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.
Dick Johnson and Allan Moffat have both won the round three times in a row. Peter Brock has the best record at the circuit with five round victories.
The circuit [edit]
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.[1]
The outright lap record at Symmons Plains was set in 1980. Driving a Lola T430 Chevrolet Formula 5000, Alfredo Costanzo set a time of 50.16 seconds. The closest anyone has 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.
Touring Car round winners [edit]
Most Times Winner [edit]
| Wins |
Driver |
Years |
| 5 |
Peter Brock |
1974, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984 |
| 4 |
Allan Moffat |
1971, 1972, 1973, 1977 |
| Dick Johnson |
1981, 1988, 1989, 1990 |
| Jamie Whincup |
2007, 2008, 2011, 2012 |
| 2 |
John Harvey |
1976, 1979 |
| Robbie Francevic |
1985, 1986 |
| Craig Lowndes |
1996, 1998 |
| Mark Skaife |
1994, 1999 |
| Garth Tander |
2005, 2006 |
| 1 |
Norm Beechey |
1969 |
| Jim McKeown |
1970 |
| Colin Bond |
1975 |
| Allan Grice |
1983 |
| George Fury |
1987 |
| Jim Richards |
1991 |
| Glenn Seton |
1992 |
| Alan Jones |
1993 |
| John Bowe |
1995 |
| Greg Murphy |
1997 |
| Russell Ingall |
2004 |
| Will Davison |
2009 |
| Mark Winterbottom |
2010 |
| Fabian Coulthard |
2013 |
Lap Records [edit]
As of 6 April 2013.[2]
References [edit]
External links [edit]
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Alfredo Costanzo
Jon Crooke
