Canberra set to host Supercars finale from 2023 - V8 Supercars to return to ACT for first time since 2002 with carbon-neutral event

Supercars racing could return to the nation’s capital with ambitious plans to host a new street race on the Canberra streets.

CarsGuide can reveal that negotiations are underway to host the 2023 season finale on an all-new street circuit based out of Canberra’s Exhibition Park, and we have an exclusive illustration of what the circuit will look like.

While the deal is not secured, CarsGuide understands negotiations are well advanced and the layout has been formalised. The 3.2km circuit will use a combination of Exhibition Park’s internal roads and public roads and will run anti-clockwise. The pitlane complex will sit alongside Canberra Showground and run through the internal roads before joining Morisset Road and then turning onto Flemington Road, which will complete the lap.

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This is a major difference from the previous Canberra street circuit that was run around the Parliamentary Triangle, right in the heart of the city. This race, the Canberra 400, was short-lived, only running three times between 2000 and 2002.

A major reason for the failure of the original Canberra street race was the timing, held on the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend in June, with cold weather keeping fans away. According to CarsGuide’s source, this new race will be the final race of the season, which would put it into the warmer weather of late November or early December.

The race is being branded as the ‘Canberra 500’, which suggests it will likely be a double-header event of 250km races held on Saturday and Sunday; similar to the once-popular Adelaide 500. Supercars needs a new showpiece finale, with the previous season-ending Newcastle 500 shifting to the season-opener from 2022.

Another advantage of this new plan is by housing the event in Exhibition Park, many of the logistical issues around hosting a street race, specifically public transport, ticketing and accommodation are already well covered because it also hosts the annual Summernats event.

Exhibition Park is no stranger to motorsport action, in addition to Summernats, it was also the venue for the super special stage of Rally Canberra in 2000, when it was a round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

Our source also tells us the organisers are planning to bill this race as Australia’s first carbon-neutral motorsport event, although how they plan to achieve it is unclear. The all-electric Formula E series was the first carbon-neutral category, achieving it by reducing as much of its emissions as possible and off-setting the rest.