About the Circuit:Length: 2.87km longTurns: 14Fastest Average Speed: 122 kph Hidden Valley Raceway has one of the fastest straights at 1.1km long.
V8 Ute Races at Darwin: The V8 Ute Series has completed a total of 328 laps and 1020.06km around Hidden Valley Raceway over the past 7 years.
The Darwin weather is yet to disappoint, the V8 Utes haven’t had one wet race at the top end over the past 10 years.
1) The V8 Utes have raced at Hidden Valley ten times including; 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, making this eleventh appearance at Hidden Valley Raceway. Only the Adelaide Parklands track rivals it in V8 Ute showdowns.
2) Round 3 will be known as the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series, with the Company who manufacture’s the World’s Best Alloy Bullbars announcing their involvement in April this year.
3) Lap Record History: Gary Baxter set the first ever lap record in 2005 in Race 1 in a time of 1:24.08 and held onto it until 2006 when it was broken by Kerry Wade in a time of; 1:23.57. Grant Johnson beat it two races later and held onto the record until 2009, when Baxter reclaimed the record.
The current lap record is held by David Sieders, Sieders broke his own 2011 (1:22.3675) record by one tenth of a second in Race 1 2013 and now holds it with a time of 1:22.2610, he went close to breaking it again last year, narrowly missing it by two tenths.
Qualifying Record: In 2012 Sieders also broke Marcus Zukanovic’s longstanding Qualifying record, which was set in 2006 in in a time of 1:21.8499. Pither broke Sieders’ 2011 record in 2013 (1:21.5715) by only seven 100ths of a second (1:21.5028). He pipped Sieders by two-tenths of a second to take the 2013 ARMOR ALL Pole Award.
The late Allan Simonsen set the first Qualifying record in a V8 Ute at Hidden Valley in 2005.
Current Lap Record: David Sieders - 1:22.2610Current Qualifying Record: Chris Pither - 1:21.5028
4) Race 3 in 2007 was the closest ever V8 Ute race finish with Jack Elsegood passing Grant Johnson in a photo finish by one one-hundredth of a second to claim the round, putting Elsegood into the Series lead. He held onto the lead until the final round at Phillip Island where he had mechanical failure and Johnson took the Series title.
Hidden Valley boasts three out of the four closest ever V8 Ute finishes. The other two were in 2006 - Kim Jane pipped Damien White by only 0.0544s, and in 2009 Layton Crambrook almost stole the podium from Grant Johnson, when he beat him to the chequered flag by a mere 0.0570s to claim Race 3.
The event also showcased one of the biggest race winning margins, the fourth of all time in 2009 - Race 1. Grant Johnson blitzed the field by 10.5590seconds. Charlie Kovacs was the second driver over the line.
5) 2011 Series frontrunners Chris Pither, Grant Johnson and David Sieders all had a coming together at turn 5 Race 2 in 2010, Cameron McConville was also caught up in the incident breaking his front strut forcing him into the pits. Pither was lucky to get the Ice Break Holden over the line, ending the race without his front bar and finished in 22nd overall.
6) Kim Jane is the only driver out of the 32 V8 Ute drivers competing in the 2015 Season that has raced at Hidden Valley all ten times and celebrated his 10th anniversary at the Darwin circuit along with the category last year.
7) Chris Pither will return to the field for the first time since Darwin 2013, he will steer the All Purpose Pest Control Wildcard Ford, the third V8 Ute Champion to do so (Ryal Harris Clipsal & 2013, Grant Johnson Perth.
8) Nathan Pretty will also make a return to the Series; he will be back in for the remainder of the Season with support from Burbank Homes. Pretty missed Round 2 in Perth. 9) Rookie Jordan Skinner has just released a snippet of his second single ‘Burning the Bridge’, which was produced by Stuart Stuart, the producer of Sheppard hits’ ‘Geronimo’ and ‘Let Me Down Easy’.
Skinner released his first single Whole Way Through prior to Round 1 at the Clipsal 500.
Skinner is the second musician to race in the Series, Country Singer Adam Brand raced in the Series in 2003 & 2004.
10) Seven drivers will be racing a V8 Ute around Hidden Valley Raceway for the first time including; Warrick Spooner, Jordan Skinner, Leigh Nicolaou, Adam Beechey, Mason Barbera, New Zealander Peter Ward and Richard Mork.
11) Kim “The Assassin” Jane was unlucky in his seventh appearance at Darwin in 2012 when he hit the tyre bundle going into Turn 1 and rolled onto its roof during Race 3. Jane made it out of the car and was rushed to the medical centre as a precaution but was deemed OK.
12) Grant “Grunta” Johnson and David Sieders are almost on par as having the best track record at Hidden Valley. Johnson posted five out of seven possible podiums including three wins (2006, 2009, 2010), one second (2007) and one third (2005), he has two Pole Awards and four race wins. David Sieders is close behind with four out of a possible five podium finishes, two seconds (2011, 2012), one third (2013) and last year finally took his first Round win at Darwin. He has five race wins under his belt and three Pole wins (the most at Darwin).
Ryal Harris has the most Race wins with five in total; in 2013 he almost had a clean-sweep, claiming Races 2, 3 and 4 however Chris Pither took Pole and Race 1.
13) Ford have dominated the top-end for the past three years in a row, Kim Jane was the last Holden driver to win the Round in 2011. Ford has also won 20 races over the years with Holden only at 14.
