Surfers Paradise International Raceway

Surfers Paradise International Raceway

Location	Carrara, Gold Coast City, Queensland, Australia
Time zone	UTC+10:00
Coordinates	28°0′59″S 153°22′34″E / 28.01639°S 153.37611°E / -28.01639; 153.37611
Opened	1966
Closed	27 August 1987; 37 years ago (1987-08-27)
Major events	Tasman Series (1968, 1970–1975) Australian Touring Car Championship (1969, 1971–1977, 1979–1987) Australian Grand Prix (1975) Australian GT (1982–1985) Australian Drivers' Championship (1966–1969, 1971–1975, 1977)
Full Circuit (1966–1987)
Length	3.219 km (2.000 miles)
Turns	7
Race lap record	1:04.300 ( John Bowe, Veskanda C1, 1986, Group C)

Surfers Paradise International Raceway was a motor racing complex at Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The 3.219 km (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.^[1]

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 Repco^[2] Hill). A slow right called that opened up brought the track back to the main straight.^[3]

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.^[4][5]

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.^[6] 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.^[1] The Winternationals moved to Willowbank Raceway in 1988, where the race continues to this day.^[7] After years of neglect, it was finally destroyed in 2003. The site has since been redeveloped as Emerald Lakes canal estate.^[4][8]

In 1993, after years of neglect, volunteers and police helped get the drag racing strip back to a usable state for "Operation: Drag" to stop hoon drag racing on streets. This involved the Blue Light foundation who helped run the event which was a $10 entry to drag race against someone else in a safe environment instead of on public roads.

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 Ford) and Chris Amon (Ferrari) filled the top two positions with Clark's teammate Graham Hill completing the podium. Formula 5000 Tasman Series rounds were also held at the circuit each year from 1970 to 1975.^[9]

Year	Winner	Car	Entrant
1968	Jim Clark	Lotus 49T Ford	Team Lotus
1970	Graham McRae	McLaren M10A Chevrolet
1971	Frank Matich	McLaren M10B Repco Holden	Rothmans Team Matich
1972	Graham McRae	Leda GM1 Chevrolet	Grid International (NZ) Ltd
1973	Frank Matich	Matich A50 Repco Holden	Frank Matich
1974	Teddy Pilette	Chevron B24 Chevrolet	Chevron Racing Team VDS
1975	Johnnie Walker	Lola T332 Repco Holden	Walker Racing

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 Mildren Mono Ford.

Year	Winner	Car	Entrant
1975	Max Stewart	Lola T400 Chevrolet	Max Stewart Motors

With the demise of the Tasman Series after 1976, the void was filled with the Rothmans International Series from 1976 to 1979. The first race scheduled for Surfers Paradise on 29 February 1976 was cancelled.

Year	Winner	Car	Entrant
1976	Race Cancelled	Race Cancelled	Race Cancelled
1977	Warwick Brown	Lola T430 Chevrolet	Racing Team VDS
1978	Warwick Brown	Lola T332 Chevrolet	Racing Team VDS
1979	David Kennedy	Wolf WR4 Ford Cosworth	Theodore Racing

The circuit hosted rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1969, 1971–72, 1974–77 and from 1979 until the circuits closure in 1987.

Year	Driver	Car	Entrant
Improved Production
1969	Norm Beechey	Holden HK Monaro GTS327	Norm Beechey
1971	Allan Moffat	Ford Boss 302 Mustang	Team Coca-Cola AMR
1972	Bob Jane	Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1	Bob Jane Racing
Group C
1973	Peter Brock	Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1	Holden Dealer Team
1974	Peter Brock	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000	Holden Dealer Team
1975	Colin Bond	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	Holden Dealer Team
1976*	Peter Brock	Holden LH Torana SL/R 5000 L34	Bill Patterson Holden
1977*	Allan Moffat	Ford XC Falcon GS500 Hardtop	Moffat Ford Dealers
1979	Bob Morris	Holden LX Torana A9X SS Hatchback	Channel Seven
1980	Peter Brock	Holden VB Commodore	Marlboro Holden Dealer Team
1981	Dick Johnson	Ford XD Falcon	Palmer Tube Mills
1982	Dick Johnson	Ford XD Falcon	Palmer Tube Mills
1983	Allan Moffat	Mazda RX-7	Peter Stuyvesant International Racing
1984	Dick Johnson	Ford XE Falcon	Palmer Tube Mills
Group A
1985	Jim Richards	BMW 635 CSi	JPS Team BMW
1986	Peter Brock	Holden VK Commodore SS Group A	Mobil Holden Dealer Team
1987	Jim Richards	BMW M3	JPS Team BMW

* The 1976 and 1977 ATCC rounds at Surfers were the Rothmans 300 endurance races

Numerous endurance races were staged at the circuit, most notably the Rothmans 12 Hour events.

