NZ Festival of Motor Racing changes hands

A changing of the guard for one of New Zealand's biggest racing events

In January 2010, commensurate with the opening of the brand new motor racing track at Hampton Downs in northern Waikato, the Historic Racing Club (HRC) promoted the first New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing (NZFMR) for Classic and Historic racing cars.

Thereafter, HRC continued to promote the event annually until January 2016. Each Festival was themed to celebrate a famous New Zealand racing driver or make of car and over the years the Festival has run, the seven annual themes were:- Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon, BMW Motorsport, Denny Hulme, Ferrari, Howden Ganley and Porsche.

The annual NZFMR festival is now acknowledged to be the second-largest motor racing event held in New Zealand, behind only the V8 Supercars Championship (now the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship). Festival Chairman, Jim Barclay, together with fellow Directors, Tony Roberts, Chris Watson and Richard Gee have enjoyed working with a very fine bunch of volunteers to grow the Festival to its current prominent status; classic and historic motorsport in New Zealand has truly attracted global attention.

Jim Barclay said “Without the very generous help from many talented and dedicated volunteers and without the ongoing support from the owners of many wonderful classic and historic race cars we could not have achieved the success that we have”.

However, due to increasing costs across the board relating to the Festival, the HRC has determined that it is no longer in a position to promote the annual event.

Accordingly, the Festival will henceforth be promoted by Tony Quinn’s team at Hampton Downs where, in the past year, there has been plenty of great work done to extend and enhance the racetrack and facilities. The HRC, together with the Chairman and Directors of NZFMR, extend their very sincere thanks to all those who have supported the Festival over the past seven years, as well as offering best wishes for the continued success of the Festival into the future.