The Canberra 400 was a
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
event on the
Canberra Street Circuit in
Canberra,
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...
,
Australia. The race only had a short life, running from 2000 to 2002 over the
Queen's Birthday
The King's Official Birthday (alternatively the Queen's Official Birthday when the monarch is female) is the selected day in the United Kingdom and most Commonwealth realms on which the birthday of the monarch is officially celebrated in those ...
holiday weekend in June.
Background
The inaugural race, titled the GMC 400 for sponsorship reasons, was staged in
Canberra for the first time in 2000. This came after what was then known as the
Shell Championship Series and its governing body AVESCO offered
Canberra a five-year opportunity to stage a round of the
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
. In the initial stages, the race was known as the National Capital 100. The race was to be run inside the
Parliamentary Triangle
The National Triangle, which is referred to as the Parliamentary Triangle, is the ceremonial precinct of Canberra, containing some of Australia's most significant buildings. The National Triangle is formed by Commonwealth, Kings and Constitutio ...
which created some debate in the media about the appropriateness of the event for Canberra in general, and for the zone in particular. In 1999 the then
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory,
Kate Carnell
Anne Katherine Carnell (née Knowlman; born 30 May 1955) is an Australian businesswoman and former Liberal Party politician, who served as the third Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from 1995 to 2000.
Early life and p ...
put forward the idea to the
ACT Legislative Assembly based on the success of the
Adelaide 500
The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...
.
The Assembly voted to stage the event, with the only opposition coming from the
Greens Party who believed that the race would create both air and noise pollution.
The Assembly voted to appropriate
A$4.5million in capital works and
A$2.5million for recurrent expenditure over five years to operate the event. This included the creation and removal of the concrete barriers that lined the circuit. Canberra Tourism and Events Corporation (CTEC) were given the responsibility of delivering the GMC 400 on time and within budget.
History
The inaugural race in 2000 saw
Greg Murphy win for
Gibson Motorsport
Gibson Motorsport was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1981 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GTHOs in Serie ...
. His team-mate
Steven Richards would eventually win the round, despite not winning any of the three races.
The event introduced a full reverse grid race to the category for the first time, with the results of race 1 being reversed to form the grid for race 2. The inaugural reverse grid race on Saturday was won by
Todd Kelly
Todd Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. H ...
, his first race win in the series, and the first for the
Holden Young Lions team.
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Sup ...
won the double-points Sunday race ahead of his teammate Mark Skaife. 2001 saw
Steven Johnson for
Dick Johnson Racing
Dick Johnson Racing (formerly DJR Team Penske), is Australia's oldest motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team currently fields the #11 and #17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GTs for Anton de Pasqu ...
take his first ever round win.
The final running of the event in 2002 was won by Mark Skaife - the designer of the track layout itself. The round win was Skaife's fifth round win out of five to start the
2002 season.
Circuit
The layout, which was inside the Parliamentary Triangle in Canberra, was notable for passing several major landmarks in the city. This included both the current
Parliament House and
Old Parliament House, the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
and the
Treasury Building
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in ...
.
The layout was designed by
Mark Skaife
Mark Skaife (born 3 April 1967) is a retired Australian motor racing driver. Skaife is a five-time champion of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, including its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Championship, as well as a six-time Bath ...
.
The outright lap record for the Canberra Street Circuit was set on 10 June 2000 when
Simon Wills drove his
Reynard 94D
The Reynard 94D is an open-wheel formula race car, designed and developed by Malcolm Oastler, and constructed and built by Reynard Motorsport, for use in Formula 3000 categories, Formula Nippon, and Formula Holden
Formula Holden was an Aus ...
Formula Holden
Formula Holden was an Australian open wheel racing category introduced in 1989.
History
Known during its development as Formula Australia, it was initially for chassis constructed from aluminium only, running a 3.8-litre Buick V6 engine a ...
around the 3.9 km track in 1:39.5409. The V8 Supercars lap record was set by
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Sup ...
in 2001, a 1:43.8397.
Format
The Canberra 400 was run over three days, from Friday to Sunday. Friday started out with two 45 minute practice sessions for the
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
. Later, the cars took to the track for Qualifying, which consisted of two sessions, the lower 50% and the upper 50%. Drivers were split into two groups which were determined by times from both practice sessions earlier in the day. The best times from both sessions were added together. The top 15 would go into the Top 15 Shootout, while 16th place onwards would start Race 1 in those positions.
Saturday saw the Top 15 Shootout in which the top 15 cars from Qualifying would do one 'hot lap' of the circuit. Later in the day, cars would grid up for the 25 lap (100 km) Race 1. During this race the cars must make a compulsory tyre stop between Laps 2 and 20. Pitstops during the races in Canberra were usually somewhat of a procession, in that most if not all cars came in at the same time, usually on lap 3. This would result in a crowded pitlane where the possibility of an accident occurring was very high. The cause of most cars coming in so early was the safety car. During these races if the safety car was brought onto the track, the pitlane would close. This meant that cars would not be able to enter to make a pitstop. Drivers were worried that a safety car would appear sometime during the race and if they had not made a pitstop yet, they would drop to the back of the drivers who had made a pitstop. CAMS and AVESCO realised that this could cause an accident, so for the 2001 race, they changed the pitlane speed limit from 60 km/h to 40 km/h and introduced an electronic speed limiter to all cars.
