Surfers Paradise International Raceway
Location | Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia |
---|---|
Time zone | UTC+10:00 |
Coordinates | 28°0′59″S 153°22′34″E / 28.01639°S 153.37611°E |
Opened | 1966 |
Closed | 27 August 1987 |
Major events | Tasman Series (1968, 1970–1975) Australian Touring Car Championship (1969, 1971–1977, 1979–1987) Australian Grand Prix (1975) Australian GT (1982–1985) Australian Drivers' Championship (1966–1969, 1971–1975, 1977) |
Full Circuit (1966–1987) | |
Length | 3.219 km (2.000 miles) |
Turns | 7 |
Race lap record | 1:04.3 ( John Bowe, Veskanda C1, 1986, Group C) |
Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at
The circuit
Surfers Paradise Raceway included a dragstrip along the main straight (a design later incorporated into the Williams owned Adelaide International Raceway), with a very fast right-hander under the Dunlop Bridge leading to a tight corner that turned the track back to a medium-length straight. Then a fast left hander before rushing into a series of rights and lefts that skirted the only hill on the property (commonly known as Repco[2] Hill). A slow right called that opened up brought the track back to the main straight.[3]
The right hand turn under the Dunlop Bridge was widely considered the fastest and most daunting corner in Australian motorsport until the building of the Chase chicane at the Mount Panorama Circuit in 1987, with many top drivers including Allan Moffat, John Harvey and Tony Edmonson all having crashed there over the years.
Within the circuit lay an airstrip and quarter-mile speedway similar to the one that used to sit within the lower part of the Amaroo Park circuit in Sydney. Drag racing commenced at Easter in 1966, with the June meet, the Winternationals, beginning in 1968. The Winternationals became the largest drag racing meet outside the United States.[4][5]
Keith Williams sold the raceway in 1984, and the circuit closed at the end of 1987 after 21 years of operation, with the final meeting held on the 27th of August.
In 1993, after years of neglect, volunteers and police helped get the drag racing strip back to a usable state for "Operation: Drag" to stop hoon drag racing on streets. This involved the Blue Light foundation who helped run the event which was a $10 entry to drag race against someone else in a safe environment instead of on public roads.
Major races
Tasman Series
With
Year | Winner | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Jim Clark | Ford
|
Team Lotus |
1970 | Graham McRae | McLaren M10A Chevrolet
|
|
1971 | Frank Matich | Repco Holden
|
Rothmans Team Matich |
1972 | Graham McRae | Leda GM1 Chevrolet
|
Grid International (NZ) Ltd |
1973 | Frank Matich | Repco Holden
|
Frank Matich |
1974 | Teddy Pilette | Chevron B24 Chevrolet | Chevron Racing Team VDS |
1975 | Johnnie Walker | Repco Holden
|
Walker Racing |
Australian Grand Prix
The
Year | Winner | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1975 | Max Stewart | Lola T400 Chevrolet | Max Stewart Motors |
Rothmans International Series
With the demise of the Tasman Series after 1976, the void was filled with the Rothmans International Series from 1976 to 1979. The first race scheduled for Surfers Paradise on 29 February 1976 was cancelled.
Year | Winner | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Race Cancelled | Race Cancelled | Race Cancelled |
1977 | Warwick Brown | Lola T430 Chevrolet | Racing Team VDS |
1978 | Warwick Brown | Lola T332 Chevrolet | Racing Team VDS |
1979 | David Kennedy | Wolf WR4 Ford Cosworth
|
Theodore Racing |
Australian Touring Car Championship
The circuit hosted rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1969, 1971–72, 1974–77 and from 1979 until the circuits closure in 1987.
* The 1976 and 1977 ATCC rounds at Surfers were the Rothmans 300 endurance races
Endurance races
Numerous endurance races were staged at the circuit, most notably the Rothmans 12 Hour events.
Event | Winning drivers | Winning car | Date | Category |
1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race | Jackie Stewart Andrew Buchanan |
Ferrari 250LM | 21 August 1966 | Group A Sports Cars |
1967 Surfers Paradise Four Hour | Kevin Bartlett
Doug Chivas |
Alfa Romeo Giulia Super | 9 April 1967 | Production cars |
1967 Rothmans 12 Hour | Bill Brown Greg Cusack |
Ferrari 250LM | 3 September 1967 | Group A Sports Cars |
1968 Surfers Paradise 4 Hour
|
John French | Alfa Romeo GTV
|
9 June 1968 | Production cars |
1968 Surfers Paradise 6 Hour | Leo Geoghegan Ian Geoghegan |
Ferrari 250LM | 1 August 1968 | Group A Sports Cars |
1969 Rothmans 12 Hour Classic | Bill Gates John Bertram |
Ford XT Falcon GT
|
5 January 1969 | Production cars |
1969 Chevron Paradise 6 Hour | Kunimitsu Takahashi Yoshikayo Sunago |
Datsun R380 Mk. 2 | 2 November 1969 | Group A Sports Cars |
1970 Rothmans 12 Hour | Colin Bond Tony Roberts |
Holden HT Monaro GTS350 | 4 January 1970 | Production cars |
1970 Rothmans 250 Production Classic | Allan Moffat | Ford XW Falcon GT-HO Phase II
|
1 November 1970 | Production cars |
1971 Rothmans 250 | Allan Moffat | Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III
|
7 November 1971 | Group E Series Production Touring Cars |
