Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing racing circuit on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The circuit was opened in 1956.

History

Road circuit

Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with the running of the 100 Miles Road Race, an event which has since become known as the first Australian Grand Prix. It utilised a high speed rectangle of local closed-off public roads with four similar right hand corners. The course length varied, with the car course approximately 6 miles per lap, compared to the motorcycle cicuit which was approximatley 10 miles (16 km) in length. The circuit was the venue for the Australian Grand Prix through to 1935 and it was used for the last time on 6 May 1935 for the Jubilee Day Races.^[4]

A triangular circuit utilising one leg of the original rectangular course was subsequently mapped out and used for racing ^[5] from 1936 to 1940.^[6]

Grand Prix Circuit

In 1951, a group of six local businessmen decided to build a new track. About 2 km away from the original circuit, it still bears the corner name signs of the original circuit. As the piece of available land was on the edge of the coast, the track is known for its steep grades - the highest 57 metres - which caused cost overruns and delays in track opening. The new track was opened in 1956 ^[5] and in 1960 the first Armstrong 500 production car race was held at the circuit. Extensive damage resulted from the running of the 1962 Armstrong 500, and, with the circuit owners unable to finace repairs, the race was moved to the Mount Panorama Circuit at Bathurst in New South Wales.

The circuit reopened in October 1967 ^[5] and hosted the Phillip Island 500K endurance race, a round of the Australian Manufacturers' Championship, from 1971 to 1977. But again, due to its testing terrain, the circuit required much maintenance and slowly declined through the 1970s. It was farmed by its owners while closed and was then sold in 1985 in preparation for reopening, but did not do so until 1989 after agreement on a long term lease and rebuild agreement. The World Motorcycle Championship gave the circuit a grand re-opening in 1989 with a race long dice in the 500 cc division between Wayne Gardner, Wayne Rainey, Christian Sarron and Kevin Magee. The race was won by Gardner to the delight of the huge crowd. It hosted its first World Superbike race in 1990. Mathew Close won the first race in 1990 by 11.31 sec. The Australian Touring Car Championship also returned in 1990 with Dick Johnson winning.

Current status

In 2006 and 2007, Phillip Island hosted the grand finale of the V8 Supercars Championship Series, as well as a regular MotoGP and Superbike round. In 2008, Phillip Island hosted the L&H 500, replacing Sandown as the host track of V8 Supercar's 500 km race.

A multi-million dollar re-development was undertaken in late 2006 by the Linfox Group, who now own the track. The new facilities will also feature a karting circuit.

Lap Records

As of 14 November 2011:

References

Further reading

"The Official 50 Race History of the Australian Grand Prix"

External links

• Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit official website
• Circuit history
• Circuit info from the official V8 Supercar site