RAAF, VIP guests locked in for race

US star Kelly Rowland will join her Voice Australia ‘bestie’ Delta Goodrem trackside at this weekend’s Gold Coast 600.

Rowland’s visit was locked in yesterday as Supercars Australia finalised several last-minute added extras for racegoers including an expanded RAAF ‘handling display’ on Friday and Sunday.

Crowds will be treated to a sky show when an RAAF Hawk 127 aircraft zips through the Surfers Paradise race precinct on Friday between 10.10am and 10.20am.

The aircraft will perform multiple passes along the main race straight at speeds up to 500kts and as low as 250ft above ground.

The Hawk 127 will return for a skills demonstration on Sunday between 2.03pm and 2.09pm before a final fly-past at 2.16pm as the pre-race rendition of the national anthem ends.

Rowland is scheduled to fly into the Coast on Saturday morning to join Goodrem for a bird’s eye view of the race action in Supercars Australia’s airconditioned suite overlooking pit lane.

Rowland won’t be here to see Goodrem’s headline set at the Broadwater Sounds concert at Southport’s Broadwater Parklands on Friday night — she’ll be on stage in Sydney as part of the 2017 R’n’B Fridays Live tour.

Aussie vocalist Daryl Braithwaite, who plays Friday’s Sounds show with Goodrem, plans to spend the day on track on Friday while Supercars veterans Hilltop Hoods, who join Violent Soho on the bill for Broadwater Sounds on Saturday, plan to kick back and watch Saturday’s racingin the Supercars suite.

Former Brisbane Broncos captain Corey Parker, who chose rugby league over a professional gokarting career as a teenager, will be front and centre for the full weekend’s program of racing.

Gary Ablett hopes to put his head in over the weekend, former Wallaby Fletcher Dyson and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Michael Shelley have confirmed they’ll be there and Olympic triathlete Courtney Atkinson, discuss thrower Matt Denny, swimmer Megan Nay and kayaker Kenny Wallace will enjoy the race action as VIP spectators.

It is not yet known if any members of the cast of Aquaman, which wraps its six-month shoot on Friday, will stay to see the race.

Newlywed DJ Brooke Evers will crank up the party tunes in over 18s ontrack zone Club 600 from Friday to Sunday with fellow locals The Twins, Jake Carmody and Kaitlyn.

Local singer/guitarists Stephen Ward and Jason McGregor will also perform live for punters in The Roll Bar, outside Turn 5 along the beachfront.