Symmons Plains Raceway is a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of tw ...

circuit in Australia, located about south of Launceston, Tasmania. Since the closure of the Longford circuit in the 1960s it has been Tasmania's premier motor racing facility. The circuit is one of the longest serving circuits of the combined history of the

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trophy ...

and the

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 ...

Championship Series. Since 2005 it has hosted the

Falken Tasmania Challenge The Tasmania SuperSprint (formally known as the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Symmons Plains Raceway in Launceston, Tasmania. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championsh ...

for V8 Supercars. In 2004, the facility received a A$3 million upgrade which included some modifications to the layout of the track, including moving the start/finish line back to a more conventional location opposite the pits. It had previously been on a curve (which is now located just after the first corner), unusual for a road course. Symmons Plains is also known for its extremely tight

hairpin bend A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal ha ...

, known as Brambles Hairpin, at the end of the old front straight.

The circuit

Symmons Plains Raceway is long and is very hard on brakes. The banking at the hairpin is a unique opportunity to overtake. The other overtaking opportunity is the left hander at the end of the back straight.

Supercars Championship

The circuit has hosted rounds of the

and Supercars Championship since 1969. The circuit was left off the V8 Supercar calendar in 2000 before returning in 2004 after the upgrades were completed.

Lap records

From 1980 to 2021,

Alfredo Costanzo Alfredo Costanzo (born 3 January 1943, in Calabria, Italy) is a retired Italian born Australian racing driver. From 1980 to 1983 Costanzo won four Australian Drivers' Championships in a row, equalling the record set by Bib Stillwell from 1962 ...

held the outright race lap record by setting a time of 50.16 seconds with

Lola T430 The Lola T430 is an open-wheel formula race car, designed, developed and built by British manufacturer and constructor Lola Cars, for Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in differ ...

Formula 5000 Formula 5000 (or F5000) was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars tha ...

. The closest anyone had come since 1980 was British driver

James Winslow James Winslow (born 16 April 1983) is a British professional car racing driver who races at Le Mans 24 Hours. A ten-time Motorsport champion member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, he competes in Europe, Australia & Asia in Le Mans LMP & GT ...

who set a time of 50.5036 seconds on 1 April 2012 while driving a Dallara F307. Then, that outright lap record was broken in 2021 by driver

Joey Mawson Joseph "Joey" Mawson (born 27 March 1996 in Sydney) is a professional racing driver from Australia, who is the current double champion of the Australian S5000 Championship. Career Mawson started his career in karting at the age of 7, and ...

. Driving a Ligier JS F3-S5000, the Australian driver set a time of 0:49.7242 seconds. In 2022, the record was improved again by himself, by setting a time of 0:48.5598 seconds. As of November 2022, the official race lap records at Canberra Street Circuit are listed as:Natsoft Race Results
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Notes

References

External links

Symmons Plains at MotorsportTAS.com.au
Motorsport venues in Tasmania Sports venues in Tasmania Supercars Championship circuits Motorsport in Tasmania {{Tasmania-geo-stub