About the Track: The Gold Coast circuit was shortened in 2010 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-clockwiseTurns: 15Chicanes: 3 (These have automatic timers in them to administer judicial penalties, if required)

1) The V8 Utes have raced at the Gold Coast nine times including; 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

2) The 2013 ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 and Round 7 of the Auto one V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by ARMOR All will be the 100th Round of the Series.

3) 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 in 2010 in a time of 1:27.609. Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher broke it in 2011 in Race 1 in a time of 1:26.42 and his Sieders Racing teammate David Sieders broke it again last year in Race 3 in a time of 1:26.2513.

4) Reigning champion Harris, had a clean-sweep of the Gold Coast event in 2011, taking out the ARMOR ALL Pole Award, Race 1, Race 2 and Race 3. He won 5 races in a row that year after claiming Race 2 and Race 3 at Bathurst.

5) Harris & Pither are the only drivers rivaling 2009 V8 Ute champion Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood as the most successful driver at the event. Elsegood has been on the podium there 3 times: 1st 2002, 2nd 2005 and 2nd in 2007, with two race wins and one qualifying under his belt. Harris has the most amount of Race wins claiming four in total, one podium and a Pole Award. Pither has had three podiums and a race win.

Pither is the most consistent driver with three out of four possible podiums and David Sieders has two out of three podiums and two out of 3 ARMOR ALL Pole Awards under his belt.

6) Race 1 and Race 3 will be televised live on Network Seven.

7) Ten of the 32 car field is Queensland based. Gold Coast Drivers include Ryal Harris, Rohan Barry, Jesse Dixon, Peter Burnitt and Cam Wilson. Brisbane drivers: Ryan Hansford, Wayne Wakefield, Kris Walton, Stephen Wilson and Matt Nolan.

8) Ten of the 32 V8 Ute drivers have not raced on the Gold Coast circuit in a V8 Ute including: Wayne Wakefield, Stephen White, Stephen Wilson, AFL star Troy Wilson, John “Spud” Wood, Layton Barker and Rookies Adam Marjoram, Elliot Barbour, Jesse Dixon and Matt Nolan.

9) New faces to the field this round include: Tasmanian Layton Barker, this is Barkers second appearance in the Utes, his first was at Bathurst last year, local Rohan Barry will return for his regular annual Gold Coast drive making this his 4th appearance at the event. Stephen Wilson will replace regular Phonsy Mullan in the #20 Holden. Mullan has commitments with his Australian Jet Boating Series, which he is currently leading claiming the last three rounds in a row.

10) V8 Supercar Development Series Driver George Miedecke will return to the Series stepping in for two-time Bathurst winner Tony Longhurst in The Boat Works Holden. The New South Welshman raced in the Auto One Wildcard last year in a one off appearance and in the V8 Ute Series from 2007 – 2009, before he moved to the United States to pursue a career as a NASCAR driver for Marcos Ambrose Motorsport.

Miedecke claimed various podiums in later model stock cars driving for Ambrose, and at the end of 2011 returned home to drive for Sonic Motorsport in the V8 Supercar Development Series. Last year he teamed up with 2011 V8 Ute Champion, Chris Pither to drive in the New Zealand Super Tourer Enduro events and currently drives for Matt Stone Racing ranked 5 at the moment in the Dunlop Development V8 Supercar Series.

11) In 2010 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.

In 2011 Patton’s Father In-law, Peter Burnitt, also made contact with the Wall in the final Race. The Race finished under yellow flag due to the incident when he made a move on rookie Tim Boyle on the exit of the back chicane, turning himself around and straight into the wall in a spectacular crash. Burnitt was all right despite the heavy crash, and was seen giving the crowd a standing salute on the back of his Ute following the incident.

12) This is round 7 of an 8 round Series and the battle for the title is really heating up with only 380 (140 this weekend) more points out of 1,120 up for grabs. 2012 Gold Coast winner David Sieders now leads the ENZED Drivers’ Championship after an amazing weekend at Bathurst recently, however he only leads local driver Ryal “The Kid” Harris by 3 points.

See below top 5 in the ENZED Drivers Championship. 1 David Sieders Mine Site Fencing Australia 6942 Ryal Harris Tapout Energy Racing 6913 Rhys McNally Stratco Racing 6514 Nathan Pretty Milwaukee Racing 6475 Kris Walton Rentco Transport Equipment Rentals 640

Points Breakdown: Qualifying; Race 1, 2 and 3: 1st 35 points 2nd 33 points 3rd 31 points 4th 29 and then 1 point decease for every position to the last finisher.

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.

Quirky history facts: The V8 Utes were forced to race under street lights in 2003 after the event program was running late. 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 and the late Allan Simonsen took a V8 Ute Round win in 2005 on the Gold Coast for the Coopers Ford team, a three car team with V8 Ute Patron Ian McAlister and former NRL star Jack Elsegood.

2006 was the second closest race in V8 Ute History Marcus Zukanovic pipped Scott Jennings by only 0.0497s in Race 2.

Please find below past Gold Coast winners:20121st David “Sideways” Sieders2nd Chris “Crispy” Pither3rd Cameron “Conkers” McConville Race winners: Qualifying – David SiedersRace 1 - David “Sideways” Sieders Race 2 - Cam “Job’s On” WilsonRace 3 - David “Sideways” Sieders

20111st Ryal “The Kid” Harris2nd Cameron “Conkers” McConville3rd Chris “Crispy” PitherRace winners: Qualifying – Ryal “The Kid” HarrisRace 1 - Ryal “The Kid” HarrisRace 2 - Ryal “The Kid” Harris Race 3 - Ryal “The Kid” Harris

20101st Chris “Crispy” Pither2rd Grant “Grunta” Johnson3rd David “Sideways” SiedersRace winners: Qualifying – David SiedersRace 1 - Chris PitherRace 2 - Rhys McNally Race 3 – Grant Johnson

2007 1st Grant “Grunta” ohnson 2nd Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood3rd George “Slick” MiedeckeRace winners: Qualifying – Jack ElsegoodRace 1 - Grant JohnsonRace 2 - George MiedeckeRace 3 – Grant Johnson

2006 1st Marcus “Mayhem” Zukanovic2nd Damien “Ice” White3rd Kerry “Fanga” WadeRace winners: Qualifying – Marcus ZukanovicRace 1 - Marcus ZukanovicRace 2 - Marcus ZukanovicRace 3 – Damien White

20051st Allan Simonsen2nd Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood3rd James “Brock” BrockRace winners: Qualifying – Rod WilsonRace 1 - Allan Simonsen Race 2 - Ryal HarrisRace 3 – Jack Elsegood

20031st Gary “Macca” MacDonald2nd Warren “Rockdog” Luff3rd Charlie “Handlebars” KovacsRace winners: Qualifying – Warren LuffRace 1 - Damien WhiteRace 2 - Gary MacDonaldRace 3 – Gary MacDonald

2002 1st Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood2nd Damien “Ice” White3rd James “Brock” BrockRace winners: Qualifying – Warren LuffRace 1 - James BrockRace 2 - James BrockRace 3 - Jack Elsegood

2001 1st Stephen “Robbo” Robinson2nd James “Brock” Brock3rd Grant “Mad Dog” DenyerRace winners: Qualifying – Mick DonaherRace 1 - Damien WhiteRace 2 - Ian McAlisterRace 3 – Mick Donaher