Hampton Downs
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| Location | North Waikato, New Zealand |
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| Time zone | UTC +12 |
| Coordinates | 37°21′14″S 175°4′31″E / 37.35389°S 175.07528°ECoordinates: 37°21′14″S 175°4′31″E / 37.35389°S 175.07528°E |
| Major events |
Toyota Racing Series Australian GT Championship NZ Drift Series NZ Festival of Motor Racing NZ Touring Car Championship WRC V8SuperTourer |
| International Circuit | |
| Length | 3.8 km (2.361 mi) |
| Turns | 10 |
| Lap record | 1:27.637 (Michael Lyons, , 2017, Historic Formula 1) |
| National Circuit | |
| Length | 2.8 km (1.740 mi) |
| Turns | 7 |
| Lap record | 0:59.483 (Michael Lyons, , 2014, F5000) |
| Club Circuit | |
| Length | 1.2 km (0.745 mi) |
| Turns | 4 |
The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club. The motorsport park is an ambitious privately-funded enterprise with construction beginning in February 2007. The completion was planned for late 2008, but a particularly wet winter pushed the opening out to October 2009. It is a major venue for local motorsport without the restrictions imposed by tracks that share the use with the horse racing fraternity like Pukekohe Park Raceway. It also reflects a modern approach to motor race track design and associated amenities. The 450ha development's initial plans also included an industrial park, events cafe, motor lodge, lifestyle blocks, 80-trackside apartments and convention centre (re-located Britomart Pavilion) and the track is already booked out five days a week for driver training and various industry promotions.
In 2015, Tony Quinn purchased the uncompleted complex and work started almost immediately to complete, based very much on the original plans. Currently being completed are hospitality suites, whilst an SUV Course has been running since 2013. A corporate karting circuit, business park, business apartments (with seven-car garages) and a museum, with administration centre and cafe are also in the short term plans.
Hampton Downs is now arguably the most technically advanced race circuit in the world, with complete integration between Alitrax control, start lights, flag point lights, pit lane lights, CCTV system, Mylaps timing, environmental sound monitoring, pit lane speed monitoring and large outdoor LED information displays. Most day to day operations are now fully automated including a vehicle safety system that monitors all vehicles on track and alerts the operator within 30sec if a vehicle stops on track.
The track consists of two independent circuits that can be combined to form one large circuit. The direction of the circuits are clockwise. The track has a very smooth surface, and a mix of blind bends and crests which make it a challenging circuit for drivers. The front straight is 950m long with a kink in the middle and has a 11m rise and fall, and the back straight is 750m long. The international circuit, which incorporates the long front straight and pit facilities, is 2.8 km long with seven corners. The club circuit is 1.2 km long with four corners. Both tracks can combine into a 3.8 km circuit with six right-hand and four left-hand corners.
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Wikipedia