Phillip Island

In the Melbourne, Victoria, Australia area; Albert Park is great to race for one weekend, but the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on Phillip Island is great all year 'round. The current 2.762-mile course has been around since 1951. This course in Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia is a combination of high speed and some rather smooth corners (except for two right-hand hairpins). Having played this course in a variety of games, you will not need to do any heavy braking except for about two (maybe three) corners. It's a great track either on four wheels or two. It usually plays host to the Australian Grand Prix for World Superbike, the Australian Grand Prix for MotoGP, and the Phillip Island 500 kilometer endurance race for the Australian V8 Supercars. It played host to a heroes' welcome when Casey Stoner clinched the 2007 MotoGP World Championship in coming home to his native Australia. Twelve turns of insanity awaits all who race this wonderful course that offers ample views of the Pacific Ocean.

--- Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit ---

Take a look at this course:

^ from: nmd.com.au - Phillip Island and its 2.762-mile (4.445-kilometer) madness.

Phillip Island boasts 12 corners of mostly high-speed racing. Only two corners require serious braking. Otherwise, it's just full throttlle and some light-to-moderate braking.

After blasting slightly uphill down Gardner Straight, the road slightly dips heading into Doohan Corner (Turn 1). Doohan leads onto awaits you followed by a fast left-hand hairpin called the Southern Loop (Turn 2). A brief straight follows with another slight dip in the road leading into a left-hand kink at Turn 3. Then, one of two crucial braking zones follows as the sharp right-hander called Honda Corner (Turn 4) awaits. It can be very easy to overshoot the corner if you go in too deep. A right-hand kink at Turn 5 follows, then a brief uphill trudge leads to the left-handed Siberia (Turn 6). Turns 7 through 9 represent some high to moderate speed corners going left-right-left in succession. Turn 7 is a quick left-hand kink. The road dips a little heading into Turn 8. Turn 8 is a fairly simple high-speed right. The left-hand corner at Lukey Heights (Turn 9) goes uphill and requires only a slight amount of braking. Be ready to brake hard after Turn 9, though, as the road dips to a great extent leading into Turn 10. Turn 10 is a right-hand hairpin that is sharper than Turn 4's hairpin. If you blow Turn 10, your speed heading into the final two turns will be dumped. The road goes up a bit as the only remaining left-handers await. Turn 11 is a nice transition out of Turn 10. After Turn 11 is a slightly banked Turn 12 that leads onto the front stretch to the finish line. After Turn 12, the road dips down progressively and then straightens out and goes briefly uphill heading towards the finish line. Now go do 2.762 miles (4.445 km) all over again! :)


Video Lap.
I couldn't find a good car video, so here is something I found that gives you a look at Phillip Island and a lap around it. The video was primarily intended for describing a lap around Phillip Island on a MotoGP motorcycle:




Lap Times Around Phillip Island.
Here is a look at a few lap times around Phillip Island. These are record times as of April 2009 (source: Wikipedia). All times are rounded to the nearest thousandth:

* Craig Lowndes lapped Phillip Island in 1999 with a time of 1:33.439 (1:33.4389) in a Holden VT Commodore V8 Supercar.
* Paul Stokell lapped the course in a Lamborghini Diablo GTR in 2003 with a time of 1:34.106 (1:34.1058).
* Nicky Hayden lapped Phillip Island at 1:30.059 on a Honda RC212V MotoGP bike in 2008.
* Troy Corser lapped Phillip Island at 1:31.826 on his Yamaha YZF-R1 World Superbike in 2007.
* In Carerra Cup in 2008, Craig Baird lapped Phillip Island at 1:35.102 (1:35.1024) in his Porsche 997 GT3 Cup car.





Learn more about the Phillip Island Grand Prix Course by visiting the Phillip Island GP Circuit's homepage. Thank you for reading!