phillip island grand prix circuit guide with hotels near the racetrack
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 Where we headed this time?
phillip island grand prix circuit victoria australia
Venue Physical Address: Back Beach Road, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
Directions/Route:
from Melbourne take the M1 from downtown or from Punt Road by the river to the M240 (Gippsland Highway) to the A240... after some miles on the M240, the signposting is very very clear. The total journeyshould take around 2 hrs or so but much longer on raceday because of the extra traffic. Pic left shows the bridge to the island A little more on race day itself... but hey, you will be camping on the island, right???? The roads, like many in Australia that link the populous areas, are in great condition.
Distance from
> 135 KMS / 80 miles (approx) from Melbourne Australia Hotels
Hotels Accommodations close to Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit?
Try the following links:
Race Tickets: try my World Racing tickets page
What's the nearest airport to Phillip Island GP circuit?
> (MEL) Melbourne International Airport (Tullamarine) (approx 85 miles)
Find hotels near melbourne international airport (MEL)
> Melbourne Tullamarine Airport (MEL) Website
>
> Find Hotels near Airports - International
Shop for the cheapest airfare to MEL Melbourne International Airport for your trip to Phillip island grand prix cities for the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix or the World Superbike event with my Online Travel Store. For information about getting from these airports to their respective downtowns visit to and from the airport.
Also
> Nearest Train station / Bus Route See Directions above. Ask when you buy your tickets about a shuttle bus from Melbourne. There is one that leaves from the Melbourne Town Hall every raceday morning at 7.30, and takes around 1.5 hours to get to the track, leaving the track at about 5.30. The service is offered by Chris' Couches +61 (03) 9645 6699. It's about $40AUD each way. Bookings are essential. Also, there's a V/Line (government public transportation) bus service, (almost half price) but it goes at odd time and can only deliver you in Cowes (the big town on the island) in the afternoon, since it isn't specifically for the race but a general customer service. That bus leaves from Spencer Street Bus Terminal and similar ones run from Dandenong & Cranbourne. See vlinepassenger.com.au/ or call 13 61 96 in Australia for more info. There are various other ways to get to the island including ferry. See the official circuit website in the section regarding the specific event you wish to get to.
>Parking: Copious. Huge fields for both camper and bike camping, and day visitor parking exists along the total length of the circuit.
>Round the Island shuttle travel Getting around the 25 km (e-w)long by 9 km wide (n-s)island couldn't be easier during a big race weekend. A shuttle runs around the island periphery at approximately 10 minute intervals taking you from say the main town, Cowes, and it's stores on the North bank around to the circuit on the south bank. Bus runs till late so there needs be no crawling (although you'll likely be singing and dancing) 9km/5.5Mile trip back to the campsite from the Isle of Wight on Saturday night! Check when you board for the last trip... If you miss the last bus, hey, you won't be alone. Cabs run too.
> Did we organize Camping / Accommodation at this location? Finding accommodation on the island for any of the events is broken into 2 possible sources. The first, copious camping by the circuit, is available when you purchase your ticket purchase through the phillip island grand prix circuit website (in 2004 for the WSBK race, for example, camping cost $75AUD for 4 nights and could be ordered via the Superbikes Hotline Phone: +16 (0)3 5952 2710.)
Other accommodations are of course available on the island, which is a very well established vacation home area. Accommodation ranges from motels (usually snapped up early by teams during big event weekends) to vacant holiday homes, to bed and breakfasts, to the 12 caravan parks, or to other campgrounds a little away from the circuit. All of these are available through the official Tourist Information Office at Phillip Island Tourist Information Service, the local tourism office at basscoast.vic.gov.au (tell Kip I sent you). or by enquiring by email to motorsport@phillipislandguide.com or piinfo@waterfront.net.au
The tourist office and the volunteer run Tourist Info Guide assists thousands of people in finding the accommodation of their prefered standard every year. The tourist office is one of the first things you find once you've crossed the bridge onto the island. They're friendly too!
Find :
Hotels nearest to Phillip Island Circuit
Melbourne Australia Hotels
Hotels near Melbourne International Airport - Tullamarine
>Tickets: See the Official Circuit Website for the best prices, without markup from tour companies.
> Best viewing: The circuit has much to offer in terms of overall view of the track from the viewing mounds in the flowing General admission areas around the track. Set in a natural valley with an enourmous and gorgeous view of the waters of Westernport Bay, offsetting the layout. Reminds me alot of the great vieiwing at A1 ring in Spielberg, Austria only with the bay instead of the mountains to distract you.
