Drivers fizz at their first taste of new track

Three laps and Roger Anderson was fizzing.

The former New Zealand saloon car racing champ was one of the first to try out the new racetrack at Hampton Downs yesterday, the first official outing for cars at the Waikato's biggest purpose-built motor racing venue.

Managing director Chris Watson said the Friends of Hampton Downs Day was a low-key event to say thanks to corporate friends and those who had bought apartments at the site, just off State Highway 1 north of Te Kauwhata.

A pace car ensured most kept to a 100kmh speed limit while negotiating the winding and undulating 2.8 kilometre track.

The Times was with Anderson, a North Shore resident, as he drove the track in a Porsche 911 Carrera 3 replica.

The 45-year motor racing veteran was excited to see it was not just a flat, winding course but incorporated diving hairpin turns as well as swooping turns with gradually climbing straights – a first for race tracks in New Zealand.

"It's absolutely brilliant," Anderson beamed after climbing out of the Porsche owned by Pirongia's Steve Rasmussen.

"We've got something with elevation, with sections that are off camber and swoop down ... all of the tracks in New Zealand are flat. I've raced around the country and this is the first one that has some elevation."

Mr Rasmussen was also buzzing after testing the track. He planned to open a workshop for his company Euro Pacific which would set up cars for racing.

Hampton Downs managing director Chris Watson said the track would host its first official outing with the Targa Rally today. He said the site was not only about car racing, but also motorbikes.

"The actual motor racing is a fairly small part of our budget – only two days a week on average, Saturday and Sunday. We're going to have a kart track along with a big retail shopping centre.

"Eventually, in about five years, we'll have a 200-bed hotel in there. An SUV course is going in soon and we've got a commando course and three paintball arenas and also a sports field so sporting teams can come here and practise in private."

The track's biggest test will happen between January 22 and 24 when it hosts New Zealand's largest motorsport event, the Bruce McLaren Festival, which is expected to have up to 400 entries.