Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about 30 km (19 mi) south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the longest serving circuits of the combined history of the Australian Touring Car Championship and the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Since 2005 it has hosted the Falken Tasmania Challenge for V8 Supercars.
In 2004, the facility received a A$3 million upgrade which included some modifications to the layout of the track, including moving the start/finish line back to a more conventional location opposite the pits. It had previously been on a curve (which is now located just after the first corner), unusual for a road course. Symmons Plains is also known for its extremely tight hairpin bend, known as Brambles Hairpin, at the end of the old front straight.
The circuit
Symmons Plains Raceway is 2.411 km (1.498 mi) long and is very hard on brakes. The banking at the hairpin is a unique opportunity to overtake. The other overtaking opportunity is the left hander at the end of the back straight.[2]
The previous outright lap record at Symmons Plains was set in 1980 and held for over 40 years. Driving a Lola T430 Chevrolet Formula 5000, Alfredo Costanzo set a time of 50.16 seconds. The closest anyone had come since 1980 was British driver James Winslow who set a time of 50.5036 seconds on 1 April 2012 while driving a Formula 3 Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz. The current outright lap record was set in 2021 by driver Joey Mawson. Driving a Ligier JS F3-S5000 Ford, the Australian driver set a time of 0:49.7242 seconds. In 2022, the record was improved again by himself, by setting a time of 0:48.5598 seconds.[3]
Supercars Championship
The circuit has hosted rounds of the Australian Touring Car Championship and Supercars Championship since 1969. The circuit was left off the V8 Supercar calendar in 2000 before returning in 2004 after the upgrades were completed.
Lap records
- As of 26 March 2022.[4]
References
- ^ Terry Walker, Fast Tracks, 1995, p. 156
- ^ "Falken Tasmania Challenge". v8supercars.com.au. n.d. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
- ^ a b c "S5000 Series 2022 John McCormack Cup Statistics". 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "2022 Trans-Am Australia AWC Race Tasmania Race 1 Results". 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ^ "2022 TCR Australia AWC Race Tasmania Race 1 Results". 12 February 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ^ "ASTC 1995 » Symmons Plains Raceway Round 6 Results". Retrieved 7 May 2022.