> Wanna be a volunteer race marshall? Visit Confederation of Australian Motorsports (CAMS)
> Local road work / construction / tolls / traffic? Regarding around Melbourne and perhaps on the highway out to the track. See Official Government Road Authority Link Vic DOI + Vicroads
> Got the weather? Here's the Wonderground 10 day forecast for Phillip Island
> What's the local newspaper say? Check the Melbourne Newspaper website. I imagine there's a more local paper, but I dont' know. Do you?
> Things to do:
> Speed related stuff we got to check out nearby:
Must visit the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Museum & Visitor's Center - which is on the circuit grounds. When I've posted the pictures of my recent visit, it'll be available via the picture link at the top right of this page.
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> Liquor Laws: The legal drinking age in Australia is 18.
> Money: Australian Dollars (AUD)
> ATM Locator: Visa World ATM search
> Currency Converter: Oanda
Currency Tip. Use ATMs to draw local currency and avoid excessive fees charged by Banks in Australia .
Tipping & Taxes: Not expected. GST of 10% is charged on virtually all purchases and is not refundable to tourists. Tipping is not obligatory in any circumstance, but may well be appropriate in higher class hotels and restaraunts or where service is excellent.
Driving Fast! Drive Left, steering Right. You'll need your home license and an international permit, available at your home Auto Club.
Telephones: Best bet is to buy a cheap AUS$5 phone card at any service station or newsagency with which you should be able to call most countries for under 20c / minute
Emergency Numbers: Police: 000 (free call)
Electric Power / ac/dc? AC 240V. 2 or 3(with earth) flat pronged plug
> Time Zone: (GMT+10) with daylight saving
More stuff about Phillip Island
Introduction:
Just as the town of Cowes on Phillip Island isn't quite Monterey in California, although this is debatable, the Phillip Island Circuit is considered by professional motorcycle racers as, along with Assen in the Netherlands, Mugello in Italy, Laguna Seca in the United States (the island lukey heights has a smaller but similar corkscrew) as one of the most challenging tracks in the world. Apart from this the circuit has loads to offer in of overall view of the track from the viewing mounds in the flowing General admission areas around the track. Set in a natural valley, with a gorgeous view of the waters of Westernport Bay offsetting the layout, you'll be thinking, bikes, then surf, then beer at the Isle of Wight, then sunburnt happy sleep till it all starts again the next day!
Phillip Island is a holiday resort area serving nearby Melbourne in the pretty Westernport Bay / Peninsula area of the state of Victoria in Australia. The island, only 9kms wide and 24 kms long (a little smaller than Bahrain) is filled with holiday homes of fortunate Australians. Coming to the island any time but during the major race weekends, or during the Australian summer vactions (New Years Eve is a huge event on the island) one would be mistaken to think that this was a peaceful retirement village (albeit damn cold in the Fall and Winter). But come the motorsports, particularly the massive motorcycle racing weekends in March/April and October, and the island could fairly be said to "rock"!
From the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit campgrounds to the only "pub" on the island, the Isle of Wight on the south end of the island, there is bustle, activity, and a true sense of race cammeraderie which always seems to be missing in Melbourne during it's much more high profile Formula 1™ event early in the year.
The 135 km / 80 mile drive from Melbourne, the nearest place with an International Airport, will take around 1.5 hours (2+ during race weekend as traffic bottlenecks on the bridge to the island (see the pics page), meaning that the best of the big city is not out of reach (see my Melbourne grandprixcities™ guide), while still allowing the feeling of being with race fans in a beach girthed paradise.
During my recent visit I was completely taken aback by the friendliness of tourism officials, and local business proprietors, who are rightly proud of their facilities and are all insane about motorsports, that bring so much to the community.
The race fan is catered for throughout the year as the circuit offers a visitors center/museum, and daily tours of the circuit facilities. (11am). And on any given day, race testing can be seen from the visitor center's circuit look out. In fact when I arrived in March 2003 for a vacation before the world superbikes race, motogp ace, Valentino Rossi, had hired the circuit for practice, drawing a large crowd of fans.
