Highlands Motorsport Park, the opening of a new race circuit

[Goat Boy]

Great facility, that. Pity it's not closer to anything.

[Southern Man]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

Pity it's not closer to anything.

There are a number of International visitors to our shores, South Islanders and others who are non-resident of the densely populated northern area of our country that may take umbrage at that comment.

[Goat Boy]

What I am meaning is that it's not really an easy drive from any major population centre, is it? Or even a minor population centre.

[Southern Man]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

What I am meaning is that it's not really an easy drive from any major population centre, is it? Or even a minor population centre.

But those of the northern populated centres do not even support the facilities close to home. You don't even have a car club that owns a race circuit and when is the last time that a Rally was run in the area?

But back to Highlands, one can get a return flight from Auckland to Queenstown for less that $200, get a few mates together, fly to Queenstown, grab a rental and stay in Cromwell, you will be able to do it for less than $300 per head excluding food and drinks and remember those are at Southern prices and not at the Kings ransom we get hit with in the Auckland area.

In the South we do have the facilities to handle cash payments for goods and shop assistants who can work out what your change should be without the aid of a calculator so try the difference and bring some cash with you too.

[socram]

Originally Posted by Southern Man

You don't even have a car club that owns a race circuit

And what has that got to do with it? HD is used 340 days a year and is a viable business. Are you saying a local club relying entirely on volunteers would somehow do a better job?

Highland Park was initially set up as a Country Club with a track for member's use. It now has serious money behind it and is therefore more advanced than HD which never has had massive finance behind it.

Taupo is (I think) owned by the council but relies heavily on the Taupo Car Club to operate.

By all means be proud of what you have got down there, but with land and housing values being what they are around these parts, we are very lucky we actually have access to two local tracks at all.

North of the Harbour bridge, there is nothing, not even a kart track, even though there were tentative plans not so long ago, based on the perceived success of the Whangarei Street race in January 2000, which sparked a fair bit of local interest.

Even the wealthiest car club around here would be hard pushed to buy even 10 acres of virgin land way up on the Kaipara Harbour, let alone anywhere with decent access and infrastructure. You can't rewrite history and times have changed - dramatically.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by socram

And what has that got to do with it? HD is used 340 days a year and is a viable business. Are you saying a local club relying entirely on volunteers would somehow do a better job?

Highland Park was initially set up as a Country Club with a track for member's use. It now has serious money behind it and is therefore more advanced than HD which never has had massive finance behind it.

Taupo is (I think) owned by the council but relies heavily on the Taupo Car Club to operate.

By all means be proud of what you have got down there, but with land and housing values being what they are around these parts, we are very lucky we actually have access to two local tracks at all.

North of the Harbour bridge, there is nothing, not even a kart track, even though there were tentative plans not so long ago, based on the perceived success of the Whangarei Street race in January 2000, which sparked a fair bit of local interest.

Even the wealthiest car club around here would be hard pushed to buy even 10 acres of virgin land way up on the Kaipara Harbour, let alone anywhere with decent access and infrastructure. You can't rewrite history and times have changed - dramatically.

Yes, quite. And given that HD cost a hell of a lot of money to build why would a single car club even consider doing that when, as Ray says, there are two tracks within an hour of Auckland.

I don't have $600 to spend on a weekend to watch car racing, sorry to say. If it's over $50 I'd have to think twice about it. I am purely a spectator, not a competitor, which means I don't have a truck load of money to play with.

I know what you mean about kings' ransoms though! I went for a beer at a central city pub the other day and it was $10 for less than a pint - you can actually get a scotch fillet steak at another pub up the road for the same price! Which I did, the next week.

I think bars have forgotten that you can actually buy a dozen good quality imported beer for around $17 at the supermarket.

[Southern Man]

Originally Posted by socram

And what has that got to do with it? HD is used 340 days a year and is a viable business. Are you saying a local club relying entirely on volunteers would somehow do a better job?

Highland Park was initially set up as a Country Club with a track for member's use. It now has serious money behind it and is therefore more advanced than HD which never has had massive finance behind it.

Taupo is (I think) owned by the council but relies heavily on the Taupo Car Club to operate.

By all means be proud of what you have got down there, but with land and housing values being what they are around these parts, we are very lucky we actually have access to two local tracks at all.

North of the Harbour bridge, there is nothing, not even a kart track, even though there were tentative plans not so long ago, based on the perceived success of the Whangarei Street race in January 2000, which sparked a fair bit of local interest.

Even the wealthiest car club around here would be hard pushed to buy even 10 acres of virgin land way up on the Kaipara Harbour, let alone anywhere with decent access and infrastructure. You can't rewrite history and times have changed - dramatically.

It is unfortunate that the Northern area clubs lacked the vision of some others around our country 50 plus years ago and yes at todays prices purchasing the land for a circuit would be out of the reach of all individual clubs.

I guess that we all thought that Pukekohe would satisfy the needs for the coming years and no one for saw the spread of urban growth and how that would impact on the availability of facilities in the years to come

It is a tragedy that the proposal to form a consortium of clubs to build a circuit under the flight path at Manakau a few years ago never came to fruition but then from what I have been lead to believe, that floundered because the clubs could not come to a satisfactory agreement between themselves to support the idea.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Southern Man

It is unfortunate that the Northern area clubs lacked the vision of some others around our country 50 plus years ago and yes at todays prices purchasing the land for a circuit would be out of the reach of all individual clubs.

I guess that we all thought that Pukekohe would satisfy the needs for the coming years and no one for saw the spread of urban growth and how that would impact on the availability of facilities in the years to come

It is a tragedy that the proposal to form a consortium of clubs to build a circuit under the flight path at Manakau a few years ago never came to fruition but then from what I have been lead to believe, that floundered because the clubs could not come to a satisfactory agreement between themselves to support the idea.

Do we really need a third circuit up here in any case? I'd rather someone with money came along and made Hampton Downs into the amazing venue it should be.

[socram]

You may well be right about the Manukau project, but I wonder how long that would have survived given the influx of nimby's, complaining about the noise? I also recall that one of the leading lights of that proposal was one with a dubious background and who had already been involved in the grief at Pukekohe (unpaid bills for resurfacing etc.).

They did use the site alongside Rainbow's End for the special stage of Rally NZ of course, but local councils (or even Super City Councils) are rarely motorsport enthusiasts and the old North Shore City council could so easily have incorporated part of a race track through the North Harbour Stadium which would have been an ideal use for a totally under-utilised loss making facility.

When I approached the manager of North Harbour Sport to discuss matters, I was fobbed off with the pithy comment that maybe Rodney Council (as it was) might be more interested as North Harbour appeared to have zero interest in anything relating to motorsport.

Let's face it, without wealthy individuals, such as Tony Quinn pouring millions into Highland Park, we are facing an uphill battle getting decent facilities. I'll certainly visit Highland Park at some stage, but like Goat Boy, I have to watch the pennies. Not all racers are wealthy... Many of us are very much shoestring racers and what is a bit of minor panel damage to a Super Tourer team, is three or four months pension gone.