The last 12 months have seen the proposed venues for the V8 Supercars in New Zealand move around faster than a hot potato. From Pukekohe Park Raceway to an Auckland Street Race to a Wellington Street Race and now potentially back to Auckland via the Whenuapai Airbase. Many avid Motorsport fans must be wondering whether it will be simpler to just buy a ticket to the sunny Gold Coast to enjoy the event in pleasant (well, at least most of the time) conditions.
Chatter amongst the NZ Motorsport fraternity is naturally in support for the event to be raced at one the major New Zealand Motorsport circuits such as Manfeild or Ruapuna. So we will endeavour to consider some of the key issues regarding all the likely venues available and explain how we have formulated our opinion to support the venue of our choice.
It is important when evaluating the options that the following 3 issues, in their listed order of importance, must be considered:
1) New Zealand is now competing against an international field to host the event.
2) What does AVESCO want out of an event in New Zealand?
3) How is the event best held to assist in the growth of New Zealand motorsport?
Option 1. Pukekohe Park Raceway
The circuit at Pukekohe has been used since the V8 Supercars arrived in their current format into New Zealand in 2001 but is no longer an option after 2006. With control of the venue now lying in the hands of the Auckland Racing Club (ARC) and major developments underway to expand the horse racing facilities, the Counties Racing Club has had to negotiate with the ARC just to get permission to have the facility available for one further year in 2006. Regretfully, Pukekohe Park Raceway is now no longer an option.
Option 2. Street Races and Other Permanent Race Venues
By backing the IMG/Auckland City Council bid in May 2004 and then later the Wellington City Council bid, AVESCO have made no attempt to disguise their preference for a street circuit. However, it only seems to have been appreciated by a few that the Resource Management Act in its current form will never shine kindly on such an event through major city centres such as Auckland and Wellington.
Frank Radisich and Pete Sinton, the two men behind the Whenuapai Airbase bid, were two of the people to spot the impending difficulties and had been developing their proposal to ensure New Zealand would still have a viable venue when their predictions were proven to be correct.
The insistence of the respective city councils, as well as the promoters, that the RMA would be either irrelevant or at the least comfortably managed, has subsequently placed the event in New Zealand in jeopardy. AVESCO have had to rely heavily on reassurance from these prospective NZ promoters and as a result have come extremely close to pulling the plug on NZ.
It is possibly only a last minute option offering the Whenuapai Airbase, alongside fantastic support from ardent NZ motorsport fans that has seen AVESCO make a concerted effort to keep a round of the series in NZ. However, this offer by AVESCO makes no guarantees and NZ must fully appreciate that it is competing for the event against some major international opponents. Thailand and Singapore are two locations that could offer AVESCO a very simple and easy financial option without the difficulties faced in NZ. The importance of this factor cannot be stressed enough.
Many NZ commentators, fans and officials have taken the attitude that because AVESCO would prefer for the event to stay in NZ, that it is simply a matter of offering a venue that can handle the racing. That is far too simplistic. Applying that same logic to rugby is like saying the Rugby World cup should be played in NZ just because we have some rugby fields. As everyone can appreciate, this is far from the truth. The V8 Supercars is a major international event and accordingly needs the overall facilities to handle such an event.
NZ must be fully appreciative that as well as being able to accommodate the racing, it also needs to offer both the infrastructure and promotional services at the required scale to accommodate such a significant event. The only 2 cities truly capable of satisfying this criterion are Auckland and Wellington. There will no doubt be some who would argue this point but it is hard to deny that no other city in New Zealand offers the same infrastructure and demographic access as these 2 New Zealand cities. This is a fact acknowledged by AVESCO who have stated that they want to race in a major city.
A street race, care of the Resource Management Act, has been ruled out of contention. Any business persons considering a private application for a resource consent to have a Wellington street race would be dogged with a very long and drawn out process which would be both expensive and also put the future of the Supercar racing in NZ at even further risk given that a resource consent would quite probably fail with numerous objections expected. By the end of that process, it may be too late to prepare for an alternative venue from 2007 and it may have tried AVESCO’s patience just one time too many. 3 strikes and you’re out!