Outside of racing the island is a famous tourist destination for it's nightly penguin parade, which attracts people from all around the world and is a feature of any Melbourne travel tips brochure. Bookings to watch the captivating evening movement of Phillip Island Penguins to their nightly retreat are essential in high periods
Stuff to do
Here's your "to do list" while on the island. Don't do it fast. Let the motorcycles and the local Australian v8 touring supercars do stuff fast. You take it nice and easy in this temperate Australian relaxation zone! Picture is of me outside the isle of white pub. Called the only pub on the island, although there are at least 2 RSL (Retired Serviceman's League) centers on the Island as well. These RSL's host gaming, bars and bistros. The Isle of Wight Hotel (pub), however, is THE place for fun. It's found on the oposite side of the island to the circuit (in the town of Cowes, 9kms from track) and provides the central destination (outside of the campsite) on Saturday night of race event weekends. It sits looking over the Peninsula and a pretty pier and beach and is a favorite destination for Melbournians, not just on race weekends, but on New Year's Eve as well, where it, again, rocks! The Isle of Wight is just far enough from the circuit to make it feel like you're "going out", albeit Aussie style, on Saturday night.
For those who need music to punctuate their racing weekends, bands play at the Isle of Wight Pub and on Saturday night of race weekend, usually, at the circuit (in the general admission area behind the visitor's center, making it a short walk home if you're staying in the (bike or car) camping area.
Eating
Several nice restaurants exist in the town of Cowes. The real treat, however, is also in cowes. For the international traveler the real deal is grabbing a big serve of aussie fish'n'chips and taking it down to the pier in front of the isle of wight hotel and eating while enjoying the sunshine and the bay. The town's best fish'n'chip shops is just a half a block from the hotel and pier (upstairs at 14, The Esplanade). It's called Fish Biz, and while I have to admit I mentioned to the nice man there that I was a travel writer, it seemed no problem for him to let me go sit out at the tables in the sun and wait for my order to be prepared (and then he delivered it too!). I can still taste the whiting that I ate out on the peir! Really lovely, budget eating in paradise, and a taste of truly "local cuisine", including a great aussie burger (with grilled pineapple!) mmmmmm....
Shopping
The town of Cowes has all the regular stores you'd expect, a supermarket, fast food, hair dressers, and about a zillion places to buy those funny floral colored shirts and shorts you can't help but buy when you get near a beach.
History
for a history of racing on phillip island, the grand prix circuit's visitor center is filled with great displays, historic and current, inlcuding wayne gardener's world championship winning 1997 bike and 2 bathurst winning brock torana's! Well worth taking a closer look at. (pictures from the displays are scattered across this page.
Family
#1 thing to do on the island and, even though all of 3 hours drive from Melbourne's, the premier advertised tourist attraction, is to watch, at dusk, the parade of penguins towards their sleeping area. official website can tell you estimated times and give you all other details. You can't photograph the penguins because the light scares them, but it's a great experience and one particularly adored by the loads Japanese Tourist that take one of the many tour buses from the big city.
Places of Worship:
Casinos?
If you're really keen to gamble check out the poker machines (or "Pokies" as they're called in Oz) at the Isle of Wight Pub or dive into one of the Retired Serviceman League establishments. I heard that there's some rule that you can't smoke where you eat now in the state of Victoria which ruined business for many pubs, which had been cramming in poker machines to offer entertainment after they ate. Now, because people can't smoke if a poker machine place had a bistro, people, particularly those loveable compulsives that are often gamblers, don't stay and play any more. ...go figure? Anyway, if you want to play you can play on the island.
In this grandprixcity take time to see:
> Phillip Island Circuit and Visitor Center (see pics)
> Phillip Island Nature Park, home of the famous Penguin Parade & koala conservation center
> fun stuff in Melbourne, (135 kms / 80 miles away), home of the Formula One™ Grand Prix, the Australian Open Tennis, and the Melbourne Cup Horse Race.
Online Links of Interest:
> Ozgurus - A Phillip Island Based Motorsport outreach group
See their spoof horror film on the graveyard of wrecked and abandoned Racecars (and the loss of the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island) at Ozgurus.com/remnants/
> Official Phillip Island Information Website
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> Canadian CMRA Pro Open Superbike, Pro Heavyweight Sportbike rider Tim Johnson's RoadRacing.org story about his visit the the 2001 MotoGP Grand Prix on the Island. He meets Mick Doohan!
ALSO check out my other Other Australian Motorsports Destinations
>>> More motorsport and travel links
Other Interesting Stuff
PHILLIP ISLAND CIRCUIT NEWS
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