TAYCAN TROPHY

WILL PORSCHE’S ELECTRIC POWER WAGON SURVIVE A SODDEN MOTORSPORT GHOST TOUR? LET’S FIND OUT

- CAMERON KIRBY

THE FRONT STRAIGHT isn't actually straight, but more a nice place to stage competitors and viewers alike. It's not a particularly fast bit of track by this circuit's standards, but one that sweeps gently upward right at the turn-in point of a sharp left-hander. From there the circuit slowly drops down a fast left into a gentle climbing right, straightening for the uphill braking zone of what is the second real corner - an acute 90-degree right. From here racers are on a roller coaster of tarmac that makes Portimao look like the scene of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. Elevation changes arrive thick, fast, and dramatic, timed right at the apex of full-throttle bends where engines will be approaching redline in third, fourth, maybe even fifth gear. That starting complex is just the first kilometre of a 47km circuit that would have pushed the bravest souls on the planet to step astride fire-breathing mechanical steeds for a motorsport event unlike any other in Australia's modern racing landscape.

Would have, because the ambitious plan to make it a reality was blown away like a raindrop in a cyclone. Named the Sunshine Coast International TT in honour of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy it is inspired by, the proposal was as ambitious as it was out of place in our nation of regulatory chokeholds. In 2016 businessman and motorcycle enthusiast David Rollins wanted to lure the world's best road racers - the likes of John McGuinness, Michael Dunlop, and Bruce Anstey – to Australian shores to compete with slick-shod Superbikes that would leave any four-wheeled machine this side of a Carrera Cup wondering how so much speed can be achieved on a contact patch the size of your palm. While ultimately unsuccessful, the proposal showed initial early promise with local council support from the town that would form the event's home base, Maleny.