Customers put in hot seat

Nick Franklin, left, and James Perry hope their new rally experience near Rotorua will take off.

Tokoroa man Nick Franklin has spent the last 11 years travelling the world as a professional freestyle motocross rider.

Now he's teamed up with friend and professional rally driver James Perry to launch NZRE at the TECT All Terrain.

Aimed at locals as well as tourists, NZRE offers adrenaline junkies the chance to ride in the passenger seat of a rally car driven by Perry for a hot lap of the purpose-built forest track.

It's a "side project" for Franklin, who performs stunts with tours such as Nitro Circus Live, the Crusty Tour and Red Bull X fighters.

At 32, he has no plans for retirement from his day job, but he does have "a lot of little things" going on in business - including plans to turn his parents' Tokoroa farm into a world-renowned extreme sports venue. It's already home to the world's biggest BMX roll-in and jumps - Red Bull will be back filming stunts there later this month.

The idea for the rally business came from Perry, whose Australian Subaru team was funded by a similar enterprise on the Gold Coast.

"He came back with the idea, so we teamed up and got things going," said Franklin. "It's been two years in the planning."

He said that, originally, the pair were looking at a site on private land between Rotorua and Taupo but that fell through. Then the opportunity came up to use TECT park, which had the facilities they needed.

Franklin said the $150 cost for the ride had been set to try and keep the activity affordable for the average Kiwi. However, they are also keen to capture the tourist market, including those coming off cruise ships in Tauranga and boarding buses to Rotorua. They also see it as a perfect corporate event.

With Franklin away six to eight months of the year, his dad Dan will help run the business along with Perry.

"Dad used to be a co-driver in his much younger days ... so it interests him."

To start with, the business will operate via bookings on Saturdays, with the plan being to expand into other days as demand grows.

Franklin said those who'd tried the ride had been "blown away" - excited but not terrified by the experience.

"You don't want to be scared for your life, that's not fun," he said. "We always want people to get out and have a great time but still get their heart rate up."

He may be a seasoned jetsetter - in the new year he's off to South America, Qatar and Russia - but Franklin said he loved getting home to the family farm on his time off where he could "make noise" and relax.

"It [Tokoroa] may not be the most happening place ... [but] everything I need is here."

For more information on NZRE see www.nzrex.co.nz.