According to the information memorandum, the property was renovated about four years ago. It is being sold as a “turnkey” opportunity, meaning it is ready for immediate use, but not as a going concern.
“This substantial freehold lodge presents an opportunity to secure an established alpine property with genuine scale, character and versatility. Positioned as a premium real estate offering rather than the sale of an operating business, the property provides an impressive foundation for a new owner to shape its next chapter,” Bayleys listing agent Kate Mullins writes in her listing on OneRoof.
David Dicker, pictured with his GP2 racing car in 2016, is quitting the hospitality business.
Mt Lyford Lodge is being sold as a turnkey opportunity.
“It may suit an owner-operator, an established hospitality group or an investor seeking a distinctive destination asset with further development potential.”
The property has an RV of just under $2m.
Rodin Cars told OneRoof that Dicker had very little to do with the lodge.
Mt Lyford is on State Highway 70, about 62km from Kaikōura, 68km from Hanmer Springs and 145km from Christchurch, and has 55 log homes.
The original covenants allowed buyers to build log homes only, but these were relaxed after the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. New builds now need only to follow an alpine chalet-style design.
The village’s remoteness and lack of facilities often appeal to buyers. The lodge is its hub, with the nearest supermarkets an hour away in Kaikōura or Hanmer Springs, although there is a mini-supermarket in Waiau, a 20-minute drive away.
Children catch the bus to Waiau for primary school or travel on to Culverden for secondary school, although some attend boarding schools in Christchurch.
A long-time resident told OneRoof earlier this year that Mt Lyford residents liked the peace it offered. “They don’t need retail; they don’t need cafes. This is how we live,” Robyn Powell, a Bayleys agent, said.
The lodge sits in the heart of Mt Lyford, a remote alpine village with no shops.
Dicker and his ex-wife Delwyn in 2016. The couple divorced in 2024.
The Mt Lyford ski area attracts up to 600 people a day at the height of the season. “It’s not Coronet or Cardrona,” Powell said. “It’s classed as semi-commercial. It has a lovely family-friendly feel.”
Dicker’s association with Mt Lyford began around 2006 when he bought the 550ha Wandle Downs Station, intending to develop a world-class testing and manufacturing site for high-performance racing cars.
He founded Rodin Cars in 2016 and subsequently built an extensive manufacturing complex, engineering workshops and private test tracks on the property.
According to Rodin’s website, the Mt Lyford operation now includes carbon-composite, design, electrical engineering, assembly and production facilities, as well as a multistage testing track.
Rodin Cars was said to be the fulfilment of a lifelong dream for Dicker, who wanted to build a car capable of outperforming a contemporary Formula One car. The company acquired the near-complete Lotus T125 programme from the UK and spent several years refining the concept. The project evolved into the Rodin FZED, one of the company’s flagship track cars.
Dicker in 2021. He has several property interests in the Mt Lyford area. Photo / George Heard
On his website, Dicker wrote: “I wanted to build the lightest, most compact 4.0-litre 10-cylinder engine possible. We’ve achieved that.”
In the early days of Rodin, the billionaire lived in a modest weatherboard home nearby.
Dicker is also known in the motor racing industry for backing Kiwi driver Liam Lawson and other young drivers. His website says it is currently supporting teenage drivers Marco Manson, 15, of New Zealand, and Australian driver Sebastian Eskandari-Marandi, 13, through a pathway programme that has sent them to the UK to be evaluated by the British Formula 4 operation.
The New Zealand Herald wrote in 2019 that Dicker divided his time between Waiau, his native Sydney, Jumeirah Beach in Dubai and Italy’s Dolomites mountains, and that he had laid almost 3km of tarmac, at a cost of more than $2m, for a private racetrack used to develop prototypes.
He said in 2016 that Wandle Downs was a “vanity project”. “I’ve wanted to build my own car since I was 20. But it’s really expensive. You need to make your money first. But now I can do it.”
Dicker is said to have started his working life as a roof installer in his father’s Sydney business. He moved into computers in the 1970s and built a no-frills IT distribution and computer-reselling business, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Dicker, now in his 70s, told the publication he was intent on enjoying his wealth.
In 2025, Reseller News reported that, after 47 years of building Dicker Data, Dicker had left the business. He told it, “I am happily pursuing my own ventures in New Zealand with Rodin Cars and on the world stage with Rodin Motorsport, back trading the US stock market and looking to do a data centre project.”
– 10 Mt Lyford Forest Drive, Mt Lyford, Hurunui, is for sale for $1.8m-plus