Surfers Paradise Street Circuit

Coordinates: 27°59′23″S 153°25′40″E / 27.98972°S 153.42778°E / -27.98972; 153.42778
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Champ Car
)

The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary

Southport Road Circuit (1954–1955) and Surfers Paradise International Raceway
(1966–1987).

From 1991 to 2008, the circuit hosted an

American Championship car racing event, the Gold Coast Indy 300. The circuit has also hosted touring car races since 1994, with the Supercars Championship currently contesting the annual Gold Coast 500 at the circuit.[1]

Circuit

Background

Original Proposed Layout shown in 1991

Ron Dickson, the president of D3 Motorsport Development held the rights for

CART internationally in the 1980s. Following lobbying from prominent Queensland businessmen, and a brief meeting with State Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the event was confirmed for Queensland, and Surfers Paradise was chosen over Brisbane, the state capital. The original circuit layout was designed by Ron Dickson of D3 Motorsport Development, and was the fourth concept put forward for the Surfers Paradise area. Preliminary work was carried out in 1988, and the circuit was opened on 15 March 1991 for the 1991 Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix
.

Construction

The track during construction for the 2006 Lexmark Indy 300

The construction of the circuit has been acclaimed internationally[citation needed] and is used as a benchmark for new temporary street circuits world-wide.[citation needed] Over a full 12-month period plans are laid and then implemented to transform a bustling residential, commercial and holiday destination into a temporary street circuit capable of facilitating high-speed motor races and hundreds of thousands of people. The circuit construction since 2009 has been project managed by local Gold Coast firm iEDM who specialise in motorsport venue engineering and delivery.[2]

In constructing the original circuit, over a two-month construction period, seven bridges were erected, along with 2,515 concrete barriers, 11,500 grandstand seats, more than 140 corporate suites, 10 km (6.2 mi) of debris fencing and 16 km (9.9 mi) of security fencing, as well as many more temporary structures being fitted, and large-scale power and telecommunications systems being activated.

The circuit is also an international leader in motor racing safety standards applauded by the

Confederation of Australian Motorsport and the FIA
(the international governing body of motorsport). One of the major advancements over the later years of the Champ Car era was the installation of double height debris fencing, including an additional 610 panels in high impact areas in 2005.

Shortened layout

Since 2010, the Supercars Championship has run a notably shorter layout of the circuit. At the Turn 2 chicane, the circuit enters a hairpin to the left and rejoins the original track at the Esses. The then-CEO of V8 Supercars, Tony Cochrane, suggested this layout after the A1 Grand Prix cars dropped out of the 2009 event.[3] This was an effort to reduce the cost of running the event without an international drawcard series. This was achieved by reducing the construction time, amount of materials needed and also limits the impact on local residents and tourists. It is no longer possible to use the full circuit with the G:link light rail line having been built over it.[4]

History

American Championship car racing

Original Surfers Paradise Street Circuit
Main article: Gold Coast Indy 300

An annual event had been held here beginning with the opening round of the

2008, the future of race had originally been secured until 2013 as an IRL IndyCar Series event, however the race was dropped from the calendar after the first demonstration race, and the A1 Grand Prix was signed up as a replacement, severing its eighteen-year history with American open wheel racing.[5]

A1 Grand Prix

On 11 November 2008 after extensive negotiations with the IRL broke down, the

V8 Supercar races.[10]

Touring cars

An aerial view of the street circuit as seen from a helicopter.
A north-bound view of the circuit on the Main Beach straight. Photo taken post-race.
Main article: Gold Coast 500

Since

Group 3A
touring car category had previously appeared as a support category in 1994 and from 1996 onwards.

From 2003 to 2007, the touring cars officially shared top billing with the Champcar World Series, and then with the Indy Racing League in 2008. The 2009 race was amended after the demise of A1GP, moving to a 600-kilometre (370 mi) format of four 150-kilometre (93 mi) races, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. From that year on, Supercars are the major category at the event. For 2010 the format was changed to consist of a single 300-kilometre (190 mi) race on each day, with two drivers per car.

In

2011 Sébastien Bourdais
became the first and only driver to win at Surfers Paradise in both a Champ Car (in 2005 and 2007) and a V8 Supercar (in 2011, and then again in 2012).

