Surfers Paradise Street Circuit, Street Circuit

The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit is a temporary, beach-side street course in the Surfers Paradise suburb of the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. Centred on McIntosh Island just north of the city's central business district, it was conceived in the late 1980s by Ron Dickson, who held the international rights to CART IndyCar racing, and opened on 15 March 1991. From 1991 to 2008 it staged a CART/Champ Car event, the Gold Coast Indy 300, with the inaugural race won by John Andretti, and its fast, wall-lined design became a template for later street circuits. Australian touring cars joined the bill in 1994 and grew to share top billing, while A1 Grand Prix was lined up as a co-headliner for 2009 before that series collapsed. The original layout ran for about 4.47 km, but from 2010 it was substantially shortened to around 2.96 km, partly to cut the cost of erecting the temporary facility and to make way for the G:Link light rail that now runs alongside the track. The current configuration features several fast sections and two chicanes, and combined with its concrete walls it tends to produce incident-filled racing despite limited overtaking room. Today it hosts the Supercars Championship's Gold Coast 500, which has served as the opening round of the season's finals series. The grandstands backing onto the beach and the resort setting have made it a long-standing favourite with fans and drivers alike.

Operated by: Queensland Government / Supercars Australia