It’s a legendary corner and has witnessed plenty of action since the Supercars began racing back at the Adelaide Parklands Street Circuit in 1999, so The Garage is reflecting back on some of the biggest hits at Turn 8 in Adelaide.
2000 – Brad Jones
Before it was even a sweeper, Turn 8 provided plenty of chaos. However, Brad Jones in his first full-season V8 Supercars campaign in 2000 came to grief at Turn 8 in a big way after running wide and clipping a tyre wall resulting in his Ozemail Ford Falcon flipping upside down. Jones emerged from the incident unscathed, but it wasn’t the last time he’d come to grief there.
2002 – Glenn Seton
Newly aligned to become a fast sweeper, Glenn Seton became the first victim of this new layout when he clipped the inside wall and ricocheted towards the outside wall, moving the four tonne concrete walls with great force. Again, a testament to the Ford Credit team Seton was able to emerge with just a cut chin from the incident.
2004 – The Big One
Following a safety car, lapped car Anthony Tratt was second behind leader Marcos Ambrose causing a lot of angst behind for drivers battling for position. Driving for Garry Rogers Motorsport, Cameron McConville was the biggest loser as Jason Richards, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly all moved through. Youngster Paul Dumbrell was hoping to do the same at Turn 8, but all chaos ensued. A small tap between McConville and Dumbrell left the GRM Commodore spread-eagled across the circuit as Brad Jones, Steven Johnson and Mark Winterbottom all tangled leading to a big collision.
2005 – Steve Ellery, Garth Tander
The 2005 edition of the Adelaide 500 proved a tough affair as Steve Ellery was the first to bore the brunt of Turn 8 in Race 1 when the front splitter dropped off his Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon, sending it hard into the outside fence.
Then, the next day proved another destructive event as the Turn 8 wall claimed another victim in the form of Garth Tander in the HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore.
2006 – Mark Skaife x2, Greg Murphy, James Courtney
The opening round of the 2006 season was double trouble for Mark Skaife. In a new Holden Racing Team VZ Commodore, Skaife hit the wall after a failure causing severe damage. But the next race was no better.
Following Paul Dumbrell, Greg Murphy and Marcos Ambrose through Turn 8, Skaife was caught out by an incident in front. Dumbrell attempted a move down the inside on Murphy, but this resulted in the Paul Weel Racing Commodore running wide into the wall, with Skaife following to ensure he left Adelaide with no points.
James Courtney endured a tough start to his Supercars career, with Turn 8 bringing an end to his opening race as a full-time driver driving the Jeld-wen SBR Ford Falcon.
2014 – Will Davison
Moving to Erebus Motorsport and its unique Mercedes E63 AMG in 2014, Will Davison didn’t get his maiden campaign off to a good start after hitting the Turn 8 wall. A wheel and the passenger side door went flying after slight contact with James Moffat sent Davison into the outside wall during the final race of the weekend.
2018 – Jamie Whincup
Who says the GOAT doesn’t make mistakes? Jamie Whincup returned to Adelaide in 2018 as the reigning Supercars champion, but this didn’t stop him from hitting the wall during qualifying for the opening race season. The Triple Eight squad did recover to rebuild the ZB Commodore to finish sixth in Race 1.