Perth Motorplex is a motorsport venue located at

Kwinana Beach Kwinana may refer to: * City of Kwinana, a local government area in Western Australia * Electoral district of Kwinana, an electorate of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly * Kwinana Beach, Western Australia, a suburb in Western Australia * ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It caters mainly for drag racing and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

, although other events are held there regularly. Over 275,000 patrons attend the venue each year to many varied events. The Perth Motorplex holds rounds of the World Series Sprintcars championship.

History

Perth Motorplex (formerly Quit Motorplex) opened in 2000. It replaced the Claremont Speedway which was run at the

Claremont Showground The Claremont Showground near Perth, Western Australia is home to the annual Perth Royal Show. In 1902, of land were reserved in the Perth suburb of Claremont for a new showground to replace the Guildford Showgrounds. The Royal Agricultural S ...

from 1927, and the Ravenswood Raceway Drag Racing strip. Many Claremont loyalists were unhappy with the change saying it destroyed almost 75 years of heritage as were many Ravenswood fans. Nonetheless, the changes suited a growing population in Perth as the racetrack at Claremont was situated literally across the road from housing estates. Also, the owners of the Showgrounds, the Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia, while not wishing to lose their long time tenant, wanted to re-develop the main arena, which doubled as the speedway, into a fully grassed oval suitable for the Perth Royal Show and other outdoor festivals and concerts as well as for sports such as Australian rules football and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

. The Motorplex actually brought drag racing some 45 km closer to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

than Ravenswood, while for speedway fans the Motorplex saw the sport leave the city and move 26 km south.

Speedway

In the West Aussie tradition of having longer tracks than most of those in Australia, the Motorplex Speedway is a ⅓ mile, dirt oval (Claremont was in length), and since its opening has hosted the Australian Sprintcar, Speedcar, Super Sedan and World Series Sprintcars Championships, as well as hosting rounds of the Speedcar Pro Series. It also hosts various Western Australian state championship meetings. On the inside of the main speedway track is a Motorcycle speedway track that is rarely for anything other than staging for race cars before events and for demolition derbies. Bikes generally run at the

Pinjar Park Speedway Pinjar may refer to: * Pinjar, Western Australia Pinjar is a rural locality in Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Wanneroo. History The suburb of Pinjar is named after the large swampy lake of this name located ...

located north of Perth near the

Barbagallo Raceway Wanneroo Raceway, currently known as CARCO.com.au Raceway for naming rights reasons, is a motorsport circuit located in Neerabup, approximately north of Perth in Western Australia. It was built by the WA Sporting Car Club. The circuit wa ...

. The bike track did host rounds of the 2001, 2002 and 2005 Western Australian Solo Championships.

Drag Racing

In 2021,

Australian National Drag Racing Association The Australian National Drag Racing Association, or ANDRA for short, is a drag racing sanctioning body in Australia. The organisation was created in 1973 from a more drag racing oriented faction of the Australian Hot Rod Federation. Today ANDR ...

announced the establishment of an annual Australian Drag Racing Championship series, with ASID as one of five venues across the country to host a round in the inaugural season.

Motorvation

Motorvation, an annual car show in January, presents "supercruises" (display-only parades), elite car exhibitions, drag racing challenges, burnout competitions and a "Miss Motorvation" beauty contest. Vehicle entries are limited to about 600 to enable a strict management regime.Motorvation 26: 2012 Entrants Guide
at official site Motorvation was invented by Rob Woodcock and Phil Cockayne who also started Perth City Street Machine Club.

References

External links

Australian National Drag Racing Association Sanctioned Tracks

Perth Motorplex official website

Perth Motorplex Facebook
{{coord, 32, 13, 0, S, 115, 47, 18, E, display=title Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia Motorsport venues in Western Australia Drag racing venues in Australasia Speedway venues in Australia Kwinana Beach, Western Australia