Drivers question use of tyre bundles after Gold Coast pile-up

The final race of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 has been marred by a sickening crash with a tyre bundle at the centre of the trouble.

Todd Hazelwood, James Golding, Broc Feeney, Lee Holdsworth, Nick Percat and Macauley Jones were all wiped out in an instant, while James Courtney and Thomas Randle, also sustained heavy damage, but the Tickford team was able to get them both back out.

All drivers are okay, but many are already voicing their anger about the use of tyre bundles.

How to best stop cars from cutting the chicanes has been been a long topic of debate at the Gold Coast street circuit with bollards infamously trialled in 2011.

Bollards were deemed unsuccessful and were immediately replaced with tyre bundles being the norm at the Beach Chicane ever since, but are now back in sharp focus.

The first driver to share their thoughts on the Supercars TV broadcast was Courtney, who revealed the drivers’ concern about tyre bundles causing such an incident.

“That is why we as drivers lobby so hard to get rid of tyre bundles because that is pretty much what caused it all,” he said.

“I am not sure what happened in front, but there were just cars blocking the track.

“I tried to stop, the initial impact was not too bad, but then I got cleaned up from the rear.”

Jonathon Webb passes one of the many bollards which replaced tyre bundles at the 2011 Gold Coast 600. Image: Mark Horsburgh

Percat had a similar view, believing in 2022 tyre bundles should be a thing of the past.

“It is a shame to have so many cars out and I think in this day and age we are a bit over tyre bundles,” he said.

“Obviously he (James) has lost a car, but he should not have to pay a price like that because we use old rubbish tyres that are ratchet strapped to the track.

“Disappointing we use a used tyre from a garbage bin and we write off six cars.”

The incident appeared to be triggered by Golding, who straight-lined the final turn of the Beach Chicane and collected the tyre bundle, which in-turn was kicked onto the racing line and was collected by several other drivers in the chasing pack.

Will Brown and Thomas Randle were the first onto the scene and caught the tyre bundle, but behind them chaos unfolded as the likes of Courtney, Holdsworth, Feeney and Percat had nowhere to go and careered into the the stricken Golding.

James Golding collects the tyre bundle at the Beach Chicane. Image: Fox Sports

A shaken Golding held his hand up taking blame for the incident when interviewed by Supercars TV.

“I am all good, but really unfortunate and disappointing for the team,” he said.

“My mistake, human error. Got too high on the kerb and when I came out of it it was too late to recover.

“I am sorry for all of the other drivers and teams involved.”

The impact was so heavy Jones’ BJR Commodore caught alight, but Golding, Feeney and Percat all grabbed the fire extinguishers to assist the car #96 driver.

“It was a big impact, and the fire extinguisher going off isn’t a good sign,” said Jones after returning to the pits.

“It was a pretty big train actually, and they all started slowing down… I saw brake lights, that’s all I could see.

“I saw the back of Nick, and he grabbed on the brake in the chicane, and I pretty much did the same.

“We were both left with nowhere to go, Golding was sitting there and Nick hit him, and I hit Nick up the arse.”

The track was jammed which brought out the red flag immediately. Image: Mark Horsburgh

The track was jammed and the red flag was brought out for the sixth time in 2022 with races in Tasmania, Perth, Darwin, Tailem Bend and Pukekohe also suspended due to major incidents.

The smash up is a devastating timing for the teams, who all have a tight deadline to meet to get the new Gen3 cars ready for 2023, while only one round remains for the current generation of cars and championship.

A shattered Tickford CEO Tim Edwards said his team is working huge hours just to keep the current cars clean and with some caught up in the crash, the task will not get any easier.

“The reality is that we are not head down in Gen3 cars because were are flat out keeping these cars on the track,” he said.

“It has taken a huge toll on the team. There is a financial cost but the cost is on the staff.

“They have been working 18, 20 hour days to get the (Courtney) car built from Bathurst.”

The race has resumed and will be a time certain finish with the chequered flag set to wave at 16:38 local time, plus one lap.

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