Events

Current
  • October:
    Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series
Former

Lap records

As of October 2024, the official race lap records at Surfers Paradise Street Circuit are listed as: [11]

Class Driver Vehicle Time Date
Supercars Street Circuit: 2.960 km (2010–present)
S5000 Australia Joey Mawson Rogers AF01/V8-Ford 1:09.4981[12] 30 October 2022
Supercars Australia Will Davison Ford FG Falcon 1:10.0851[13] 23 October 2011
Sports Sedan
 Australia Cameron McLeod MARC GT SS Mustang 1:11.0365 29 October 2023
Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Aaron Love Porsche 911 (992) GT3 Cup 1:11.7955[14] 30 October 2022
GT3 Australia Fraser Ross McLaren 720S GT3 1:11.9918[15] 26 October 2019
Formula Ford Australia Nick Foster Mygale SJ10A-Ford 1:15.8478 27 October 2013
Formula 4 Australia Will Brown Mygale M14-F4-Ford 1:16.8732 23 October 2016
Touring Car Masters New Zealand Jim Richards Ford Falcon Sprint 1:21.3734 21 October 2011
Aussie Racing Cars Australia Joel Heinrich ARC Mustang Yamaha 1:22.1281 25 October 2024
SuperUtes Series Australia Cameron Crick Ford Ranger 1:23.5179 26 October 2024
V8 Ute Racing Series Australia George Miedecke Ford FG Falcon Ute 1:24.0277 23 October 2015
Toyota GR86 Racing Series
 Australia James Lodge Toyota GR86 1:26.1702 27 October 2024
Stadium Super Trucks United States Sheldon Creed Stadium Super Truck-Chevrolet 1:33.8386 23 October 2016
Original Street Circuit: 4.470 km (1991–2009)
Champ Car
 United States Graham Rahal Panoz DP01 1:31.093 21 October 2007
IndyCar United Kingdom Dario Franchitti Dallara IR-05 1:35.1552 26 October 2008
Formula Three Australia John Martin
Dallara F307
 1:47.9630 24 October 2008
V8 Supercars Australia Garth Tander
Holden VE Commodore
 1:49.8352 21 October 2007
Porsche Carrera Cup New Zealand Craig Baird Porsche 911 (997) GT3 Cup 1:53.2297 23 October 2008
Nations Cup Australia Paul Stokell
Lamborghini Diablo GTR
 1:54.5710 23 October 2003
Formula Ford New Zealand Mitch Evans Mygale SJ07A 1:57.1461 23 October 2009
Aussie Racing Cars Australia Kyle Clews Commodore-
Yamaha
 2:06.7819 23 October 2009
Pickup truck racing Australia Ryal Harris
Holden VE SS
 2:14.5591 18 October 2007
HQ Holden Australia Steve Haley Holden HQ 2:29.9498 18 October 1998

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ "GALLERY: Gold Coast 500 track build". Speedcafe. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  2. ^ "iEDM - Motorsport". iedm.com.au/motorsport-engineering. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  3. ^ "V8 Supercar Challenge > Circuit". Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
  4. ^ Herrero, Daniel (30 October 2018). "Queensland Premier seeks talks over Gold Coast Indy return". Speedcafe. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  5. ^ Stolz, Greg (11 November 2008). "Race over for Gold Coast Indy". couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  6. ^ "A1GP to race in Surfers Paradise". a1gp.com. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Gold Coast SuperGP unveiled as Indy replacement". news.com.au. 17 February 2008. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
  8. ^ "糖尿病の初期症状を予防する". www.a1gp.com.
  9. ^ "A1GP statement". a1gp.com. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
  10. ^ Mival, Al (17 October 2009). "V8 Supercars to replace scrapped event as A1GP cars fail to show". couriermail.com.au. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  11. ^ "Natsoft Race Results". natsoft.com.au. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
  12. ^ "2022 S5000 Tasman Series Gold Coast 500 - Race 2". Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  13. ^ "2011 V8 Supercars Armor All Gold Coast 600 (Race 2)". Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  14. ^ "2022 Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Aust - Race 2". Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  15. ^ "Australian GT Championship Surfers Paradise 2019". Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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