Can you name the 28 support categories to race at the Adelaide 500 since 1999?

THIS year’s VAILO Adelaide 500 marks the 25th anniversary of the Adelaide 500 classic and, over the years, it’s featured a lot more than just Supercars.

 

 

A wide variety of categories, from Australia and overseas, have graced the bitumen at the Hall of Fame event, many of them featuring future stars of Supercars racing.

 

 

All up, there have been 28 different categories fill the track since the first event in 1999 – but which of the Adelaide 500 support categories has been there the most? It’s no big surprise but what is now known as the Dunlop Super2 Series has been the longest serving support category at the event; this year marks the 21st time the development series of Supercars has supported its ‘big brother’ category.

 

 

The series was known as the Konica Series back in 2003 when it made its first appearance and a young V8 rookie – Mark Winterbottom – won the round in a Stone Brothers Racing-run Falcon.

 

 

The series has been a feature of the Adelaide 500 ever since and this year marks the 21st event in a row it’s been on the bill. The much-loved V8 BRutes/V8 Utes category is next best with 16 appearances from 2001 (the debut of the category) right through to 2016, but it will joined for equal second on the list by a category that will be part of this year’s event.

 

 

Porsche Carrera Cup Australia makes its 16th appearance this year, having first appeared in 2004. Touring Car Masters has made 15 Adelaide 500 appearances, the category spinning off from the Biante Touring Cars Group N historics that ran in preceding years to TCM’s first appearance in 2007. Aussie Racing Cars (14) and Australian GT/GT World Challenge Australia (12) are the only other categories in double figures.

 

 

Open wheeler categories have come and gone from the ‘500 over the years. Formula Holden appeared three times from 1999 to 2001, Formula 3 made seven appearances (the last in 2014) and S5000 has run the last two events in 2022 and 2023. The old PROCAR Championship Series provided a wide range of categories to the ‘500 during the early 2000s, including GT Production (six times) and GT Performance (four), but it was its marquee category, Nations Cup, that made a real splash.

 

 

The Nations Cup was spun out of the growth of the GT-P category and pitted Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari, Dodge and even Holden’s Monaro against one another.

 

 

The category made its racing debut at the 2000 Adelaide 500 and last appeared in 2004, the same year the category (and indeed PROCAR itself) was wound up.

 

 

Along the way there have also been some brief, albeit spectacular support categories.

 

 

The first two years of the event in 1999 and 2000 saw a range of 1960s F1 cars tackle the Adelaide streets as ‘Formula Adelaide’ with drivers the ilk of Sir Jack Brabham, Vern Schuppan and Bib Stillwell getting behind the wheel.

 

 

There’s also a unique group of categories that have made a single Adelaide 500 appearance, including HQ Holdens (1999), Mirage Series (2000), Lotus Super Series (2006), Sports Racer Series and MINI Challenge (both in 2010) and Trans Am (2020).

 

 

The TRICO Trans Am Series will, however, make its second Adelaide 500 appearance at this year’s event, which will be the season final and see a series champion crowned in the muscle car category.

 

 

The 2024 VAILO Adelaide 500 runs four days from November 14 to 17, as the 25th anniversary of his Hall of Fame event is celebrated on and off the track.

 

 

The Adelaide 500 Support Categories (in order of first appearance):

Group N Historic Touring Cars/Biante Touring Cars

HQ Holdens

Formula Holden

GT Production

Formula Adelaide Historic F1

Corporate Karts

Saloon Cars

Mirage Series

Nations Cup

Celebrity Challenge

V8 BRutes/Utes/Ute Muster

Formula 3

GT Performance

V8 Development/Super2

Aussie Racing Cars

Porsche Carrera Cup

Formula Ford

Lotus Super Series

Touring Car Masters

Australian GT/GT World Challenge Australia

Sports Racer Series

MINI Challenge

Stadium Trucks

Improved Production

SuperUtes

Audi Sport R8 LMS Cup

Trans Am

S5000