![\"Drivers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Will-Davison-GC500.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Davison at the 2025 Gold Coast 500. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Davison at the 2025 Gold Coast 500. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
Supercars was forced to return to the controversial bundles after footage of cars with four wheels off the ground last year raised alarm bells at the FIA.<\/p>\n
Allowing drivers to effectively use the kerbs as ski jumps and leap through the air was spectacular and a promotional win for Supercars, with the footage going global online.<\/p>\n
However, the failure to police the homologated track limits was deemed unacceptable, resulting in a mixture of tyre bundles and electronic sensors being utilised this year.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Last year] there was no skill involved whatsoever through the back chicane,\u201d said Reynolds, a two-time winner on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was nothing about car placement. It was just all about how stupid are you and how much risk you want to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year you\u2019ve actually got to think about where you place your car, how you enter it, how you go through it, and that adds a nice little skill element to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes it a little bit harder to follow a car through there because you can\u2019t really see the tyre bundles, and makes it sort of hard for passing, maybe.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I think they\u2019re trying to just slow us down through there, which it probably will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyre bundles have not been used at the circuit\u2019s signature chicane since the 2022 event.<\/p>\n
James Golding<\/a> lost control through the chicane in the early stages of that\u2019s year\u2019s Sunday race, collecting a tyre bundle at Turn 10 that led to a multi-car pile-up.<\/p>\n A bundle was placed at Turn 10 on Wednesday as part of pre-event preparations but, to the relief of drivers, was taken out ahead of the start of track action.<\/p>\n The Turn 10 tyre bundle in place on Wednesday. Image: Speedcafe<\/p>\n That kerb will be policed with a sensor, although the bundle may be added back in if deemed necessary by race control.<\/p>\n Triple Eight\u2019s Will Brown<\/a> praised that decision but remains alarmed by the sheer size of the tyre bundles that are in place.<\/p>\n \u201cI went for a run and had a look at it and typed into AI how much I think it might weigh, and I reckon it\u2019s upwards of 150 kilos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cNow one of our cars, if it hits it from 200km\/h to a tyre bundle that\u2019s 150 kilos, it\u2019s not going to be very good, to be honest.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think the tyre bundles need to be that big to stop us cutting the corner. I think they\u2019re a little bit of a hazard down the back chicane there.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s good that they\u2019ve taken the Turn 10 one out because that is generally the most common one we cut.\u201d<\/p>\n Reasons for removing tyre bundles at the chicane ahead of the 2023 event included concerns the front bars of the Gen3 cars are less robust than that of their predecessors.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Gold-Coast-500-kerbs.jpg\")
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