The Gold Coast Indy 300 was an annual open-wheel motor race event that took place at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 1991 to 2008. The challenging track, alongside a strip of beaches, had several fast sections and four chicanes. The event had various names during its history for sponsorship reasons; in its final year, it was known as the Nikon Indy 300.
The race debuted in 1991 on the CART Indy Car World Series calendar, the first race in series history held outside North America. Following the split between CART and the newly formed Indy Racing League (IRL) in 1996, CART continued to sanction the event until it folded after the 2003 season. From 2004 to 2007, the race was part of the Champ Car World Series, the successor to CART. Following the merger of the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series in February 2008 it was announced that the race would continue as a non-championship IndyCar Series event; however the race was omitted from the 2009 IndyCar Series season calendar, and subsequently dropped by the IndyCar Series completely.
In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, the Gold Coast Indy 300 was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for its role as an "event and festival".
History
Early years
thumb|2006 Lexmark Indy 300
thumb|2006 Lexmark Indy 300. Miss Indy and Runners-up being interviewed in the pits.
thumb|2006 Lexmark Indy 300
The event arrived in Australia on the back of lobbying from a consortium of businessmen from the state of Queensland. The event's early years were dogged by controversy as Australia's motor sport governing body, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), initially refused to sanction the event due to threats from the FIA to pull the Australian Formula One Grand Prix from championship status, as they believed that the Australian Indy Car Grand Prix on the Gold Coast went against their copyrights / trademarks. The Queensland State Government had been largely supportive of the event, whereas support at local level from the Gold Coast City Council varied, and was occasionally openly hostile to the event.
From 1991 to 1997, the Gold Coast Grand Prix was typically held in March, and several times served as the CART season opener. In 1996, the Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne) moved from the fall to the spring. It created an undesirable scheduling conflict which eventually saw the Gold Coast Indy move permanently to October, starting in 1998. By the late 1990s, as political tensions subsided, the race become a well-attended and popular event on the Gold Coast calendar with tens of thousands of spectators attending each of the four days of the event. Australian driver Ryan Briscoe nonetheless became the first local winner of the event, in what remains the final running of the event to date.
Demise and A1GP
On 11 November 2008, after extensive negotiations with the IndyCar Series broke down, the Queensland Government reached a new five-year deal with A1 Grand Prix to stage a race at Surfers Paradise, severing its eighteen-year history with American open wheel racing. On 25 February 2009 it was announced that the event, which would combine one of the first few rounds of the 2009–10 A1 Grand Prix season and the 11th round of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series, would be produced through a partnership between IMG and the Queensland Government. The event was also renamed as the SuperGP for 2009, with the iconic Indy name becoming obsolete.
However, on 17 October 2009, A1GP Chairman Tony Teixeira announced that the United Kingdom operating arm of the series went into liquidation in June, with access to the A1GP cars and their ability to pay its suppliers having been impeded. That prevented the cars from leaving Europe in time to be on track in Surfers Paradise on 22 October. Therefore, A1GP withdrew from participation in the 2009 Nikon SuperGP, with V8 Supercars instead running additional races. A1GP refunded Gold Coast Motor Events Co. the sanction fee paid, and donated A$50,000 to a charity designated by the board.
Following A1GP's withdrawal, V8 Supercars became the permanent and sole lead category of the event, which became known as the Gold Coast 600 as of 2010. This event continues to the current day, albeit on a shorter 2.96 km version of the original Surfers Paradise circuit. The original longer circuit has also now been rendered unusable by the G:link light rail network, which now extends along Surfers Paradise Boulevard beyond the existing second chicane.
Future
In June 2016 the Gold Coast Bulletin reported that "secret government talks" were underway to bring back the IndyCar race for 2017 or 2018, and that an area consortium had been given rights to negotiate with IndyCar for an Australian race with a preference for the Gold Coast. IndyCar management would not comment other than to say they were investigating potential overseas venues. With Supercars later signing an extension of their exclusive deal for the event from 2017 to 2019, combined with the prohibitive shorter track layout, and costs of bringing the series to Australia, there are several barriers preventing the revival of the event.
