seriously, and has a sort of 'Ocean's 11' tone to it, can be viewed on YouTube.

For the information of visitors to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, activities commence on Thursday, December 7 – the first day of the Adelaide Rally – and the event concludes on Sunday, December 10. In addition to the rally, there's a police-escorted parade through the city on Friday night, followed by the Gouger Street Party the same evening, and the Victoria Park Sprint over the weekend.

Tickets cost $30 per adult on the Saturday and Sunday (or $50 for both days) and $5 for kids. More information is available at the website.