Gold Coast 600 V8 Utes

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 eleven times including; 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

2)    Race 2 will be the V8 Ute Racing Series 350th Championship Race start.  

3)    Lap Record: Local driver Ryal “The Kid” Harris has been the fastest driver at the Surfers Paradise Street circuit, he 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. He lost his record to Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher in 2011 in Race 1 with a time of 1:26.42 but reclaimed it in 2013 in Race 2 holding the current lap record 1:25.5100, making this the third time he has owned the record and the only driver to set it on the new and old track and in a Ford and a Holden.

Young-gun Jesse Dixon smashed the David Sieders 2013 Qualifying record by almost a second  in 2014 to claim his first V8 Ute ARMOR ALL Pole Award in a time of, 1:24.0488.

Current Lap Record: Ryal Harris - 1:25.5100Current Qualifying Lap Record: Jesse Dixon – 1:24.0488

4)    Two-time champion Ryal 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; he is one of only five drivers in V8 Ute history to accomplish this.

5)    The smallest pole position winning margin in V8 Ute history was set at the Gold Coast in 2012 with David Sieders pipping Ryal Harris by only 0.0028’s of a second.

6)    Ryal Harris overtook 2009 V8 Ute champion Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood last year as the most successful driver’s at the event. Harris has stood on podium in front of his home-crowd three times (2011, 2013, 2014), He has one Pole Award (2011) one round win (2011) and seven race wins. 

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

7)    Seven drivers in the 32 car field are Queensland based.Gold Coast Drivers include Ryal Harris, Kris Walton, Cam Wilson, Matt Nolan and Peter Burnitt.  Ryan Hansford is from Brisbane and 17 year old Mason Barbera Bundaberg. 

8)    Only five of the 32 V8 Ute drivers have not raced on the Gold Coast circuit in a V8 Ute including: Mason Barbera, Tasmanian Adam Beechey, Richard Mork, New Zealander Peter Ward and Debutant George Karadimas. Karadimas recently bought George Elliot’s Holden.

After a big hit in Race 3 at Bathurst, current Rookie leader Adam Beechey has had to retire his own Holden for this weekend but will steer teammate Andrew Nickolls Holden.

9)    Just Car Racing’s Craig Dontas drove the Australian Team Arrow Solar Panel World Solar Challenge on the weekend. It weighed less than a fifth of a V8 Ute at 300kg (a Ute weighs 1800kg) and he put the car on Pole.

10)    2015 Bathurst 1000 Wildcard Entry Aaron Russell will take to the wheel of the #33 Wildcard Entry.

11)    Ryal Harris is currently leading the ARMOR ALL Drivers Championship by 77 points over fellow Gold Coaster Kris Walton with West Aussie Adam Marjoram in third 93 points from Harris.  The three will all carry extra weight this weekend due to the Success Ballast rule. Harris will carry an extra 40kg, Walton 30kg and Marjoram 20kg.

12)    Race 2 and Race 3 will be televised live on Network Ten.

13)    There is only one more round remaining following the Castrol Gold Coast round at the Sydney 500 making this the Series penultimate round.Points Breakdown:                                 Qualifying; Race 1, 2 and 3:                                  1st     70 points                               2nd   66 points                               3rd    62 points                               4th    58 and then 2 point decrease 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 – 16, drawn by the winner of Race 1Race 3 – is determined from combined results from Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2.

Quirky history fact: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.

2012 Head Engineer for Big Gun Racing Cam Wilson filled in for Peter Burnitt and won Race 2 on his debut. Wilson has since gone on to race full-time in the Series.

2013 One of the most spectacular incidents in the V8 Utes 12 year history marred the final race The incident happened at the back chicane only seconds into the start of the race. David Sieders clipped the wall at turn 6 after contact with Wayne Wakefield, triggering a high speed game of motorised paint ball which unfortunately wrote off Adam Marjoram’s Auto One Holden, Cam Wilson’s Ford and the Sieder’s Ford. The race was immediately red flagged while officials checked all drivers were OK. All were cleared from the medical centre following post-race checks.

Please find below past Gold Coast winners:20141st Ryal “The Kid” Harris2nd Jesse “Hitch” Dixon3rd  Rhys “Stormin” McNallyRace WinnersQualifying – Jesse DixonRace 1 – Ryal “The Kid” HarrisRace 2- Andrew “Fishtail” FisherRace 3 – Ryal “The Kid” Harris

20131st Nathan ‘Nitrous’ Pretty2nd Ryal ‘The Kid’ Harris3rd Rhys ‘Stormin’ McNallyRace winners:Qualifying - David “Sideways” SiedersRace 1    - David “Sideways” SiedersRace 2 - Ryal ‘The Kid’ Harris   Race 3 – Deemed a non-race

20121st David “Sideways” Sieders2nd Chris “Crispy” Pither3rd Cameron “Conkers” McConvilleRace winners:Qualifying – David SiedersRace 1    - David “Sideways” SiedersRace 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” HarrisRace 3 - Ryal “The Kid” Harris

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

20071st Grant “Grunta” Johnson2nd Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood3rd George “Slick” MiedeckeRace winners:Qualifying –    Jack ElsegoodRace 1     -  Grant JohnsonRace 2      -  George MiedeckeRace 3 –  Grant Johnson

20061st 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

20021st Jack “The Hustler” Elsegood2nd Damien “Ice” White3rd James “Brock” BrockRace winners:Qualifying –     Warren LuffRace 1     -    James BrockRace 2      -   James BrockRace 3  -   Jack Elsegood

20011st Stephen “Robbo” Robinson2nd James “Brock” Brock3rd Grant “Mad Dog” DenyerRace winners:Qualifying –     Mick DonaherRace 1      -     Damien WhiteRace 2      -      Ian McAlisterRace 3 –       Mick Donaher


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