|-
! 1992
| 22 March
| Emerson Fittipaldi
| Penske Racing
| Penske
| Chevrolet
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|181.675 (292.377)
|align="center"|2:20:33
|align="center"|77.561
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1993
| 21 March
| Nigel Mansell
| Newman/Haas Racing
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|181.675 (292.377)
|align="center"|1:52:02
|align="center"|97.284
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1994
| 20 March
| Michael Andretti
| Chip Ganassi Racing
| Reynard
| Ford
|align="center"|55
|align="center"|153.725 (247.396)
|align="center"|1:44:58
|align="center"|80.994
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1995
| 19 March
| Paul Tracy
| Newman/Haas Racing
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|182.26 (293.319)
|align="center"|1:58:26
|align="center"|92.335
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1996
| 31 March
| Jimmy Vasser
| Chip Ganassi Racing
| Reynard
| Honda
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|181.61 (292.272)
|align="center"|2:00:46
|align="center"|90.218
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1997
| 6 April
| Scott Pruett
| Patrick Racing
| Reynard
| Ford
|align="center"|57
|align="center"|159.315 (256.392)
|align="center"|2:01:04
|align="center"|78.948
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1998
| 18 October
| Alex Zanardi
| Chip Ganassi Racing
| Reynard
| Honda
|align="center"|62
|align="center"|173.29 (278.883)
|align="center"|2:01:51
|align="center"|85.328
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 1999
| 17 October
| Dario Franchitti
| Team Green
| Reynard
| Honda
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|181.675 (292.377)
|align="center"|1:58:40
|align="center"|91.849
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2000
| 15 October
| Adrian Fernandez
| Patrick Racing
| Reynard
| Ford
|align="center"|59
|align="center"|164.905 (265.388)
|align="center"|2:01:14
|align="center"|81.607
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2001
| 28 October
| Cristiano da Matta
| Newman/Haas Racing
| Lola
| Toyota
|align="center"|65
|align="center"|181.675 (292.377)
|align="center"|1:51:47
|align="center"|97.511
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2002
| 27 October
| Mario Domínguez
| Herdez Competition
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|40
|align="center"|111.8 (179.924)
|align="center"|2:00:06
|align="center"|55.849
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2003
| 26 October
| Ryan Hunter-Reay
| American Spirit Team Johansson
| Reynard
| Ford
|align="center"|47
|align="center"|131.365 (211.411)
|align="center"|1:49:02
|align="center"|72.28
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2004
| 24 October
| Bruno Junqueira
| Newman/Haas Racing
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|57
|align="center"|159.315 (256.392)
|align="center"|1:46:45
|align="center"|89.532
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2005
| 23 October
| Sébastien Bourdais
| Newman/Haas Racing
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|57
|align="center"|159.315 (256.392)
|align="center"|1:39:26
|align="center"|96.123
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2006
| 22 October
| Nelson Philippe
| CTE-HVM Racing
| Lola
| Ford
|align="center"|59
|align="center"|164.905 (265.388)
|align="center"|1:50:50
|align="center"|89.259
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
! 2007
| 21 October
| Sébastien Bourdais
| Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
| Panoz DP01
| Cosworth
|align="center"|61
|align="center"|170.495 (274.385)
|align="center"|1:45:49
|align="center"|96.669
| Report
|align="center"|
|-
!colspan=12|IndyCar Series history
|- style="background:#fcc;"
! 2008
| 26 October
| Ryan Briscoe
| Penske Racing
| Dallara
| Honda
|align="center"|60
|align="center"|167.7 (269.886)
|align="center"|1:45:50
|align="center"|95.068
| Report
|align="center"|
|}
Notes:<br />
– 1994: Race shortened due to darkness / sunset.<br />
– 1997, 1998 and 2000: Race shortened due to time limit.<br />
– 2002: Race shortened due to torrential rain. Only around 8 laps were completed in green flag conditions, the rest of the race was run behind the safety car. <br />
– 2003: Race shortened from 65 laps due to hail storm.
Support races
Indy 300 F3 Challenge
The Nikon Indy 300 F3 Challenge was a Formula Three race held in 2008 on the streets of Surfers Paradise, Queensland as a non-championship support race of the 2008 IndyCar Series Gold Coast Indy 300 event.
Class structure
Drivers competed in three classes:
- Championship Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2007
- National Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2004
- Trophy Class – restricted to cars constructed in accordance with the FIA Formula 3 regulations that applied between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2001
AUSCAR / Superkarts / Celebrity Challenge
Ran from 1991 - 1993.
V8 Supercars
Ran from 1994 -1996 (ATCC) and then 1997 - 2008 (V8 Supercars) - having Championship status from 2002 - 2008.
From the 2004 event, the orgnaisers constructed an additional pit-lane and garages for the V8 Supercars. Their pit entry point was closer to the overpass at the final corner and their exit ran through the Champ Car Pit Lane to turn 1. Speed limit was 40kph within their pit lane then they accelerated to ~80kph for the Champ Car section of the pit lane.
Super Tourers (2 Litre)
Ran from 1994 - 1997.
Nations Cup / Production Car
Ran from 2000 - 2004.
V8 Utes
Ran from 2001 - 2008 - ran a race at night in the early 2000's.
Event names
- 1991: Gold Coast IndyCar GP
- 1992: Daikyo IndyCar GP
- 1993–94: Australian FAI IndyCar GP
- 1995: IndyCar Australia
- 1996: Bartercard IndyCar Australia
- 1997: Sunbelt IndyCarnival
- 1998–2002: Honda Indy 300
- 2003–07: Lexmark Indy 300
- 2008: Nikon Indy 300
See also
- 1954 Australian Grand Prix
- V8 Supercar Challenge
- Gold Coast 600
References
External links
- Official Event Site