In recent days, news had circulated that the historic Phillip Island circuit was to be demolished and turned into a golf course. The rumour originated with Bob Barnard, an engineer who had worked on the design of the Adelaide circuit for the first F1 race in 1985 and on the renovation of Phillip Island to host the World Motorcycle Championship. Barnard had posted an open letter on his LinkedIn profile, but it has since been deleted.
“Recent comments suggest that, after losing both MotoGP and SBK, the owner of the Phillip Island circuit, Lindsay Fox, might turn it into a golf course,” he had claimed.
The news quickly spread around the world, with fans rallying in support of this iconic motorcycle racing track. However, it was denied by Andrew Fox, Lindsay’s son and managing director of Linfox Property Group, the company that purchased the Phillip Island circuit in 2004.
“The circuit is absolutely not for sale, and we have no interest in building a golf course on our property at Phillip Island,” Andrew Fox told the Australian Motorcycle News website. “It’s not even on the market. It never has been. The land will definitely remain a racetrack. I’d like to make this very, very clear on behalf of the Fox family. As for the rumours about a golf course, the last time a proposal to that effect was put forward (though it concerned a plot of land adjacent to the track, ed.), the city council voted against it. So why should the Fox family waste their time again, especially at the cost of destroying the track?”
Phillip Island will, however, be removed from the MotoGP and Superbike calendars. The MotoGP World Championship will move to Adelaide, to a street circuit, as early as next year, while the Superbike series will move to The Bend in 2028.