Sunday morning saw the 25 lap (100 km) Race 2 and the first 'reverse grid' ever to be used in
V8 Supercar
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
racing. A reverse grid means the car that finished in first place in Race 1 would start last in Race 2 and the car that finished last in Race 1 would start first in Race 2. Those cars that
Did Not Finish
In racing, did not finish (DNF) denotes a result of a participant who does not finish a given race, either because of a mechanical failure, injury, or involvement in an accident.
The term is used in:
* Automotive racing such as Formula One; NASCA ...
(DNF) start from the rear of grid. The introduction of the reverse grid was to create overtaking from faster cars at the back to slower cars at the front, which would be entertaining to the viewers. The problem with a reverse grid, especially on a street circuit is the high possibility of cars getting damaged from fast cars trying to overtake slow cars. Race 2 saw the same tyre stop rules that were applied in Race 1.
Race 3 was a 50 lap (200 km) and started late on Sunday afternoon. The grid for Race 3 was decided by adding the points awarded in Race 1 with the points awarded in Race 2. Race 3 not only had a tyre stop between laps 2 and 40, but also a fuel stop. This meant that all cars had to enter and stop in pitlane and have their cars filled up with petrol also between laps 2 and 40. The driver to have the most points at the end of the weekend is the winner of the Canberra 400.
Demise
The Canberra 400 only lasted 3 of its 5-year contract.
Gary Humphries
Gary John Joseph Humphries (born 6 July 1958) is a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. He was a member of the Australian Senate representing the Australian Capital Territory for the Liberal Party of Australia from 2003 to 2 ...
'
Liberal Government Liberal government may refer to:
Australia
In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia:
* Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...
was replaced in 2001 by
Jon Stanhope
Jonathan Donald Stanhope (born 29 April 1951) is a former Australian politician who was Labor Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory from 2001 to 2011. Stanhope represented the Ginninderra electorate in the ACT Legislative Assemb ...
's
Labor Government. The new
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
allowed the race to run in 2002, but decided to pull the plug for the 2003 race. The main reason given for the cancellation of the contract was the amount of money being spent on the race.
Kate Carnell
Anne Katherine Carnell (née Knowlman; born 30 May 1955) is an Australian businesswoman and former Liberal Party politician, who served as the third Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) from 1995 to 2000.
Early life and p ...
's initial estimation on cost blew out as the years went on, and some Canberrans believed that this money was better spent elsewhere. The race was not making as much money as had been expected. A report by the Auditor General of the Australian Capital Territory in 2002 summarised that the benefits or the race were overstated and costs were underestimated.
While the hotel industry experience a rise in bookings compared to a typical June, the crowd at the track dropped from 101,000 in 2000 to 89,000 in 2002. This was put down the time of year and the weather (in Canberra, in June the temperature can become lower than 5 °C during the day).
This view was supported by V8 Supercars chairman
Tony Cochrane who later conceded that the timing of the event, as requested by the ACT Government, was a mistake.
There was talk about moving the race to a warmer part of the year, but it never materialised. Some businessmen in the
Canberra district of
Tuggeranong
The District of Tuggeranong () is one of the original eighteen districts of the Australian Capital Territory used in land administration. The district is subdivided into divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks and is the southernmost town cent ...
even designed their own layout for the
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
to run on around the
Tuggeranong Town Centre
Tuggeranong Town Centre services the southernmost Canberra district of Tuggeranong. It is located on the south-western side of Lake Tuggeranong and composed of a large two-storey mall called South.Point Tuggeranong, as well as smaller shopping ...
, in an effort to boost business, but this also never eventuated. A proposal in 2021 suggested that a new circuit could be built at the
Exhibition Park in Canberra
Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) is a 70 hectare showground and multi-building venue for exhibitions, conferences, and events located in the suburb of Lyneham (though commonly listed in the adjacent Mitchell) in Canberra, Australia.
Regular ...
, which already hosts the
Summernats
Summernats (a portmanteau of "Summer" and "National"), is an annual car festival held in Canberra, Australia since 1987, except 2021. Summernats, which is usually held at the start of the year, is the best known specialist car enthusias ...
car festival.
Today there are still reminders of the V8's short history in Canberra with painted racing lines, including the starting grid, still visible on the narrow yet challenging roads they raced on.
Winners
Multiple winners
By manufacturer
Event names and sponsors
* 2000–01: GMC 400
* 2002:
Stegbar 400
See also
*
List of Australian Touring Car Championship races
References
{{coord, 35, 18, 9, S, 149, 7, 33, E, display=title
Supercars Championship races
Sports competitions in Canberra
Recurring sporting events established in 2000