1972 Chesterfield 300 | Allan Moffat | Ford XY Falcon GT-HO Phase III
|
26 November 1972 | Group E Series Production Touring Cars |
1973 Chesterfield 300 | Peter Brock | Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1
|
12 November 1973 | Group C Touring Cars |
1974 Chesterfield 300 | Colin Bond | Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 | 10 November 1974 | Group C Touring Cars |
1975 Rothmans 300 | Allan Moffat | Ford XB Falcon GT Hardtop
|
9 November 1975 | Group C Touring Cars |
1976 Rothmans 300 | Peter Brock | Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34 | 7 November 1976 | Group C Touring Cars |
1977 Rothmans 300 | Allan Moffat | Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop
|
6 November 1977 | Group C Touring Cars |
1978 Rothmans 300 | Peter Brock | Holden LX Torana A9X SS Hatchback | 5 November 1978 | Group C Touring Cars |
1979 Rothmans 300 | Charlie O'Brien | Holden LX Torana A9X SS 4-Door | 4 November 1979 | Group C Touring Cars |
1980 Compact Tennis 400 | Charlie O'Brien | Holden VC Commodore
|
2 November 1980 | Group C Touring Cars |
1981 Surfers Paradise International Resort 300 | Allan Moffat | Mazda RX-7 | 1 November 1981 | Group C Touring Cars |
1982 Gold Coast 300 | Allan Moffat | Mazda RX-7 | 7 November 1982 | Group C Touring Cars |
1983 Gold Coast 300 | Allan Grice | Holden VH Commodore SS
|
30 October 1983 | Group C Touring Cars |
1984 Motorcraft 300 | Peter Brock | Holden VK Commodore
|
4 November 1984 | Group C Touring Cars |
1985 Motorcraft 300 | Jim Richards
|
BMW 635 CSi
|
27 October 1985 | Group A Touring Cars |
1986 BP Plus 300 | George Fury Glenn Seton |
Nissan Skyline DR30 RS
|
24 August 1986 | Group A Touring Cars |
National championship rounds
Rounds of various Australian motor racing championship were held at the circuit. Winners of the Surfers Paradise round of a selection of these championships is shown below.
Australian Drivers' Championship
Year | Driver | Car | Entrant | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Australian National Formula / Australian 1½ Litre Formula | ||||
1966 | Spencer Martin | Repco-Brabham BT11A Climax | Bob Jane Racing
| |
1967 | Spencer Martin | Repco-Brabham BT11A Climax | Bob Jane Racing Team
| |
1968 | Kevin Bartlett | Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo | Alec Mildren Racing
| |
Australian National Formula / Australian Formula 2 | ||||
1969 | Kevin Bartlett | Waggott
|
Alec Mildren Racing
| |
Australian Formula 1 / Australian Formula 2 | ||||
1971 | Frank Matich | Repco Holden
|
Rothmans Team Matich | |
1972 | Frank Matich | Repco Holden
|
Frank Matich Racing | |
1973 | John McCormack | Repco-Holden
|
Ansett Team Elfin | |
1974 | Max Stewart | Lola T330 Chevrolet
|
Max Stewart Motors | |
1975 | Max Stewart | Lola T400 Chevrolet | Sharp Corporation | |
1977 | John McCormack | McLaren M23 Leyland | Budget Rent-A-Car System |
Australian Sports Car Championship
Year | Driver | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1969 | Frank Matich | Matich SR4 Repco
|
Rothmans Team Matich |
1972 | John Harvey | McLaren M6B Repco
|
Bob Jane Racing
|
1982 | Chris Clearihan | Kaditcha Chevrolet | Chris Clearihan |
1983 | Chris Clearihan | Kaditcha Chevrolet | Chris Clearihan |
1984 | Bap Romano | Romano WE84 Cosworth | Bap Romano Racing |
1985 | Chris Clearihan | Kaditcha Chevrolet | Chris Clearihan |
1986 | John Bowe | Veskanda C1 Chevrolet | Bernard van Elsen |
Australian Sports Sedan Championship
Year | Driver | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1976 | Allan Moffat | Chevrolet Monza | Allan Moffat Racing |
1977 | Bob Jane | Holden HQ Monaro | Bob Jane 2UW Racing Team
|
1978 | Allan Grice | Chevrolet Corvair | Craven Mild Racing |
1979 | Phil Ward
|
Holden HQ Monaro | Channel 10 - NSW Building Society |
1980 | Tony Edmondson | Repco Holden
|
Donald Elliott |
Australian GT Championship
Year | Driver | Car | Entrant |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Alan Jones | Porsche 935 | Porsche Cars Australia |
1983 | Rusty French | Porsche 935 | John Sands Racing |
1984 | Allan Grice | Chevrolet Monza | Re-Car Racing |
1985 | Bryan Thomson | Chevrolet Monza | Thomson-Fowler Motorsport |
See also
References
- ^ a b "Believed to be motor bike racing at the Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Carrara, ca 1965". National Library of Australia: Picture Australia. 1965. Archived from the original on 21 August 2009. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
- ^ "Surfers Paradise International Raceway – primotipo…".
- ^ Galpin, Darren. "Surfer's Paradise". GEL Motorsport Information Page. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
- ^ a b "Surfers Paradise Venue of the Surfers Paradise International". Tasman-Series.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2003. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
- ^ "Winternationals 2012".
- ISBN 0908031556.
- ^ "Willowbank Raceway celebrates 30 years of history". Willowbank Raceway. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "Location In the centre of the Gold Coast". Emerald Lakes. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
- ^ "Tasman Series". Tasman-Series.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2006. Retrieved 27 July 2008.