14) ARMOR ALL Drivers’ Championship: After a Round win in Perth, two-time V8 Ute Champion Ryal Harris is leading the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship on 291 points heading into one of his most successful Rounds in the Series. Auto One steerer Adam Marjoram has moved into second position on 263 points, after securing his first V8 Ute Podium on his home-track in Perth, George Miedecke remains in third after two consistent first rounds on 256 Points. All three drivers will carry a success Ballast, Harris 40kg, Marjoram 30kg and Miedecke 20kg for the Round.
See below top five front runners in the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship 1 Ryal Harris 58 Holiday For Life 291 2 Adam Marjoram 5 Auto One Racing / Erebus Motorsport 263 3 George Miedecke 35 iSeek Racing 256 4 Rhys McNally 26 Stratco Racing 244 5 Ryan Hansford 6 Multispares 225
15) Points: There is a total of 178 points up for grabs over the weekend.
Only 3 points will be issued for Qualifying to the ARMOR ALL Pole Winner, 70 points to the winner of Race 1, 35 points (half-points) to the winner of Race 2 reverse Grid Race and 70 points to the winner of Race 3.
The Grids are determined as follows. Race 1 Grid is determined by Qualifying. Race 2 grid is determined by a random ballot drawn by the Race 1 winner. The number drawn is the number of Utes that will be reversed on the grid for that race. The Grid for Race 3 will be a progressive grid from the finishing positions of Race 2. In the event of a tie, the highest grid position will go to the fastest qualifier.
The two session qualifying format will also be run at this Round. The format, similar to the qualifying system used in Formula 1, features a 20 minute session broken up into 2 individual segments. Qualifying 1 will include all 32 V8 Utes and after 10 minutes, the top 10 fastest drivers will continue into Qualifying 2, for a short 5 minute session allowing for a 1 or 2 lap shootout. The fastest lap times will then determine the top ten grid for the start of Race 1, with the balance of the grid filled as they drop off in lap time from each segment.
Television Broadcast: All Practice and Qualifying sessions as well as all three races will be televised LIVE through Fox Sports with a one hour highlights package to be broadcast on ONE HD.
Event Schedule: Friday, 19th June Practice 1 8:45am Friday, 19th June Practice 2 1:10pm Saturday, 20th June Qualifying 10:30am Saturday, 21st June Race 1 3:11pm Sunday, 21st June Race 2 11:40am Sunday, 22nd June Race 3 4:40pm
Previous Race and Round Winners:2014 1st David “Sideways” Sieders Ford FG 2nd Ryan “Rhino” Hansford Ford FG 3rd Kris “Killa” Walton Ford FG
Qualifying: David “Sideways” Sieders Ford FG Race 1: David “Sideways” Sieders Ford FG Race 2: Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden VE Race 3: David “Sideways” Sieders Ford FG
2013 1st Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford FG 2nd Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden VE 3rd David “Sideways” Sieders Ford FG
Qualifying: Chris Pither Holden VE Race 1: Chris “Crispy” Pither Holden VE Race 2: Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford FG Race 3: Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford FG Race 4: Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford FG
2012 1st Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford BF 2nd David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF 3rd Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher Ford BF
Qualifying: David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF Race 1 - David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF Race 2 - Ryan “Rhino” Hansford Ford BF Race 3 - David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF Race 4 - Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford BF
2011 1st Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden VE 2nd David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF 3rd Ryan “Rhino” Hansford Ford BF
Qualifying - David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF Race 1 – David “Sideways” Sieders Ford BF Race 2 – Charlie O’Brien Holden VE Race 3 – Ryan “Rhino” Hansford Ford BF Race 4 – Ryal “The Kid” Harris Ford BF
2010 1st Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE 2nd Kim The Assassin” Jane Holden VE 3rd Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford BF
Qualifying - Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE Race 1 – Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE Race 2 – Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden VE Race 3 - Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE
2009 1st Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE 2nd Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF 3rd Glenn “Evil” McNally Holden VE
Qualifying – Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE Race 1 – Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden VE Race 2 – Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF Race 3 – Gary “Chucky “ Baxter Holden VE (Baxter was later charged with a technical infringement handing the race win to Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook) Race 4 – Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Holden VE
2008 1st Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF 2nd Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden VE 3rd George “Slick” Miedecke Ford BF
Qualifying – Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF Race 1 – Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF Race 2 – George "Slick" Miedecke Ford BF Race 3 – Layton “Leadfoot” Crambrook Ford BF
2007 1st Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford BF 2nd Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden SS 3rd Gary “Chucky” Baxter Holden SS
Qualifying – Matt Kingsley Holden SS Race 1 – Gary “Chucky” Baxter Holden SS Race 2 – Ray “Sidey” Sidebottom Holden SS Race 3 – Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford BF
2006 1st Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden SS 2nd Marcus “Mayhem” Zukanovic Holden SS 3rd Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden SS
Qualifying – Marcus “Mayhem” Zukanovic Holden SS Race 1 – Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden SS Race 2 – Kim “The Assassin” Jane Holden SS Race 3 – Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden SS
2005 1st Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford XR8 2nd Rod “Red Line” Wilson Holden SS 3rd Grant “Grunta” Johnson Holden SS
Qualifying – Allan “Enzo” Simonsen Ford XR8 Race 1 – Allan “Enzo” Simonsen Ford XR8 Race 2 – Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford XR8 Race 3 – Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood Ford XR8
