Barbagallo Raceway

Motorsport venue
Name = Barbagallo Raceway | Location = Wanneroo, Australia
Time = GMT +8


Owner = Western Australia Sporting Car Club
Opened = 1969-03-02
Events = V8 Supercars
Length_km = 2.42
Length_mi = 1.51
Turns = 7
Record_time = 0:51.6726
Record_driver = Gary West
Record_team = Lola F3000
Record_year = 2006
Record_class = Formula Libre

Barbagallo Raceway is a motorsport circuit located in Wanneroo, approximately Convert|50|km|mi|0 north of Perth in Western Australia.

The circuit was originally known as Wanneroo Park and the first race meet took place in March, 1969. Initially the major race per year was a 6 hour Le Mans style race for sedans and sports cars known as the Six Hour Le Mans. However as interest dulled in that event, production car racing took over as the major race type.

In 1979, the Australian Grand Prix was held at Wanneroo Park which coincided with the opening of the new pits and paddock area to the west of the circuit. In 1992, it was decided that a short circuit would be constructed by linking Turn 5 on the current circuit to the back straight forming a new Convert|1.7|km|mi|1 long circuit. This extension was funded by Alf Barbagallo and hence the circuit name was changed to Barbagallo Raceway. The short circuit allowed for an increase in the types of racing including the inclusion of truck racing and also allowed events to be run at night.

The circuit was completely resurfaced in 2004 and this saw almost all lap records broken in the first few months of 2004. The surface changed from an abrasive surface which was renowned for being very hard on tyres to a grippy, smooth surface.

The track holds a number of major race meets each year, with the biggest being a round of the V8 Supercar championship. This is one of the biggest sporting events in Western Australia each year with over 50,000 people attending the 3 day event. However, in 24/07/2008, the V8 Supercar offcial website reported that the V8 Supercar contract for Barbagallo Raceway will ends next year and the Western Australian Government is investigating whether to upgrade the "dilapidated" circuit or build a new one. The site suggested that new track built or modifications to the existing circuit are needed or Australia’s most western state could lose a round of the Championship [http://www.v8supercar.com.au/content/hero_news/june08/no_v8_racing_in_dubai_us_or_europe/] .

External links

* [http://www.wascc.com.au/ Barbagallo Raceway]
* [http://www.v8supercar.com.au/circuits/circuitevtprm.asp?vid=123&ind=M Track info from V8 Supercar]