V8 Ute's Fast Facts for the Armor All Gold Coast 600

 About the Track:The Gold Coast circuit was cut down last year from 4.47km and is now 2.96km in length.Turning left where the second chicane used to be, the new layout rejoins at the old Beach Chicane and then follows the same path as the old circuit.

Circuit direction: Anti-clockwise1) The V8 Utes have raced at the Gold Coast seven times including; 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010.

2) Local driver Ryal Harris owned the lap record of the 4.47km track set in 2007 in his Holden VY in a time of 2:14.55, and set the first lap record on the new circuit last year in a time of 1:27.609.3) 2009 V8 Ute champion Jack "The Hustler" Elsegood is the most successful driver on the Gold Coast circuit having been on podium there 3 times: 1st 2002, 2nd 2005 and 3rd in 2007.

4) Race 3 will be televised live on Network Seven, Sunday, 23rd October at 12:30pm.5) Almost half of the V8 Ute field (11 drivers) is Queensland based. Gold Coast Drivers include Ryal Harris, Rohan Barry, Chris Pither, Charlie O'Brien and David Besnard. Brisbane drivers: Jason Gomersall, Peter Burnitt, Brad Patton, GregWillis,Tim Boyle and Ryan Hansford. Graham Edwards is from Townsville.

6) Eight out of the 32 V8 Ute drivers have not raced on the Gold Coast circuit in a V8 Ute including: Ryan Hansford; Brendan Cook, Tim Boyle, Cameron McConville, David Besnard, Nathan Pretty, Graham Edwards and Jake McNally.7) Joining the field this round are fellow Queenslanders Graham "The Mole" Edwards who last raced at Townsville and Tim Boyle, who will join the V8 Utes for the first time. Part-time actor, Boyle raced against V8 Ute Rookie Ryan Hansford in the Queensland Gemini Series and will race Jeremy Gray's Ford, which he just sold to Rod Dawson.

Former racer and V8 Ute Board member Denis Cribbin will be back in the seat for the first time this year and will be steering Charlie Kovacs' Holden. The veteran who raced with John Goss at Bathurst in 1969 is looking forward to his first return since major surgery within the last 12 months.8) The Auto One Wildcard driver for this round is V8 Supercar steerer; David Besnard who is coming off a spectacular incident at the Bathurst 1000 recently that saw him narrowly escape a serious inferno. This all occurred on lap 112 of the 161 lap race last weekend, Besnard had brake failure after a pad change in pit lane, and his Jim Beam Racing backed Ford (partnered with Steve Johnson) hit the tyre bundle backwards, fracturing the fuel tank and setting the car and track on fire. Fire Marshalls were quick to the scene and walked through fire to extinguish the flames and help Besnard who was caught inside the car for some time.9) Last year there was a spectacular accident at the back Chicane where Brad Patton kissed the wall, which caused a chain reaction with Workhorse Collision Repairs driver, Ben Kavich making contact with the Queensland based driver, which turned them around. Kavich was then unlucky to receive a hit from the side from Kim Jane who had no-where to go and ended the weekend for all three drivers.

Patton who was unable to finish the weekend last year is also under pressure to have his ute repaired for this weekend followed a major incident at Bathurst recently.10) This is round 6 of an 8 round Series and the battle for the title is really heating up with only 384 (128 this weekend) more points out of 1,024 up for grabs. The top two Series leaders are local drivers Chris Pither and Ryal Harris. Kiwi born Pither currently leads the ENZED driver's championships by 17 points ahead of Harris on equal points with reigning V8 Ute champion Grant Johnson.

11) There are two family teams amongst the series including Big Gun Racing; Peter Burnitt is father-in-law to teammate Brad Patton. Also the two McNally brothers Jake and Rhys race with each other. Their older brother Glenn also raced in the V8 Utes and Brother Mark in the V8 Supercars.Quirky history facts:The V8 Utes were forced to race under street lights in 2003 after the event program was running lat. All the street lights were turned on as the race was covered for television, the race started as a massive thunderstorm with lightning rolled in.

In 2002 TV Host Grant Denyer scored his first V8 Ute Gold Coast win, however was excluded along with another five drivers who all shortcut the turn 1 chicane handing victory to Damien White.

In 2005 Marcus Zukanovic aqua planed on the main straight hitting the wall and setting up a chain reaction eliminating another three Utes - the race was red flagged and Zukanovic came-back in 2006 to claim the Championship title.

International driver Alan Simonsen took a V8 Ute Round win in 2005 on the Gold Coast for the Coopers Ford team, which was a three car team with V8 Ute Patron Ian McAlister and Jack Elsegood.

Points Breakdown:Qualifying; Race 1, 2 and 3: 1st - 32 points 2nd - 31 points (down to 32nd place with 1 point)

Grid Determination: Race 1 - is determined from the highest to the lowest place in QualifyingRace 2 - is a reverse grid race, the number reversed determined from a random ballot draw between 1 - 32, drawn by the winner of Race 1.Race 3 - is determined from combined results from Race 1 and Race 2.

Past Gold Coast winners:20101st Chris Pither2rd Grant Johnson3rd David Sieders2007 1st Grant Johnson 2nd George Miedecke3rd Jack Elsegood2006 1st Marcus Zukanovic2nd Damien White3rd Kerry Wade20051st Allan Simonsen2nd Jack Elsegood3rd James Brock20031st Gary McDonald2nd Warren Luff3rd Charlie Kovacs2002 1st Jack Elsegood2nd Damien white3rd James Brock2001 1st Stephen Robinson2nd James Brock3rd Grant Denyer


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