FEBRUARY 27, 2001

Adelaide drops race

ADELAIDE has ditched its "Race of a Thousand Years", the sportscar event which was introduced to revive the old street circuit on which the Australian Grand Prix was held between 1985 and 1995. South Australian state premier John Olsen said that it was "a fantastic event" but that he had decided to pull the plug because the $4m needed to stage the event was needed elsewhere. Olsen said that it was a case of "getting priorities right" and indicated that his intention was to use the money saved to recruit another 200 nurses to work in the state hospitals.

The announcement will come as a serious blow to Adelaide's ambitions to win back the Grand Prix (Melbourne has the event tied up for another 10 years) and even reviving the sportscar fixture is going to be difficult as the city of Perth in Western Australia is keen to take over.