The Surfers Paradise circuit is one of a handful on the Supercars schedule that uses timing loops to monitor track limits at various points.
At the famous beach chicane there are four sensors to monitor kerb use while there are two at the Turn 1/2 chicane.
In practice and qualifying laps are simply wiped if drivers activate the loop while during the races they are limited to a yet-to-be-determined number of strikes before being penalised.
Even once stewards have determined the number it isn't communicated to teams and drivers, so that the number of allowed strikes can be exploited.
Drivers are only notified that they are nearing an in-race penalty when they receive a bad sportsmanship flag.
Despite having been in place for a number of years, the system came under fire from drivers following the two practice sessions on the Gold Coast today.
"Today was one of the more confusing ones I’ve had here over the years. It’s an issue," said Will Davison.
"We’re collectively all trying to find a solution. I don’t want to sit here and shit-can it too much, but it was very frustrating from my end today, it seemed to change a lot.
"I literally drove around on new tyres thinking about how not to set it off and you don’t really know where your reference is. You just go conservative in the end just to get a lap on the board.
"It’s annoying because it’s fun through the chicane, but sometimes it’s just a bit of a lottery."
Series points leader Shane van Gisbergen added: "It’s the same argument we have every year, which is a shame that we haven’t improved that after all this time, but it is what it is.
"It’s the same for everyone but it feels random at the same time as well. You kind of just wing it and hope. A few times there I cut and didn’t get a kerb hop, so I’m very confused. I just drive around and if they tell me it’s a hop, it’s a hop."
Supercars race director James Taylor explained that the system is foolproof and that there are cameras at critical points of the circuit that can help judge fact visually if needed.
"The teams have access to the recording system from practice and qualifying sessions, so they know what section they are hopping," he explained.
"But that gets turned off for races, then we are the only ones with eyes on that because we are policing with warnings.
"We've got a camera in both chicanes so we can have a visual. If some team says, 'no that's wrong, the electronic system is not working', we've got a visual.
"The electronic system is, except for electronic failure, foolproof. All our timing responders are in the same spots in the cars, so it works. It gives you a level of consistency and takes the human error out of it.
"We want to police it, but we don't want to be seen to be over-policing it."
The kerb strike situation was further complicated in the second practice session today when the tyre barriers were initially in the wrong position.
Having been moved back for the Carrera Cup session, the barriers weren't re-position for the start of the Supercars session, an issue only spotted once the session was green.
Fortunately a red flag six minutes in due to Will Brown's car stopping on circuit allowed the issue to be rectified.
"We are a strong believers that every session should be the same unless we mandate a change," added Taylor." Everyone walked the track last night, and the idea of the track walk is that everyone gets a visual as they are going to drive the track.
"What we're doing tomorrow, and we've advised the clerk of course, is that before each session we'll be making sure the barriers are back in position."
