Hidden Valley Raceway

Hidden Valley Raceway at a glance

Location

Berrimah, Darwin, Northern Territory

Type

road course

Length

2.87 km (1.783 mi)

Turns

14

Direction

counter-clockwise

Surface

asphalt

Opened

1986

Owner

Northern Territory Government

Address

171 Hidden Valley Road

Website

nt.gov.au/leisure/sport/facilities-and-contacts/find-a-sports-facility/hidden-valley-motor-sports-complex

Track map and layout

Hidden Valley is a fast, flowing 2.87-kilometre, 14-turn road course on flat scrubland ten minutes from central Darwin, built around a 1.1-kilometre main straight that lets Supercars reach well over 260 km/h before hard braking into Turn 1. The lap runs anti-clockwise across largely level ground, rewarding commitment through its faster sweeps rather than technical low-speed corners, though the Top End's tropical heat and building humidity through the June race weekend make tyre and driver management a genuine factor. There is no separate short circuit in regular use; Supercars, Porsche Carrera Cup and GT World Challenge Australia all share the same full layout. The wider Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex also houses a dragstrip, a dirt speedway oval and a kart track on the same 94-hectare government-owned site.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

Hidden Valley's headline weekend is the Supercars Championship's Darwin Triple Crown, run every June to catch the Top End's cooler, drier season, with support categories such as Trans-Am Australia, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia and Super2 filling out the same weekend. GT World Challenge Australia and GT4 Australia hold a separate round in the cooler months, the FIM Motocross World Championship's MXGP of Australia has run here since 2025, and the adjoining dragstrip hosts ANDRA national events including the Nitro Up North nitro and doorslammer meeting each August.

Getting there and parking

Hidden Valley sits about 10 kilometres south-east of central Darwin in the suburb of Berrimah, a straightforward drive via Tiger Brennan Drive. Darwin International Airport is the only realistic gateway for interstate and international visitors and is only a few minutes further down the same road, making Hidden Valley one of the more accessible major circuits in Australia to fly into for a race weekend.

• Darwin International Airport (DRW) · about 15 min drive

Book flights and accommodation early for Triple Crown weekend in June - it falls inside Darwin's busy dry-season tourist period, and hotel rates rise sharply as the event approaches.

Hotels and camping near Hidden Valley Raceway

Camping is not permitted at Hidden Valley itself, so visitors base themselves in Darwin, a 15-20 minute drive away, where the CBD, the Esplanade waterfront and the airport hotel precinct all sit within easy reach of the circuit. Rooms fill quickly and prices climb for Triple Crown weekend in June, which lands in Darwin's peak dry-season tourist period, so booking well ahead matters more here than at most Australian circuits.

Where to look

Darwin CBD, the Esplanade waterfront precinct, and the Darwin Airport hotel cluster (Hilton, DoubleTree, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis), all within about 15-20 minutes of the circuit.

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

Hidden Valley is open to the public well beyond its Supercars weekend. Commercial operators run V8 drive and hot-lap experience days on the circuit, putting visitors behind the wheel of, or riding alongside a professional in, a genuine V8 race car, and the Northern Territory Government-run venue also hosts club-level track days and testing for local car and bike clubs through the year. Public track-day calendars are set by individual clubs and operators rather than published centrally, so check with the venue or an experience operator for current dates.

Who runs days here

• Fastrack Experiences (V8 drive and hot-lap days)car

Lap records

Spectator guide

Grassed terrace banks wrap much of the lap in an amphitheatre style, giving general-admission fans sightlines across several corners at once rather than the single-corner view typical of purpose-built grandstands. The long main straight and Turn 1 braking zone are the main draw for overtaking and photography, while the Top End's tropical heat and humidity through the June race weekend make shade, water and sun protection more important here than at any other circuit on the Supercars calendar.

Best places to watch

Grassed terrace banks around Turn 1 and along the main straight give the widest views of braking and overtaking.

Weather

• Jun: Dry season: average high around 29-31°C, low humidity, cool mornings and negligible rain

History of Hidden Valley Raceway

From dragstrip to national venue

Hidden Valley's story starts with drag racing rather than circuit racing. Darwin's hot-rod community, organised through the King Cobra Rod and Custom Club, ran meets from the early 1960s on borrowed strips including a disused Second World War bomber airstrip and later the Livingston airstrip roughly 54 kilometres from town. By the late 1970s the Northern Territory government began looking for a permanent home, and in 1979 Chief Minister Marshall Perron announced a purpose-built motorsport complex on a 94-hectare block at Hidden Valley, about 15 kilometres from the Darwin CBD.

Building the complex

The dragstrip opened first, in 1985, and the full 2.87-kilometre road course followed in 1986, giving the Top End its first permanent circuit. A $2.5 million upgrade in 1997-98 brought the track up to the standard needed to host the Australian Touring Car Championship, the forerunner of Supercars, and Hidden Valley welcomed the national series for the first time in 1998. Further work followed in the 2000s and 2010s: a pit-lane expansion in 2005, upgraded concrete barriers in 2010, and a $9.5 million resurfacing programme completed in 2014 that kept the circuit's licence current for top-tier racing in tropical conditions.

Present day

The Darwin Triple Crown, run each June to coincide with the Top End's cooler, drier season, remains the marquee weekend, supported by categories including Trans-Am Australia, Porsche Carrera Cup Australia and Super2. GT World Challenge Australia holds a separate round in the cooler months, the FIM Motocross World Championship's MXGP of Australia has run here since 2025, and the adjoining dragstrip hosts long-running ANDRA national events such as the Nitro Up North nitro and doorslammer meeting each August. Owned and run by the Northern Territory Government, Hidden Valley today functions as a genuine multi-discipline complex - road course, dragstrip, dirt oval and kart track sharing one site - and remains the only permanent motor racing circuit in the Northern Territory.

Frequently asked questions