KEY POINTS:
More than 300,000 people are soon to experience one of Australia's very best annual events. There will be four days from October 18-21, of motorsport action and entertainment. The Lexmark Indy 300, held around a 4.7km street circuit on the Gold Coast, is regarded as one of the
"crown jewels" of motorsport
Fans will be able to watch Champ cars and V8 Supercars race along the beachfront, twist through high-rise buildings and leap into the air over curbs.
The event combines motorsport with great weather, beaches, leisure activities and a host of entertainment options. Lexmark Indy 300 have combined with Gold Coast Tourism to promote the race and location as a "whole city" approach.
The American-based Champ Car series has 18 drivers from around the world competing, including local rivalry between Australian Will Power and New Zealander Matt Halliday. The rivalry will continue when the V8 Supercars take to the track over three races around the challenging Surfers Paradise circuit. The Champ Cars and V8 Supercars are supported by the Porsche Carrera Cup, V8 Utes, with Kiwi Colin Corkery, and the Coates Aussie Racing cars.
There are more than 40 off-track events including F111 airshow, Miss Indy competition, stunt shows, drag racing, pit tours and parties everywhere.
The star of the show, however, is the 13th round of the Champ Car World series, the world's longest continuous racing series starting in 1909.
Champ Car, an abbreviation of "Championship Car", is an international open-wheel championship based largely in America and formerly known as Championship Auto Racing Teams, or CART. Like its predecessor USAC, CART was dominated by American drivers until the 1990s. Many road-racing stars, including Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, and Danny Sullivan found success in the then-PPG IndyCar World Series. After former F1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi won the series title in 1989, additional drivers from South America and Europe joined the series.
After British driving star Nigel Mansell's successful battle with Emerson Fittipaldi for the 1993 World Championship, a lot of people interpreted his victory as evidence of the superiority of non-US drivers. This, combined with CART's move to include more road racing on the schedule, led to a split of the series after the 1995 season due to a dispute between egos at CART and Tony George, owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. George went on to form a new racing series, the Indy Racing League (IRL), which initially included an all-oval schedule, all races on US soil, and mostly American drivers. Champ car racing is represented by drivers from, USA, France, Germany, Belgium, Canada, The Netherlands, Mexico, Brazil, England, Spain, New Zealand and Australia and arrives in Australia after completing its European leg and then heads to Mexico before the season finale in Phoenix.
Construction of the street circuit begins mid-August with the erection of the first pedestrian bridge at the northern end of the circuit. There are 2515 concrete barriers each weighing four tones placed around the track, 10kms of heavy-duty debris fencing, 16kms of security fencing and seven temporary bridges. Approximately 12,000 grandstand seats are constructed around the circuit and there's a grass area with a big outdoor screen for people to watch the race.
A Champ car looks similar to an F1 car in that it's an open-wheel, single seat car designed for racing.
The cars are powered by a turbo-charged 2.65 Cosworth V8 running on methanol and develop 750 horsepower. They have a top speed of 380kmph, Gil de Ferran holds the world record qualifying speed of 386.3kmph, run on slicks and have a fuel consumption of 1km per litre.
Heading the driver line-up will be three-time series champion Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais, Canadian Paul Tracy, Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, ex-Formula One driver Brit Justin Wilson and the only female driver, Katherine Legge from England. Team Australia'a Power, second on the points table, took pole last year and is looking to do the same again this time round. Another antipodian, Kiwi Halliday, follows another New Zealander, Scott Dixon, who raced on the Gold Coast at the 2001 and 2002 events following championship success in the Indy Lights series in 2000.
Previous winners at the Gold Coast include Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Alex Zanardi, Dario Franchitti and Sebastien Bourdais.
