A FEW years ago a banner flew from the back of the main grandstand on the front straight of the Adelaide Parklands Circuit that simply said ‘Welcome to the world’s greatest street circuit’.

It’s gone now – hasn’t been there for years and seems to have just vanished, without a trace.

I miss that banner.

For a proud (some would say fiercely parochial) South Australian, that banner was a sign of what we had in the former home of the Australian Grand Prix and the current home of the Clip.. er.. Adelaide 500.

It was a subtle yet somehow make-you-smile kind of flag-waving moment for a state that often gets trodden-on in the national landscape, often dropping beneath the radar that generally blips to the tune of the big brothers in the East and the mines in the West.

As a state, South Australia often gets lost in the national conversation unless our footy teams are winning Grand finals.

We lack the confidence, the economy and the resources to wave our hand in the air and go ‘Hey, look how good we are’ like Sydney does with their Bridge and Melbourne with almost everything else.

But the Adelaide 500, and the Grand Prix before it, pushes us into the national limelight with something truly World Class in the same way the rejuvenated Adelaide Oval has done.

In the Adelaide Parklands Circuit we really have the standard on which a majority of all modern street circuit layouts and events have used as the template.

The permanent parkland section was first done here in 1985, before being followed successfully by Albert Park (which is the whole circuit), Townsville and more recently, Newcastle.

From the off-track activities to a packed race program it was, is and hopefully will continue to be the benchmark on which events of its type are judged.

And then there’s the track itself, a layout you could place in an empty paddock only to still produce the kind of competitive, breathless racing that we are delivered year on year.

From the brilliant overtaking opportunities at turns four, seven, nine and twelve to the bumps up Wakefield street, the Senna Chicane and the Brabham straight it has character in spades and always provides great racing.

And that’s before we mention the fabled turn eight, a corner mentioned with reverence and awe amongst the racing community as it should be, for it is brilliant.

With the fullest of respect to Albert Park or Townsville or Newcastle, it’s hard to see them creating something similar.

Of course, the advantage this place has is it has through three decades become iconic – Of current Supercar venues only Bathurst, Sandown and Phillip Island can claim a longer lineage and more impressive history.

Walking around the place gives you memories everywhere you look: the place where Hill and Schumacher crashed on East Tce. The pit wall Coulthard hit in 1995. Senna’s chicane. Scotty’s Jandal moment and more.

And this is a place used four days a year – and a few more in abbreviated format for the Motorsport Festival in November.

In the Adelaide Parklands Circuit and the event on it, South Australia can truly lay claim to something special that is worth putting up our hand and saying: ‘You know what? We rock. We’ve got this. We have an awesome track and event and we’re not afraid to tell people about it.’

It can only be good for the event and for the state.

And it can all start by finding that banner for the grandstand and displaying it proudly once again.

WORDS & IMAGE: Unofficial ambassador for the South Aussie tourism commission, Richard Craill