CLASSIC DALLARA F1 CAR RETURNS TO ADELAIDE
THE 1989 Dallara F189, with its beautiful sounding 3.5L V8 Cosworth engine, will be back at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival this weekend.
The Dallara was driven by Andrea de Cesaris throughout the 1989 Formula One season and raced at the season ending Adelaide Grand Prix that year – though this weekend the car will be cutting some laps in the hands of owner, South African, Andre Bezuidenhout.
It will be the second time that Bezuidenhout has attended the Adelaide Motorsport Festival – after being invited to last year’s event Bezuidenhout said he came to the festival because “the motor culture here is as good as anywhere in the world.”
Bezuidenhout was invited to the event in 2017 and said he was happy to come back again this year.
“I’ve had the car for about 14 years, it was kept in the factory after De Cesaris raced it, it then went to a friend of mine in Germany, and I got the car from him fourteen years ago.” Bezuidenhout said when asked about the ownership of the Dallara.
Bezuidenhout recalled that he has raced the car in South Africa and has set several lap records at local tracks, suggesting that a Formula One car needs to be driven half a dozen times a year to keep the keep the vehicle running smoothly.
“Most recently three years ago I ran it in one of South Africa’s famous hill climbs and set a national record with it there. Thereafter I’ve sent it to Australia and we’ve used it the last two years here,” Bezuidenhout said when talking about the cars recent history.
“I want to run the car safely, put on a spectacle with it, obviously drive it as quick as one can and put a good time in,” Bezuidenhout said when looking ahead to this weekend.
When asked what makes the Adelaide Motorsport Festival he said: “The variety is so huge here, you’ve got Formula One cars, Porsche 962’s, there are some great V8s here, so I think it’s the mix of Motorsport interest here it caters for just about everybody, the whole town gets involved in it.”
“It’s really sad Adelaide has lost the Grand Prix to Melbourne, you guys must do something about it, I think they should bring it back here.”
WORDS: Dan McCarthy
IMAGE: Richard Craill
Richard Craill (administrator)
Working full time in the motorsport industry since 2004, Richard has established himself within the group of Australia’s core motorsport broadcasters, covering the support card at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix for Channel 10, the Bathurst 12 Hour for Channel 7 and Porsche Carrera Cup & Touring Car Masters for FOX Sports’ Supercars coverage. Pretends to be a PR guy / Journalist and sometimes photographer to make ends meet when not yelling at a television in a padded room.
