Ex-Gerhard Berger BMW Benetton B186 Brings 1350hp to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival

Images thanks to Adelaide Motorsport Festival

Gerhard Berger’s Benetton B186 is heading to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival this 17-18 October, where it will thrill crowds driving on the same tarmac that Berger originally drove it on just shy of three decades ago.

We’re very much looking forward to seeing it, part of the biggest gathering of ’80s and ’90s F1 cars since the era, at the Adelaide Grand Prix Revival, so let’s enjoy it monstering the street circuit in full qualifying trim in 1986 to prepare.

In qualifying trim the Benetton B186’s BMW motor was well on the way to 1400 horsepower, and it managed a similarly-respectable 1000 in race trim. This helped keep the car competitive, but also gave it some reliability issues as the chassis struggled to handle the power, the aero struggled to keep up and spare parts were scarce. It left the sport with two pole positions, three fastest laps and Gerhard Berger’s win in the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix.

Les Wright will be driving the car when it takes part in the Adelaide Motorsport Festival on the 17-18 October. It will also be taking part in a police escorted drive through the city centre, which should be absolutely magic, at 5:30pm on the 16th October to the Gouger Street Party within Adelaide.

It will be joined by plenty of historically significant Formula 1 machinery, such as the 1985 Beatrice Lola driven by Alan Jones at the first Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, the ex-Berger Ferrari F1 87 which won in Adelaide in 1987 and two ex-Senna Lotus, including the pole-winning car from the first Adelaide race in 1985.

Then there’s the 230 other historic touring cars, sports cars and classic motorcycles taking part in the event that is striving to be Australia’s own ‘Goodwood’ style event. It’s all sounding very, very good to us!

The Adelaide Motorsport Festival will be held at Victoria Park over the weekend of Friday the 16th of October to Sunday the 18th of October. The Victoria Park Sprint Adelaide Grand Prix Revival will run over the 17th and 18th of October.

For more details head to www.adelaidemotorsportfestival.com.au

Images thanks to Adelaide Motorsport Festival