South Australian amateur and professional dragracers will have a world class strip at The Bend

Millions of dollars in revenue, and thousands of interstate visitors are predicted for South Australia as world-class drag racing returns.

A new $30m world-class drag track at The Bend Motorsport Park will attract hundreds of thousands of people a year and generate millions in annual income, owner Sam Shahin says.

But Dr Shahin has blasted a lack of support from the federal government for the track, which is set to be announced this morning.

The Advertiser can reveal the drag track will accommodate up to 10,000 spectators, while economic modelling shows the $30m international-standard facility will attract 120,000 attendees a year to 55 events. It will also create more than 200 jobs and generate north of $13m in annual economic activity.

A new drag racing track is set to be built at The Bend Motorsport Park.

“The state will reap the reward of visitor and tourist visitation, and will provide a much-needed boost to the economy, both at regional and state level,’’ Dr Shahin told The Advertiser.

He said The Bend, which had its genesis seven years ago, would finally become the “motorsport holy land” he had intended.

Dr Shahin praised the state government for its $2.5m contribution but said he was “extremely disappointed” the federal government had not helped the project.

“I am sure there would have been more attention paid for this mega project had it been in a marginal seat, or on the eastern seaboard but I honestly felt the decision makers in Canberra treat most things in South Australia with sheer contempt unless there are votes at the end of it.” he said. “At the end of the day, not all of our federal representatives believed enough in the project to fight for us.”

The federal government did not donate any money to the project.

The investment takes the total private-sector spend on the park to about $200m over the past seven years. Dr Shahin said drag racing enthusiasts had been the most vocal supporters of the The Bend Motorsport development.

There are no national or international standards strips in SA and the closest competition is in Mildura in Victoria.

“I would get inquiries about when we are going to do the drag strip about 50 times every week,’’ he said.

Premier Steven Marshall said $500,000 of the state funding would go towards the site’s Big4 holiday park, to add badly needed accommodation for Tailem Bend visitors.

“By investing $2.5m to support a brand new dragway and a major redevelopment of the accommodation available at The Bend, we will see a huge influx of new events, new people and in turn the creation of hundreds of jobs,” he said.

The park will have all racing disciplines in one locations.

The park and its 100-room four-star hotel would now stand alone as having all racing disciplines accessible at one location, including drag, rally, go-kart, the second longest GT-rated circuit in the world, also rated for MotoGP, rally cross, four-wheel drive and skid pan facilities.

The state government will also announce a $3.1m fund for grassroots motorsport clubs to be open to applications this year. That will include a statewide audit to identify current upgrades required to ensure safety requirements of statewide facilities.

The drag strip launch will resolve the unusual situation of SA hosting the sport’s governing body, the Australian National Drag Racing Association, but having no nat-ional standard ¼-mile facility.

The association’s chief executive, Brett Stevens, said he was so enthused about the project he had offered to bring a shovel and help, and had worked closely in the project with Dr Shahin for more than seven years.