Hamilton warms up for V8 supercars

The 14-round series pits 5-litre Holden Commodores against Ford Falcons mainly in Australia. File picture / Richard Robinson

The wheels are not only turning, they're positively spinning - fast.

A senior V8 Supercar race official and road engineer were yesterday in Hamilton to survey the proposed 4.2km motorsport course around the streets of suburban Frankton.

In sport's most surprising announcement since the Rugby World Cup hosting rights of last year, Hamilton was revealed earlier in the day as having secured the New Zealand leg of the Australian V8 Supercar series for seven years from 2008.

New Zealand event director Steve Vuleta and Australian road engineer Steve Orr told the Herald they were in town to begin the design phase of facility and seating work.

Their information will form the basis of a report that will be fed into the resource consent process.

Hamilton needs first to secure resource consent before the deal is certain to go ahead.

The start/finish line and pit area will be on Mill St, outside the Fraser Tech Rugby Club's training ground.

Mr Orr said the long, straight dual carriageway on Mill St was ideal for a pit stop that could cater for 32 race teams.

From Mill St, cars would race down Tristram, Ward, Seddon, King, High, Empire, Haig and Hall Sts before returning to Mill St.

Drivers would speed alongside rugby's Waikato Stadium and cricket's Westpac Stadium.

Features of the track would include the Frankton overbridge, a pedestrian underpass around pit-lane, and a series of tight corners around Empire and Haig Sts. "From a spectator and drivers' point of view, this is better than Adelaide or the Gold Coast," Mr Vuleta said.

"Sure, the Gold Coast is aesthetically pleasing with the ocean views, but this offers something different.

"There are many areas where we can put temporary seating around this circuit for people to get a good view.

"The area is very green, there are lots of trees, which makes it pleasing on the eye for television viewers."

A crowd of up to 100,000 could watch the race live, but many more were expected to be entertained on the fringes.

Mr Vuleta said thousands could camp in Waikato Stadium and Westpac Stadium to watch the race on giant screens.

Australian V8 Supercar boss Tony Cochrane will visit Hamilton on March 27 to congratulate Mayor Michael Redman and councillors on securing the event.

Mr Cochrane told the Herald much had been learned from the failed bids in Auckland and Wellington.

It helped that the consents would be handled by the council instead of his organisation and promoters, he said.

"We'll have to take a back seat while that [process] goes through. Fingers crossed that we'll get a fair and reasonable hearing this time around.

"I don't think we did in Auckland. There were people there who, right from the outset, were opposed to the whole thing in 2004."

One of the biggest hurdles in the failed Auckland bid was the disruption to traffic on major arterial routes in the city and North Shore.

"Everybody tells me how Hamilton has positively erupted with the thought of this," Mr Cochrane said.

He applauded the city's leadership for seizing the opportunity to host the race, and was upbeat about the resource consent process "this time around".

Hamilton's proximity to large population bases in Taupo, New Plymouth, Rotorua, Tauranga and Auckland had been a big factor in Avesco's decision to go with Hamilton.

Other factors included the "visionary" approach of Mr Redman and the attraction of the proposed course.

Mr Cochrane suggested that residents who did not want to be part of the event might prefer to go on a weekend holiday.

"They could rent their houses out - they'd probably get $3000 or $4000 for the weekend."

Mr Redman said the most critical aspects of the deal had been the quality of the course and the apparent ease with which consents could be gained.

"We've spoken to Transit and clearly there are a couple of areas of interest to them. But their feedback is that they want to be as constructive as possible in working with us - that's a good sign."

The mayor said it would be naive to think some people would not be opposed to the idea but issues would be dealt with as they arose.

The capital investment required to bring the streets of Hamilton up to scratch to host the event would be up to $7 million, the city council said.

Communications manger Philip Burton said the money had been set aside in the council's long-term community plan.

The council was yesterday conducting a mail drop to 2200 residents and businesses throughout Frankton to inform them of the plans.

Mr Burton said the engineers' roading report would be ready within weeks, and he predicted that the consent process would be over within four to six months.