BrisbaneRing

The **BrisbaneRing** is a former motor racing circuit in Brisbane, Australia. The track was opened in 2005 to host the Piston Cup Open Wheel Series Australian Grand Prix through 2008 along with its 2 and 3 Series, however in that time period, 5 racers were killed at the track, 3 from the main Open Wheel Series and 2 from the 2 Series. The track was closed following 2008.

## History

In 2005, Herbert Delplus Jr and business partner Stanley Truman agreed with the city of Brisbane, Australia to build a motor racing circuit called the BrisbaneRing on the outskirts of the city and host Piston Cup Open Wheel Series, 2 and 3 Series races starting in 2005 through 2008.

In the debut of the circuit in the Piston Cup Open Wheel Series, 2000 champion Percy Aikens was killed after losing control in turn 8. The impact into the barrier was quite small but Percy was pronounced dead hours after the race. 2006, no one thought of another tragedy happening as the season had not had the most violent incidents. However on lap 21 of 35 of the Open Wheel 2 Series race, Kyle Monroe, the rookie racer lost control in the same turn 8 Percy Aikens lost control and tragically killed. This made the BrisbaneRing owners of Herbert and Stanley more safety features in turn 8 and around the track. In 2007 however, another fatality there of the Open Wheel 2 Series occurred when Dirk Cash, brother of Mark Cash the billionaire, was killed in a turn 8 crash again. Turn 8 was changed as the turn was not really for the series to begin with as it was hard not to crash through it.

### The Tragedy Of 2008

In 2008, the biggest tragedy in Open Wheel Racing and maybe even Motorsports to this day was the lap 8 crash of the Australian Grand Prix. By this point Piston Cup Open Wheel was gonna re-sign following the 2008 event most likely through 2012 because the only problem was the old design of turn 8 but off of turn 18 and onto the front straight away, Tommy Orderfuel, brother of champion David Orderfuel and Max Turnwell collided causing Tommy to fly into the catch fencing and stay in it for a few more yards until he flew back onto the track causing multiple other cars to slide into him. Max however shot off of Tommy when he hit the fence and knocked the pit-wall down. Henry Alwax and Brett Slicks were also injured in the incident. The grand stands erupted in flames, however no fans were killed and 30 were injured with minor injuries. The race was ended after only 8 laps and no one ever raced on the track following this.

In 2012, the Piston Cup Open Wheel Series, along with its 2 and 3 series returned to Australia in Melbourne at the Melbourne Street Circuit, the same one that the World Grand Prix uses until 2020 due to the pandemic.

### Aftermath, BrisbaneRing Memorial

Following the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, Stanley Truman sold his share of the BrisbaneRing to Herbert Delplus Jr who ended up passing away from natural causes at the age of 70 a few weeks into 2009. The BrisbaneRing was purchased by the city of Brisbane. In 2013, the track was taken apart. In 2016 a memorial for Percy Aikens, Dirk Cash, Kyle Monroe, Tommy Orderfuel and Max Turnwell was made in place of the track, along with a memorial cemetery called BrisbaneRing Memorial Cemetery.