Fans lapping up luxury

THE Gold Coast 600 will supercharge corporate packages again next year to capitalise on the rapid growth in demand for premium tickets.

Race organisers will look at boosting premium options and suites on the beach side of the track next year and potentially upgrade and expand grandstands along the Gold Coast Hwy on the western side of pit lane in future years.

General manager corporate experiences Tracey Woodbry said the “premium-isation” of the GC600 brand had boosted its appeal with corporates.

She said suites including the Veuve Clicquot Lounge and beachside Moet Ice Bar and upgrades to the Paddock Club had enhanced the race’s appeal with a different demographic.

“There’s still something for everyone but we’re finding a lot of businesses that entertain are looking at us as a different option,” Mrs Woodbry said.

“They might have been taking guests to the Australian Open Tennis or the Bledisloe Cup Rugby or the cricket and now they’re coming here.

“We’re getting the medical corporates and we’re getting the lawyers – people who may not have experienced this event before. They come and they’re like ‘wow’. They’re converted. They’re fans.

“They come with two people or four people and then come back the next year and step up and take a private suite or a table of 10.”

A total of 7800 corporate tickets were available this year.

“We’ve increased our number from 2016 to 2017 – we’ve improved it by 20 per cent this year and the way that we’ve been able to do that was to change some of the experiences we had last year with a bit of a twist,” Mrs Woodbry said.

“People are looking for a premium experience. Everybody wants to be a VIP.”

She said an increasing number of ‘diehard’ racegoers were also upgrading their tickets.

“They’ve been sitting in a grandstand over there (opposite the corporate suites) saying ‘I want to be over there but I don’t drink or I don’t do that’ so what we’ve done is introduce pay as you go bars for some of them,” she said.

New ticket packages for the 2018 event are already on sale including a premium Sports Lounge to be introduced at the marquee Townsville, Bathurst, Coast and Newscastle events.

Tickets are also on sale for a three-day $1875 Supercharge Package that will give fans a different premium experience on each day of the event.