Australia's Motorsport Hub

The Bend Motorsport Park has set a new standard for Australian motorsport and is looking to improve as it prepares for its second Virgin Australia Supercars Championship and, from 2020, an endurance event.

- Adrian Musolino

In a few short years, The Bend Motorsport Park grew from what seemed to be a fanciful idea to what is now considered the benchmark for Australian motorsport facilities. What was a few years ago a dustbowl at the former Mitsubishi test track at Tailem Bend is now a hub for all manner of motoring activity.

There hadn’t been a new motorsport facility built in Australia in close to two decades, and with permanent circuits at risk of closing across the country, it seemed an ambitious project for the Peregrine Corporation to build a world-class motorsport hub 100 kilometres south-east of Adelaide.

Yet South Australians knew not to doubt the Shahin family and their Peregrine Corporation, which grew from humble beginnings with a single petrol station in 1984 to one of the top 15 private companies in Australia and the largest in South Australia.

The Shahins are motorsport fanatics, with Sam and brother Yasser regular competitors in the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup and Australian GT categories respectively, and the desire to build The Bend Motorsport Park was to give something back to the community, sport and country. And the Peregrine Corporation has done just that, confounding the sceptics who didn’t believe the grand project would see the light of day.

“It’s a grand vision, a grand project, a very optimistic project, but in tough economic times, and when the chips are down and times are tough, you need people to step forward of the line up,” said Sam Shahin.

“I’m very motivated to build a facility in Australia that ranks alongside some of the great circuits and facilities around the world.”

The Bend Motorsport Park is now fully operational. An ‘On The Run’ petrol station, the Peregrine Corporation’s core business, sits on the entry of the circuit off the Dukes Highway.