Symmons Plains is set to host its 100th ATCC/Supercars Championship race this weekend as the Tasmania Super440 gets under way, with opening Supercars practice scheduled for 2pm local time today. The race comes after the Tasmanian state government put $1.2 million into capital works at the circuit as part of a three-year deal to keep the event from 2025.
Motorsports Tasmania, which runs Symmons Plains and Baskerville, has spent the money on a list of upgrades that was shaped by Supercars’ demands for the venue. Donald Potter said the series came with “a wishlist of what they wanted to do for this three-year contract,” including power in the ground for the trucks, a drain for water to get away and repairs to potholes around the circuit.
The work began on the fifth of January and has already changed the look of the paddock. Fresh blacktop has been laid across the paddock area, about 2km of underground cabling has gone in, and a new lift beside the pit building is soon due to start operating. The paddock toilet block and septic system have also been updated, while new armco fences have replaced old tyre walls in a couple of places.
Safety work has been a major part of the job. Potter said the hairpin now has FIA-approved tyre bundles, and the tyre barrier was extended under the bridge at Turn 3 after a big TCM accident last year. He said the circuit also had to deliver improvements sought by Supercars, Motorsport Australia and the FIA, not just cosmetic changes.
“We had all these things we needed to do for safety and the nicety of the event,” Potter said. “The government understood that we’re trying to keep the circus coming each year.”
Not everything is finished. A new flag point, some kerbing, repainting jobs and work on the public address system are still on the agenda, and Potter said the team would have liked more time. “If we’d had another month I reckon we would have had a lot more done,” he said. “It’s been full-on since we started ripping things up on the fifth of January.”
He said the group had already used the full government allocation and was now spending its own money to finish the job. “We’ve spent everything the government has given us for the job, so we’re actually spending bank money now to finish it off,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we haven’t finished, but while we’re on a roll, we want to get them finished.”
