With MotoGP and WorldSBK both departing, the owners of the iconic circuit have moved to quell speculation over the track’s long term future
Since the loss of the MotoGP and World Superbike events at Phillip Island, there have been plenty of speculative rumours and innuendo regarding the circuit’s future, the majority of it negative.
To confirm or quell the rampant rumours and social media dialogue regarding these ongoing rumblings, AMCN’s Mark Bracks contacted Andrew Fox for comment on behalf of the owners.
“The track is definitely not for sale, and we have no interest in building a golf course on our land at Phillip Island. Nor is it on the market. It never has been. The land will definitely remain a racetrack.
“Let me make that very, very clear on behalf of the Fox family.
“In relation to talk of a golf course, the last time that was proposed [on land adjacent to the track], the council voted against it. So why would the Fox family waste their time again, especially at the expense of destroying the track?”
The Fox family recently purchased a golf course on the Mornington Peninsula, so it would be a bizarre move to take on the expense of constructing another course from scratch. The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is definitely not going to be cast aside and go to “rack and ruin.”
Fox’s comments come in the context of rising anxiety around the circuit’s future, with the double-loss of the Australian MotoGP and WorldSBK rounds fuelling speculation online about the possibility of a sale, redevelopment or alternate land use.
Some of the concern was sharpened by veteran circuit designer Bob Barnard, who recently spoke out against the planned MotoGP relocation to a new Adelaide street venue. Barnard, who was closely involved in Phillip Island’s modern layout and also designed Adelaide’s original Formula 1 street circuit, warned that Australia risked damaging two historic motorsport assets at once. In doing so, he referenced suggestions that Phillip Island could become vulnerable to redevelopment if stripped of both MotoGP and WorldSBK.
Fox’s comments have now firmly quashed those fears. His response is also significant given the broader anxiety on ‘The Island’ about jobs, tourism and the local economy. Businesses and community leaders have already voiced concern about the economic impact of MotoGP’s exit, and there has been criticism of the lack of celebration surrounding the event’s final running at the circuit, along with a lack of urgency in finding replacement events for the future.
Former Victorian minister John Pandazopoulos recently added a blunt political and logistical perspective, arguing that for years unresolved issues around accommodation, on-site development and access to the Island had continued to resurface whenever contracts came up for renewal. In his view, governments had supported options such as a car ferry and expanded infrastructure, but community resistance and local inaction repeatedly got in the way.
Meanwhile, South Australia has pressed ahead aggressively with its motorsport expansion, despite Adelaide’s Lord Mayor recently stating that the ‘pain’ of hosting MotoGP was not worth the ‘gain’. The state government has backed both the move of MotoGP to Adelaide and now WorldSBK to The Bend, with Premier Peter Malinauskas describing the latest deal as another step in cementing South Australia’s claim as the nation’s motorsport capital.
