Gold Coast beach chicane tyre bundles to be replaced by sensors

There will be a notable change to the race track for next week’s Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, with tyre bundles to be replaced by sensors at the famous beach chicane.

The Surfers Paradise Street Circuit features two major chicanes — the Turns 1/2/3 complex and Turns 6/7/8/9/10 along the back straight.

The decision to remove tyre bundles from the beach chicane in 2023 has been made following consultation with leading drivers, Supercars and Motorsport Australia.

Supercars, working with Motorsport Australia, has undertaken extensive research to enhance the timing loops in the beach chicane and Turns 1/2/3 areas. The removal of the tyre bundles does not affect the circuit's licence.

Drivers’ laps are deleted in practice and qualifying laps if they activate the timing loops.

Under the previous system, teams were first notified of kerb strikes, with information then communicated to drivers. 

Next weekend, if triggered, the sensor strikes will go straight to the dash of drivers, notifying them immediately if they have breached track limits.

The kerb strike information is monitored during the races to allow Race Control to enact a kerb strike policy. There is a kerb sensor at Turn 2, and four sensors at the beach chicane, from Turns 7 to 10. 

The chicanes came under the microscope 12 months ago, with a Sunday pile-up triggered by James Golding, who clouted a tyre bundle at the beach chicane.

In previous years, there were tyre bundles and raised kerbs at both chicanes. The tyre bundle at the first chicane was placed at Turn 1, with three tyre bundles placed along the beach chicane.

The tyre bundle at Turn 1 was moved back approximately 500mm after consultation with the driver's group at last year’s event and will remain in the same position for the 2023 event.

Heading into next weekend’s penultimate round of the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship, Brodie Kostecki holds a 131-point championship lead over defending champion and Repco Bathurst 1000 winner Shane van Gisbergen.

The Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 runs next week from October 27-29 at the famous Surfers Paradise street circuit. Tickets are on sale now through Supercars.com and Ticketek.