MOTORSPORT fans from the Redlands will make their annual trip south to Surfers Paradise this weekend to enjoy the Armor All Gold Coast 600.
This is Queensland's biggest sports event, attracting a crowd of about 180,000 over three days, and is a massive contrast to our previous race at Bathurst a couple of weeks ago.
Here are five standout features of the Gold Coast event.
1. The track the flat 2.9km Surfers Paradise street circuit is located next to the Pacific Ocean between highrise buildings that dominate the skyline near the beach and tourist area.
2. The races there are two 300km races, the first on Saturday and the other on Sunday, and both offer 150 championship points to the winners.
3. The drivers the two-man teams in all 28 cars on the Gold Coast feature an international driver, or an overseas-based Australian, from categories including IndyCar, Formula One, sports and touring cars, and NASCAR. The co-drivers who raced in the past two endurance rounds at Sandown and Bathurst are ineligible.
4. The fans many watch the racing from high-rise balconies around the track, and at night they head to the event's rock concerts, which this year include Good Charlotte, and then the nightclubs in Surfers Paradise. The party atmosphere is as big an attraction as the racing.
5. The weather warm and sunny conditions means race fans can get around in shorts and t-shirts. You don't see any of the heavy mid-winter clothing essential for the much colder climate at Bathurst.
This year's grid has a strong international flavour with co-drivers from the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, and Brazil, plus American-based Australian IndyCar stars Will Power and Ryan Briscoe.
My team-mate in the Holden Racing Team Commodore will again be British sports car racer Darren Turner.
These Gold Coast races test your fitness because in-car temeperatures can reach 60-degrees from the heat that gets trapped between the concrete walls plus the warm weather.
This year we will race solely on Dunlop's soft-compound 'sprint' tyres, whereas in 2011 cars were fitted with a mix of 'sprint' and durable 'control' rubber.
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 11): Jamie Whincup (Holden) 2,772;
Craig Lowndes (Holden) 2,611; Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 2,584; Will
Davison (Ford) 2,302; Shane Van Gisbergen (Ford) 2,020; Tim Slade (Ford)
1,854; Garth Tander (Holden) 1,824; David Reynolds (Ford) 1,680; Lee
Holdsworth (Ford) 1,629; Fabian Coulthard (Holden) 1,613. Other: James
Courtney (Holden) 1,575
GOLD COAST 600 - V8 SUPERCAR SCHEDULE
FRIDAY (Oct 19):
Practice 1: 9.25am-10.05am
Practice 2: 11.35am-12.15pm
Practice 3: 1.35pm-2.15pm
Practice 4: 3.35pm-4.15pm
SATURDAY (Oct 20):
Qualifying: 9.35am-10.05am
Top 10 Shootout: 10.50am-11.20am
Race 1 (102 laps): 1.40pm-4.15pm
SUNDAY (Oct 21):
Qualifying: 11.15am-11.45am
Race 2 (102 laps): 1.40pm-4.15pm