Option 3. Whenuapai Airbase
When the initial bids to host the V8 Supercars in NZ were being considered, the idea of racing the event at the Whenuapai Airbase was treated by most as a fanciful dream for Frank Radisich, father of V8 Supercar driver, Paul, and his colleague, town planner Pete Sinton. However, through the never say die attitude of these 2 men, the Whenuapai Airbase has now become the front runner for hosting the event for the following reasons:
a) Whenuapai Airbase faces none of the Resource Management Act issues that have seen the downfall of the street race options. The approval from the Minister of Defence ensures only relatively “minor” issues need to be addressed such as transport, fuel, etc. Once the concerns of the Defence Department have been addressed, they are effectively 90% of the way towards securing the venue, although there are never any guarantees, of course.
b) Whenuapai Airbase is located approximately 20 minutes west of the Auckland City centre offering easy access from New Zealand’s largest population base and largest accommodation infrastructure.
c) The Whenuapai venue has significant political support. Senior members of the Labour Government, Auckland City Council, Mayor Sir Barry Curtis from the Manukau City Council, Auckland Regional Council, Mayor Bob Harvey from the Waitakere City Council and the National party’s John Key have all indicated their support for the event to be held at the Whenuapai Airbase.
d) Setup of the track can be managed significantly easier, with next to no traffic disruption and in a much shorter time frame than could any street race circuit.
e) Whenuapai Airbase can be approved and contracted with AVESCO at a much earlier date than any street race process that would need to go through the resource consent process. This increases the chances of the event being secured in New Zealand.
f) Whenuapai Airbase could cater for up to 150,000+ fans over the 3 days offering AVESCO a greater guarantee of the success of such an event.
g) AVESCO have indicated on a number of occasions that they need the event to be held near a major international airport. This is firstly because from now on the race cars and their transporters will arrive by 747 cargo plane, and secondly because the MAF and customs facilities need to be big enough to be able to cope with the volume of equipment that will be arriving. Auckland International Airport best fits these criteria, as a full sized 747 cannot easily land at Wellington airport, and that airport tends to be weather affected more often than Auckland’s.
h) Whenuapai Airbase has vast areas of land which may be used for parking, displays and entertainment.
i) AVESCO have indicated their desire to deal with an existing venue and therefore the Hampton Downs project south of Auckland is not currently a viable option.
j) Sinton and Radisich have made it very clear that they envisage the event being a fantastic opportunity to not only showpiece the V8 Supercars but also promote New Zealand motorsport. Frank and Paul Radisich’s commitment to NZ Motorsport is backed up through years of their contribution to the history of the sport in this country. It must be taken into consideration that many believe the NZ racing classes at V8 Supercar events gone by were often treated as second class.
As indicated, whilst the proposal by Radisich and Sinton must yet resolve imposed conditions by the Defence Department, the probability of these issues being able to be resolved appears good. With a positive attitude being shown by the Government and the Defence Department to resolve any outstanding issues, Whenuapai Airbase appears to be a solid option. The final support for the bid should come from the Government in the form of an adequate financial package to ensure the event hits the ground running from 2007. Pukekohe Park Raceway should host the event in the 2006 interim.
It is our opinion that AVESCO has offered New Zealand an olive branch for the event to stay here and we see the Whenuapai Airbase option as significantly in advance of all alternatives in ensuring the V8 Suerpcars event remains in New Zealand for at least the next 7 years.
While this opinion may fly in the face of many in NZ motorsport circles, whose preference is for a permanent race circuit to host the event, it cannot be stressed strongly enough that the event is NOT guaranteed to NZ and it will take a complete event package that is world class to see the event stay in New Zealand.
The V8 Supercars have been instrumental in the revival of New Zealand motorsport and are still very important for its continued growth. We fully back the event staying in New Zealand!
MOTOR MOUTH: Have your say!
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