Sacred sites: Symmons Plains

It’s more than 60 years since motorsport was first held at Symmons Plains.
The continuously operating track has long been Tasmania’s premier racing facility, hosting a round of the Supercars/Australian Touring Car Championship on 45 occasions over the last five decades, inclusive of the 2017 event held from April 7-9. Only Sandown has a longer history as an ATCC venue.
Its annual tin-top round is the largest sporting event in Tasmania, with fans flocking to see the action on the short and fast layout.

Symmons Plains, located just south of Launceston, has a well-earned reputation as brake-breaker. This is easy to understand when you consider it is the series’ fourth fastest circuit – only Pukekohe, Bathurst and Phillip Island have a faster average lap speed – yet it features the championship’s slowest corner. The hairpin is negotiated at a snail-like 55-60km/h.
“This is the toughest braking point in all of Australia,” says local racing identity Barry Oliver. “So you have a circuit that generates terrific speeds, but at the same time has the unbelievable hard braking at the end of the straight.”
Interestingly, the hairpin leads onto the boomerang-shaped back straight, which, despite the slow entry speed, is one of the fastest on the schedule.
Two-time V8 Supercars round winner Garth Tander sums up the circuit in the following manner:

There are only really three corners and the percentage of the lap that you spend in a corner is very low. Getting drive out of the hairpin is critical, so you can carry good speed down the back straight and set up a pass under brakes at the other end.

The hairpin is the focal point for spectators and TV viewers, too, given the action that takes place there, especially on the first lap as the field concertinas and then drops several metres.
Attracting big crowds has never been a problem to the first permanent circuit in the north of the state – a venue that has underpinned local racing for over half a century.