City of Greater Geelong Councillor Bruce Harwood said the City has secured the first round of this year's Australian Formula One Superboat Grand Prix Series, which will be run on Corio Bay, at the Geelong Waterfront, on the Anzac Day long weekend.

"Gaining the opening round of this seven-round National Formula One powerboat series is a tremendous coup for Geelong," the Mayor said.

"Geelong's opening round of the series will be the only round to be contested in Victoria."

"Other rounds in the series will be held at the Gold Coast, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, Penrith and Toukley in New South Wales," the Mayor said.

Cr Harwood said Geelong also remained committed to the Geelong Classic - a round of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships.

He said Geelong expected to again host a round of the offshore superboat championships in Corio Bay in 2009.

The Mayor said that for the coming Anzac Day long weekend - in a little over four weeks' time - crowds of between 10-thousand and 15-thousand spectators were expected to line the Waterfront to watch the Formula One superboats contest their opening round races.

"There will be around 60 Formula One powerboats competing, from all Australian States, and some from New Zealand," he said.

"The boats will be racing over a tight and spectacular 1.7 kilometre course, reaching speeds well in excess of 200 kilometres per hour," he said.

"These boats turn faster and sharper than any other race vehicle in the world - generating forces on their driver of around five-gees in the hairpin turns," Cr Harwood said.

"The tight circuit means that racing is extremely exciting, with hair-raising passing manoeuvres taking place throughout each event."

"The Formula One boats themselves are powered by racing V-6 two-stroke engines generating around 360-plus horsepower. They can accelerate from 0-160 kilometres per hour in a little over three seconds."

Mayor Harwood said events over the weekend would also be contested by Formula 2000 and Formula Three racing boats, which were almost as fast as the Formula One craft.

"An added attraction for the 2008 National Series will be the introduction for the first time of the new Jet Ski support class racing format."

The Mayor said Geelong would be the first venue to feature this new class, with the one-person jet skis expected to reach speeds of around 140 kilometres per hour, on a circuit even tighter than that contested by the full-size racing boats.

Cr Harwood said highlights of the weekend's racing would be telecast on Channel Nine and Fox Sports.

He said further information on the Formula One series could be obtained on the superboat series website www.f1boat.com.au