Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Address: Phillip Iceland Grand Prix Circuit RMB 500GP COWES VICTORIA 3922
- 38.503042027757145.23651123047Koordinaten: 38 ° 30 '11 "S, 145 ° 14 ' 11 " O
The Phillip Iceland Circuit is a motorsport race track on the island of Phillip Iceland on the coast of Bass Strait in the Australian state of Victoria, on, inter alia, race of the MotoGP World Championship, the Superbike World Championship and V8 Supercar series will be held.
The first race took place in 1926 with the first Australian Grand Prix, the so-called 100 - mile race instead. At that time, the course was still a high-speed triangle on closed public roads. Length of the route for car race was about 6 miles, for motorcycles about 10 miles.
With increasing speeds and the demand for a safer route the first pure racing circuit on the island, an unpaved mountain and valley slope with tight curves in the vicinity of the airport was built. This route was used until 1935.
1951 was a local businessman two kilometers away from the original runway build a new route. The only suitable and available land was right on the coast at the southwestern end of the island. The position is responsible for the large differences in height in the course of the route and the sometimes violent wind from the sea. The first race on the new route took place in 1956. In 1962 there was no money for necessary repairs, Phillip Iceland Circuit lost the discharged upon him race at the track in Bathurst.
The Circuit was reopened in 1966, but lost during the 1970s due to poor maintenance and heavy use for test rides again quality. In 1985, the track was sold and reopened in 1989 with the 500 cc race of the Grand Prix of Australia and a win by the Australian Wayne Gardner in front of 90,000 spectators. However, from 1991 to 1996, the price dropped the Motorcycle World Championship at Eastern Creek in Sydney, she was able to get back again in 1997.
Since 1990, every year a course of Superbike World Championship at Phillip Iceland takes place. Since 1993, guest appearances, the Australian Touring Car Championship, which was renamed in 1996 in V8 Supercar series, on the island.