| Speedway Royale | |
|---|---|
| Location | Wayville, South Australia |
| Capacity | 14,000 |
| Owner | Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA |
| Operator | Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of SA (showground) Various (speedway) |
| Opened | 1925 (showground) 1926 (speedway) |
| Major events | Royal Adelaide Show Australian Solo Championship World Series Sprintcars West End Speedway International Castrol Sidecar Cup |
| Main Arena Speedway | |
| Surface | dirt and sand mix |
| Length | 0.316 mi (0.510 km) |
The Adelaide Showgrounds, formerly the Royal Adelaide Showgrounds and most commonly known as the Wayville Showgrounds holds many of Adelaide's most popular events, including the Royal Adelaide Show.
The Showgrounds are located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, just south of Greenhill Road. They are bordered by Goodwood Road (east), Leader Street (south), the railway line (west) and Rose Terrace (north). The Royal Agricultural and Horticultural Society of South Australia (RAHS) has controlled the site since the 1920s, the land having been purchased by the South Australian government prior to the First World War. The Royal Show moved to the present site in 1925.
The showgrounds has one of the largest under-cover exhibition spaces in the Southern Hemisphere, and hosts over 140 exhibitions and conferences each year, as well as University of Adelaide and University of South Australia examinations. The RAHS also leases the former Investigator Science and Technology Centre to the Edge Church.
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The main arena of the showgrounds, which at its peak in the 1920s and 30s held 35,000 people but now can hold approximately 14,000, was known as the Speedway Royale during its heyday from 1926 until 1934, and is sometimes referred to as "The birthplace of Australian Speedway", even though speedway in Australia actually started in Maitland, New South Wales in 1923, three years before it started at Wayville. Speedway has been held on the egg-shaped track that is the main arena since approximately 1926. The track itself has a dirt and sand mixture over a concrete base and is 510m (557 yards) in length. When used it is one of the fastest speedway's in Australia with wide open corners and both the front and back straights being 100m in length.
While the arena only ever holds one or two speedway meetings per year, it has held may Australian championships including the Australian Solo Championship as well as hosting such events as the Speedway 500 series involving World Champion riders such as Denmarks Hans Nielsen, the late Simon Wigg from England and Australian riders such as Adelaide's own Ryan Sullivan, Shane Parker and Shane Bowes as well as 10 time Australian champion Leigh Adams (who won his 5th Australian championship at Wayville in 2002). Australia's leading Sprintcar series, the World Series Sprintcars has also raced many times on the showgrounds track.
The speedway at Wayville holds the record in Australian speedway for the longest wait between hosting an Australian championship. Before the 2002 Australian Solo Championship, Wayville had not hosted the title since 1932, a gap of an incredible 70 years, only just eclipsing the former record of 69 years between championships held by the Newcastle Showground which hosted the title in 1927 and then again in 1996.
The main arena was also the home ground of the West Adelaide Football Club in the South Australian National Football League from 1927 until it was taken over by the Australian Army after the 1939 season due to the outbreak of World War II. West Adelaide were forced to play their home games at the Adelaide Oval until their current home, Richmond Oval, was opened in 1958.
The arena's track was also the home of harness racing in Adelaide from 1934 until moving to the purpose built Globe Derby Park in 1973.
Centennial Hall, built to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Colony (later State) of South Australia, and to house the 1936 Centennial Empire Exhibition,[1] was opened on 20 March 1936. It was considered to be a significant historical landmark, and was one of the few remaining examples of 1930s Art Deco architecture in Adelaide.
However, the building developed "concrete cancer" and was closed at the end of the 2005 Royal Show because it was unsafe. Demolition of Centennial Hall commenced on Wednesday 18 July 2007.[2][3]
In addition to the exams and the shows, some of the more notable events held in Centennial Hall were:
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