Perth Motorplex is a

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

venue located at Kwinana Beach,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It caters mainly for

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

and

speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

, 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 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 owner of the Claremont Showgrounds, the

Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia (RASWA) was established 1831 in Western Australia. Early history It held its first annual agricultural show, the Fair and Cattle Show, at Guildford, Western Australia, Guildford on 7 November ...

, 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 Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

. The Motorplex actually brought drag racing some closer to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

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

Speedway

In the Western Australian tradition of having longer tracks than most of those in Australia, the Motorplex Speedway is a , , dirt oval (in contrast to Claremont which 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 Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

track that is rarely used for anything other than staging of race cars before events and for demolition derbies. Bikes generally run at the Pinjar Park Speedway located north of Perth near the Barbagallo Raceway. 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 AN ...

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 display-only parades called ''supercruises'', elite car exhibitions,

challenges, burnout competitions and a

beauty contest A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes so ...

called ''Miss Motorvation''. Vehicle entries are limited to about 600.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