Rounds of various Australian motor racing championship were held at the circuit. Winners of the Surfers Paradise round of a selection of these championships is shown below.

Year	Driver	Car	Entrant
Australian National Formula / Australian 1½ Litre Formula
1966	Spencer Martin	Repco-Brabham BT11A Climax	Bob Jane Racing
1967	Spencer Martin	Repco-Brabham BT11A Climax	Bob Jane Racing Team
1968	Kevin Bartlett	Brabham BT23D Alfa Romeo	Alec Mildren Racing
Australian National Formula / Australian Formula 2
1969	Kevin Bartlett	Mildren Mono Waggott	Alec Mildren Racing
Australian Formula 1 / Australian Formula 2
1971	Frank Matich	McLaren M10B Repco Holden	Rothmans Team Matich
1972	Frank Matich	Matich A50 Repco Holden	Frank Matich Racing
1973	John McCormack	Elfin MR5 Repco-Holden	Ansett Team Elfin
1974	Max Stewart	Lola T330 Chevrolet	Max Stewart Motors
1975	Max Stewart	Lola T400 Chevrolet	Sharp Corporation
1977	John McCormack	McLaren M23 Repco-Leyland	Budget Rent-A-Car System

Year	Driver	Car	Entrant
1969	Frank Matich	Matich SR4 Repco	Rothmans Team Matich
1972	John Harvey	McLaren M6B Repco	Bob Jane Racing
1982	Chris Clearihan	Kaditcha Chevrolet	Chris Clearihan
1983	Chris Clearihan	Kaditcha Chevrolet	Chris Clearihan
1984	Bap Romano	Romano WE84 Cosworth	Bap Romano Racing
1985	Chris Clearihan	Kaditcha Chevrolet	Chris Clearihan
1986	John Bowe	Veskanda C1 Chevrolet	Bernard van Elsen

Year	Driver	Car	Entrant
1976	Allan Moffat	Chevrolet Monza	Allan Moffat Racing
1977	Bob Jane	Holden HQ Monaro Chevrolet	Bob Jane 2UW Racing Team
1978	Allan Grice	Chevrolet Corvair	Craven Mild Racing
1979	Phil Ward	Holden HQ Monaro Chevrolet	Channel 10 - NSW Building Society
1980	Tony Edmondson	Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV Repco Holden	Donald Elliott

Year	Driver	Car	Entrant
1982	Alan Jones	Porsche 935/80	Porsche Cars Australia
1983	Rusty French	Porsche 935/80	John Sands Racing
1984	Allan Grice	Chevrolet Monza	Re-Car Racing
1985	Bryan Thomson	Chevrolet Monza	Thomson-Fowler Motorsport

Class	Driver	Vehicle	Time	Date
International Circuit: 3.219 km (1966–1987)
Group A Sports Car (Over 3 litres) Group C Sports Car	John Bowe	Veskanda C1	1:04.3	24 August 1986
Formula One	David Kennedy	Wolf WR4	1:04.7	18 February 1979
Group A Sports Car (1.6 to 3 litres)	Bap Romano	Romano WE84	1:05.8	13 May 1984
Australian GT	Allan Grice	Chevrolet Monza	1:09.8	26 August 1984
Group A Sports Car (Up to 1.6 litres)	Andrew Roberts	Roberts S2	1:13.4	13 May 1984
Group C Touring Car (3001-6000cc)	Allan Moffat Peter Brock	Mazda RX-7 Holden VH Commodore SS	1:15.0	15 May 1983
Group A (Under 2500cc)	Jim Richards	BMW M3	1:15.5	31 May 1987
Group C Touring Car (Up to 3000cc)	George Fury	Nissan Bluebird Turbo	1:16.1	15 May 1983
Group A (Over 2500cc)	George Fury	Nissan Skyline DR30 RS	1:16.4	31 May 1987

• Sports on the Gold Coast, Queensland
• Surfers Paradise Street Circuit