About the Track::  Length: 3.104km/Turns: 13/Direction: Anti-clockwise

1)    This will be the V8 Utes seventh appearance at Sandown. The V8 Utes first appeared at Sandown Raceway in their inaugural year in 2001, then again in 2002, 2005 and 2009.

2)    Race 2 in 2009 was declared a Race, however no points were issued. It was deemed a race because more than 2 laps were completed, but because 75% of the race distance wasn't achieved, no points were issued.  The race was shorted due to an incident when Stephen Robinson rolled his car in spectacular fashion at Turn 1.

3)    The current Lap Record is held by Glenn McNally, which was set in Race 1 in 2009  with a time of 1:24.55. Glenn is the  brother of Jake and Rhys McNally who will be racing at Sandown for their first time next weekend.

Mick Donaher was the first V8 Ute driver to hold the record at Sandown Raceway in a Ford AU. This was the only time that Ford held the lap record at Sandown. Damien White broke Paul Stokell's 2002 record in 2004 in Race 2, with a time of 1:27.136 in a Holden. In 2005 the lap record was broken in every race, firstly by Allan Simonsen in Race 1, followed by Marcus Zukanovic in Race 2 and then the next day by Ryal Harris who held it in a time of 1:26.0552.

4)    2002 was the Great Aussie Ute Race, which was a two driver format with each driver paired with a legend, some of which included: 3 x Australian Gold Star Champion, Paul Stokell, Touring Car Legend Andrew Miedecke, Country Singer Adam Brand, Brad Jones and Formula 1 World Champion (1980), Allan Jones.

5)    Fourteen of the V8 Ute drivers will have their first experience driving a V8 Ute around Sandown Raceway including; Ryan Hansford, David Sieders, Kris Walton, Ben Dunn, Sean Carter, Brendan Cook, Rhys McNally, Jake McNally, Graham Edwards. Kris Walton will make his debut in a V8 Ute at Sandown. He will drive the Rod Dawson owned Ford previously driven by Tim Boyle and Jeremy Gray. Nathan Pretty, Cameron McConville, Charlie O'Brien and Tony Longhurst have raced many times at Sandown, however this will also be there first V8 Ute appearance at the Victorian track.

6)    Local Sean Carter will return to the field for the remainder of the year in Charlie Kovacs' Holden VE. Carter is one of four local drivers, the others including: Cameron McConville, Nathan Pretty and Kim Jane.

7)    Three time Bathurst winner Tony Longhurst will steer the Auto One Wildcard for Round 8 of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All, making his first return to racing since winning the Bathurst 12 Hour in 2009.

8)    Former Australian NASCAR Champion, Kim Jane will celebrate his 200th Race at Sandown in Race 1. Jane is the sixth driver to achieve this and will join Charlie Kovacs, Robert Jarvis, Jack Elsegood, Gary Baxter and Nandi Kiss with two centuries under his belt.  Jane celebrated his 150th Race at Sandown in 2009 where he took out the Round and the Race.

Queenslander, Peter Burnitt will also celebrate a milestone of 100 race starts when he takes to the track for Race 3.

9)    Sandown (Round 7) is the penultimate Round of the 2011 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series - protected by Armor All. Chris Pither is leading the ENZED Driver's Championship by a mere 18 points ahead of Ryal Harris in second. Pither is only 65 points ahead of reigning champion Grant Johnson in fifth, who along with David Sieders in third and Nathan Pretty in fourth are all in with a chance at the Series title.

Points up for Grabs:Qualifying        1st= 32 points descending 1 point per position down to 32nd.Race 1                        1st   As AboveRace 2                        1st   As AboveRace 3                        1st   As AboveTotal of: 128 points for the weekend.With two rounds remaining there is a total of 265 points for the taking for the remainder of the Series.

10) Race 1 will be televised LIVE on Network Seven at 12:20pm on Saturday, 19th November as part of RaceDay Xtra.

See below full schedule for V8 Utes at Sandown Raceway:Friday, 18th November           Practice 1        9:10amFriday, 18th November           Practice 2        12:35pm         Saturday, 19th November       Qualifying        9:10amSaturday, 19th November       Race 1            12:20pmSunday, 20th November         Race 2               9:10amSunday, 20th November         Race 3             12:10pm

Past winners:20091) Kim Jane2) Kurt Wimmer3) Ryal Harris

20051) Gary Baxter2)  Rod Wilson3) James Moffat

20041) Damien White2) Benn Wilson3) Gary Baxter

2002 - Great Aussie Ute Race1) James Brock & Gavin Harvey2) Rod Wilson & Gary MacDonald3) Denis Cribbin & Steve Cramp

20011) Mick Donaher2) Rod Wilson3) Damien White

 Top Ten ENZED Drivers Championship Results:

 Pos   Name   Car Make/Model   Points  1  #42 Chris "Gypsy" Pither - Ice Break Racing   Holden VE   728  2  #58 Ryal "The Kid" Harris  - VIP Petfoods    Holden VE   710   3  #8 David "Sideways"Sieders - Australia Industrial Supplies Racing    Ford BF   681  4  #56 Nathan "Nitro" Pretty - Monster Energy   Ford BF   664  5  #1 Grant "Grunta" Johnson - Hi-Tech Motorsport   Holden VE   663  6  #27 Kim "The  Assassin"  Jane  - Bob Jane T-Marts   Holden VE   575  7  #11 Jack "The Hustler" Elsegood  - Coopers Clear Racing    Ford BF   572  8  #61 Cameron "Conkers" McConville - Bundaberg Racing   Holden VE   568     9  #6 Ryan "Rhino" Hansford  -  Truckline Racing    Holden VE   559  10  #22 Craig "Thirsty" Dontas - Thirsty Camel Racing   Ford BF   553