With the Supercars returning to Tasmania after a COVID-disrupted 2020, we’ve dug into the archives to find a few transporter snaps from past and present

Tasmania has a rich motor racing heritage. The premier Australian touring car championship has visited the Apple Isle across the last seven decades. And with most of the race teams based on the mainland, national events have generally involved a trip for the transporter on the boat.

The Bass Strait crossing to go racing has seen transporters arrive at numerous ports, most often Devonport and Burnie, depending on which carrier they travel with.

This year, Melbourne-based SeaRoad Shipping has the contract, and the transporters have been delivered to Devonport on multiple crossings by the SeaRoad Mersey II and MV Liekut vessels.

And with all the rigs now safely in the Symmons Plains paddock for a big weekend of racing, we’re looking back at some photos of race car transporters touring Tassie.

1979

The first photo features the Murray Carter Racing transporter alongside the Garry Rogers Racing and Marlboro Holden Dealer Team rigs in Hobart. The second snap is of the Murrary Carter Racing rig in front of the Wrest Point Casino, also in Hobart. The trucks were there for the Baskerville Challenge at Baskerville Raceway, which was one-off event that lured some big names to the Tasmanian capital.

1990

Just over a decade later, we’re looking at the Glenn Seton Racing transporter at Stanley Wharf in 1990, near the iconic Nut in north-western Tasmania. It crossed Bass Strait aboard a small ship called the Bass Reefer, with the transporters only travelling to this port twice.

2009

We’ve skipped ahead to 2009, peeking inside the Toll ship bound for Burnie. On the left is the Garry Rogers Motorsport rig. To its right is the Dick Johnson Racing B-Double with Jim Beam backing, and on the far right is the Paul Cruickshank Racing truck steered by Team Sydney driver, Mick Shortus.

2011

Lawrie Shem snapped the Holden Racing Team rig pulled by a UD prime mover outside Symmons Plains Raceway in 2011. It wasn’t a bad weekend for the Melbourne-based outfit, with Garth Tander on the podium in the first race and steering his way to a top six in the second race.

2018

Tasmanian transporter spotting guru, Jamie Macrow, was in the Symmons Plains paddock in early April 2018 to catch the menacing matte black Erebus Motorsport B-Double, as well as the Graham Lusty Trailers-built Red Bull Holden Racing rig which is now used for the team’s Fanatec GT World Challenge program.

2019

Simon Limbrick was perfectly positioned in Burnie the morning that the Queensland-based Supercars transporters arrived in Tasmania. He grabbed a great shot of Matt Stone Racing’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz Actros pulling the gear to Symmons Plains. In the paddock, Jamie Macrow took an elevated snap of the Team 18 rig with its previous Kenworth T610 up front, while Simon Limbrick captured the Red Bull Holden Racing Team rig back at the port in Burnie.

2021

Hot off the press! The Supercars transporters are back in Tasmania for the Beaurepairs Tasmania SuperSprint this weekend. Below is one of the Tickford Racing transporters aboard the SeaRoad Mersey II ship, while Stax Freightliner was an early arrival with its brand-new paint scheme shown off at sunrise in the Symmons Plains paddock.

There’s lots more Supercars content to come over the next few days, with the trucks set to depart the northern Tasmanian circuit after the racing on Sunday night.

You can see it all on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

GALLERY: TASSIE TRANSPORTER TRIPS