Symmons Plains Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Australia, located about 30 kilometres (18.64 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 2.41 kilometres (1.50 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.
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 16 May 2021.[3]
| Class | Driver | Vehicle | Time | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outright | ||||
 Joey Mawson
|
Ligier JS F3-S5000 Ford | 0:49.7242 | 26 January 2021 | |
| Racing Cars | ||||
| S5000 | Joey Mawson
|
Ligier JS F3-S5000 Ford | 0:49.7242 | 26 January 2021 |
| Formula 5000 | Alfredo Costanzo
|
Lola T430 Chevrolet | 0:50.16 | 23 March 1980 |
| Formula 3 | Tim Macrow
|
Dallara F307 Mercedes-Benz | 0:50.3278 | 6 April 2013 |
| Formula 2 | Jon Crooke
|
Cheetah Mk8 Judd VW Golf | 0:54.73 | 9 March 1986 |
| Formula Ford |  Richie Stanaway
|
Mygale SJ09A Ford | 0:55.3004 | 31 May 2009 |
| Formula 4 | Cameron Shields
|
Mygale F4 Ford | 0:55.8236 | 8 April 2018 |
| Sports Cars | ||||
| GT | Bryce Washington
|
Lamborghini Gallardo | 0:52.5247 | 2 September 2007 |
| Nations Cup | John Bowe
|
Ferrari 360 N-GT | 0:55.3797 | 27 April 2003 |
| Aussie Racing Cars | Kody Garland
|
Mustang-Yamaha | 1:00.8755 | 18 April 2021 |
| Touring Cars | ||||
| Supercars Championship | Mark Winterbottom
|
Holden ZB Commodore | 0:51.2276 | 7 April 2019 |
| Super2 Series | Chris Pither
|
Holden VF Commodore | 0:52.7091 | 8 April 2018 |
| TA2 |
|
Dodge Challenger-Chevrolet | 0:55.2708 | 25 January 2021 |
| Group A | Jim Richards
|
Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R | 0:55.97 | 10 March 1991 |
| TCR | Jordan Cox
|
Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 0:56.1214 | 25 January 2021 |
| Group C | Peter Brock
|
Holden VH Commodore SS | 0:58.51 | 11 March 1984 |
| V8 Ute Racing Series | Ryan Hansford
|
Ford FG Falcon Ute | 1:01.7761 | 3 April 2016 |
| HQ Holden | Phil Ashlin
|
HQ Holden | 1:11.6103 | 25 October 2020 |
| Sports Sedans | Bradley Sherriff
|
Nissan Skyline R32 | 0:51.1526 | 3 October 2021 |
| Historic Touring Cars | ||||
| Touring Car Masters | Steven Johnson
|
Ford Mustang Trans-Am | 0:56.2339 | 7 April 2018 |
| Group Nb | Phillip Shepherd
|
EH Holden | 1:07.7233 | 25 October 2020 |
| Motorcycles | ||||
| Australian Superbikes | Josh Waters
|
Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 0:53.3870 | 13 November 2011 |
| 600cc Supersport | Jason O'Halloran
|
Yamaha YZF-R6 | 0:55.493 | 10 September 2006 |
| Trucks | ||||
| Boost Mobile Super Trucks | Paul Morris
|
Stadium Super Truck | 1:12.2884 | 18 April 2021 |
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.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
External links