Surfers Paradise International Raceway

Motorsport venue
Name = Surfers Paradise International Raceway
Location = Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia
Time = UTC +10


Events = Tasman Series, ATCC
Length_km = 3.200
Length_mi = 1.988
Turns = 7
Record_time = 1:04.3
Record_driver = John Bowe
Record_team = Veskanda-Chevrolet
Record_year = 1986

Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The circuit was designed and built by Keith Williams, a motor racing enthusiast. It was located opposite the Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens at Carraracite web | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%252F%252Fcatalogue.goldcoast.qld.gov.au%252Fuhtbin%252Fpgc_image.exe%252FLS-LSP-CD204-IMG0011-MR | title=Believed to be motor bike racing at the Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Carrara, ca 1965 | publisher=National Library of Australia: Picture Australia | year=1965 | accessdate=2008-07-12] . The complex included a drag strip along the main straight, with a very fast right-hander under a Dunlop bridge leading to a tight corner that turned the track back to a medium-length straight. Then a fast-ish left hander before rushing into a series of rights and lefts that skirted the only hill on the property. A slow right that opened up brought the track back to the main straight. Within the circuit lay an airstrip and quarter-mile dirt speedway similar to the one that used to sit within the lower part of the Amaroo Park circuit. Drag racing commenced at Easter in 1966cite web | url=http://www.tasman-series.com/tracks/surfers/surfers.asp | title=Surfers Paradise Venue of the Surfers Paradise International | publisher=Tasman-Series.com | accessdate=2008-07-12] . Keith Williams sold the raceway in 1984cite web | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%252F%252Fcatalogue.goldcoast.qld.gov.au%252Fuhtbin%252Fpgc_image.exe%252FLS-LSP-CD204-IMG0011-MR | title=Believed to be motor bike racing at the Surfers Paradise International Raceway, Carrara, ca 1965 | publisher=National Library of Australia: Picture Australia | year=1965 | accessdate=2008-07-12] . After years of neglect it was finally destroyed in 2003. The site has since been redeveloped as Emerald Lakes canal estate.cite web | url=http://www.tasman-series.com/tracks/surfers/surfers.asp | title=Surfers Paradise Venue of the Surfers Paradise International | publisher=Tasman-Series.com | accessdate=2008-07-12] cite web | url=http://emeraldlakes.com.au/process/views/catalogueItemB.html?itemId=9325&categoryId=1316 | title=Location In the centre of the Gold Coast | publisher=Emerald Lakes | accessdate=2008-07-23]

Major races

With Lakeside well established as a Queensland's round of the Tasman Series it was not until 1968 that the series visited Surfers Paradise. As typified the 1968 series Jim Clark (Lotus 49T) and Chris Amon (Ferrari 246) filled the top two positions with Clark's team mate Graham Hill completing the podium. Formula 5000 Tasman Series rounds were also held at the circuit each year from 1970 to 1975. [cite web | url=http://www.sergent.com.au/tasman.html | title=Tasman Series | publisher=Tasman-Series.com | accessdate=2008-07-27] The Australian Grand Prix visited just once, in 1975. In torrential rain Max Stewart took his Lola T400 Formula 5000 to victory from John Leffler, who was second on a day when the F5000's were badly out-handled by Ray Winter driving his AF2 Brabham-based Mildren-Ford.

The circuit also played host to the several endurance races, most notably the Rothmans 12 Hour and was a regular round of the Australian Touring Car Championship throughout its life.

References