A new $20million-plus motorsport complex featuring a 4.8km circuit, museum, go-kart track and five-star restaurant is expected to have a soft opening launch early in the New Year at Cromwell, near Queenstown.
The ambitious Highlands Motorsport Park project, has been financed by Queensland pet food tycoon and part-time Queenstown resident Tony Quinn with the track set to be sealed in November.
Quinn, a triple Targa New Zealand winner and longtime sports car competitor, was made a director of Dunedin-based Cromwell Motorsport Park Trust LTD on January 27, 2012.
The facility, which will be the leading one of its type in either New Zealand or Australia, features a 4.8km track that combines a mix of some of the world’s most famous corners and elements of tracks from Europe, the United States and the Southern Hemisphere.
“It is much, much more than just the track, of which we are thrilled at the final design. I’m really excited about the museum,” benefactor Tony Quinn who has made his fortune from his VIP Petfoods business, told Speedcafe.co.nz.
“This is my opportunity to give something back to New Zealand motor sport and something I really want to leave behind because the racing community deserves a special facility like this one.
“It (museum) will be a real tribute to the Kiwi efforts since the 1960’s and we will have a theme that rotates so we intend to kick it off by paying homage to Bruce McLaren.”
Quinn, who has amassed a personal fortune of more than $NZ350million does not want to make a song and dance about the facility too quickly, preferring to let the complex speak for itself, although the construction is well advanced.
MotorsportNZ representatives have visited the site but it is unlikely the track will meet with FIA-approval although that is the least of Quinn’s objectives.
“The winter testing facilities which car companies use are nearby and they already see this as a great opportunity to do more extensive testing on a large circuit after they finish all of the stuff they do on the ice and snow.”
The circuit includes a nice mix of quick changes of direction, a constant radius right-hander which takes an amazing 11 seconds to negotiate and elevation changes. There are up to a dozen different configurations.
Quinn is a long-time racing driver and owns the Australian GT Championship as well as the Aussie Race Car series in his homeland and is a regular competitor in Targa New Zealand which he has won three times and is a twice winner of the Targa Tasmania tarmac rally.
