Barbagallo Raceway

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**Barbagallo Raceway**


Location	Wanneroo, Australia
Time zone	GMT +8
Major Events	V8 Supercars
Circuit Length	2.42 km (1.51 mi)
Turns	7
Lap Record	0:51.6726 (Gary West, Lola F3000, 2006)

Barbagallo Raceway is a motorsport circuit located in Wanneroo, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Perth in Western Australia.

The circuit was originally known as Wanneroo Park and the first race meet took place in March, 1969. Initially the major race per year was a 6 hour Le Mans style race for sedans and sports cars known as the Six Hour Le Mans. However as interest dulled in that event, production car racing took over as the major race type.

In 1979, the Australian Grand Prix was held at Wanneroo Park which coincided with the opening of the new pits and paddock area to the west of the circuit. In 1992, it was decided that a short circuit would be constructed by linking Turn 5 on the current circuit to the back straight forming a new 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) long circuit. This extension was funded by Alf Barbagallo and hence the circuit name was changed to Barbagallo Raceway. The short circuit allowed for an increase in the types of racing including the inclusion of truck racing and also allowed events to be run at night.

The circuit was completely resurfaced in 2004 and this saw almost all lap records broken in the first few months of 2004. The surface changed from an abrasive surface which was renowned for being very hard on tyres to a grippy, smooth surface.

Today the track holds a number of major race meets each year, with the biggest being a round of the V8 Supercar championship. This is one of the biggest sporting events in Western Australia each year with over 50,000 people attending the 3 day event.