Surfers Paradise Raceway
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Allan Moffat at Surfers Paradise International Raceway in the works Ford Falcon GTHO Phase II in 1970/71
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| Location | Surfers Paradise, Queensland |
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| Time zone | UTC +10 |
| Coordinates | 28°0′59″S 153°22′34″E / 28.01639°S 153.37611°ECoordinates: 28°0′59″S 153°22′34″E / 28.01639°S 153.37611°E |
| Opened | 1966 |
| Closed | 1987 |
| Major events |
Tasman Series ATCC Australian Grand Prix Rothmans 12 Hour |
| Length | 3.219 km (2.000 mi) |
| Turns | 7 |
| Lap record | 1:04.3 (John Bowe, Veskanda-Chevrolet, 1986) |
Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The 3.219 kilometres (2.000 mi) long circuit was designed and built by Keith Williams, a motor racing enthusiast who also designed and built the Adelaide International Raceway (AIR) in South Australia in 1972. It was located opposite the Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens at Carrara.
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 Qantas Hill). A slow right called that opened up brought the track back to the main straight.
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.
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. At the end of its life, the outright lap record of 1:04.3 was set in 1986 and was held by John Bowe driving the Chevrolet powered Veskanda C1 Group A/Group C sports car. The Winternationals moved to Willowbank Raceway in 1988, where the race continues to this day. After years of neglect it was finally destroyed in 2003. The site has since been redeveloped as Emerald Lakes canal estate.
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Wikipedia