THIS is the first look at Thunder Ridge Motorsport Park’s layout, and it’s destined to be a classic.
As reported earlier this month by V8 Sleuth, the new 3.3km on New Zealand’s North Island near the Bay of Plenty features a significant rise and fall through a spectacular forestry setting.
Early clearing works have mapped out the circuit’s outline, with the finished product set to be breathtaking.
“We’ve been at it for three years now,” said Tony Roberts, Chairman of the circuit’s trust, to thefastfiles.com.
“We initially started out as a company, really we found out that the (Western Bay of Plenty District) Council would be a lot more helpful if we became a not-for-profit trust.
“This is council land, it is 1,500 hectares, it’s got a lot of different sports on it, adrenaline sports, shooting, tramping, four-wheel drives, 20 or 30 things.
“They were keen for motorsport to move in here, because after the closure of Baypark in 1995, there was a real void of motorsport in the Bay of Plenty.
“We’ve got a 99-year lease, to pay for the circuit build, we’re leasing 48 garages, and those garages are 6 by 12 metres with a four-metre stud, so they will hold four cars and a hoist.
“We’re really aiming at the club racer, we want the grassroots side of the sport to flourish, we want to bring costs down, so people can get in and race to really help motorsport progress.
“We want to have it constructed in 18 months to two years.
“We’ve got a big bulldozer out there now, and it will operate for 10 days, and it will roughly map out the circuit.
“The land itself is really undulating – Hampton Downs had a rise and fall of 11 metres, and Thunder Ridge has a rise and fall of 26 metres.
“It will be quite challenging to drive; the rise and fall will really change the whole complexion of the circuit.”
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