Former Taupō Motorsport Park boss: Reopening skid pad could get ‘the burnout boys off the roads’

Standing side-by-side: Ngongotaha Motorsport's Leon Khan met with Taupō businessman Tony Walker. Photo / Mead Norton

A Rotorua car enthusiast has been offered expert help to get his skid pad reopened and give “the burnout boys” a safer option than local streets.

Tony Walker, former managing director of Taupō Motorsport Park, has met with Leon Khan of Ngongotaha Motorsport in a show of support for Khan’s cause.

Khan built the skid pad in 2015, but it was shut down in 2018 due to a lack of resource consent and following an Environment Court case. He wants to reopen it, and has started a petition to rally support while he looks into the consent matters.

Walker told the Rotorua Daily Post he wanted to help Khan get his skid pad up and running again after reading about his story in the paper this month. The pair met in Rotorua last week to look at the site that was formerly Ngongotaha Motorsport.

He said Khan’s idea was an innovative way of creating a safe environment for street racers and “getting the burnout boys off the roads”.

Walker said he has been in business management, consulting, negotiating, and mentoring for many years. He said he was appointed by the board and shareholders as managing director of Taupō Motorsport Park in 2015 in an effort to turn struggling operations around.

Walker said the park was sold about seven years later, with the company’s shareholders paid out and debts settled.

Leon Khan met with former managing director of Taupō Motorsport Park, Tony Walker. Photo / Mead Norton

Walker said Taupō Motorsport Park had hosted grassroots motorsports including drifting, burnouts, and cruising.

“It took a lot of that activity that otherwise ends up on the public roads off the streets and into a controlled and safer environment,” Walker said.

Walker said he believed there was now an opportunity for Rotorua to lead the way in hosting those activities.

He said he believed Khan’s ambition had merit, and he was impressed with his vision and the effort put towards providing a solution.

“Street-warrior drivers are just us in a different guise, and while many people criticise their behaviour and activities, Leon has put his hand up to do something about it,” Walker said.

Walker said Ngongotaha Motorsport seemed to be short of development and management structure. He said he could understand why the facility was shut down, due to not being a licensed activity or having the correct consent.

“It doesn’t diminish the validity of his vision, which is to get this ‘car dancing’ off the streets.

“Visions tend to come with challenges, so if Leon’s vision is going to eventuate, then the challenges have to be overcome - and, of course, this will take a plan and buy-in,” Walker said.

Walker said he wanted to start with a review of the project - where it is now, where it came from and where they want to be. He said understanding regulatory requirements and how the council could see the proposal fitting in with its way of doing things were important.

“Your council seem quite progressive in this regard. I’d like to think they support solutions-based concepts and not simply penalty-based options,” Walker said.

He said everyone could own this situation.

“The car manufacturers, the car sales companies, tyre manufacturers, sales outlets, central government, local government, parents - it’s up to us to do something positive.

“It is not just a facility, but also the encouragement that car dancing on the street is not an option.

“This will take a plan, and I think I can help Leon and his team to develop such a plan,” Walker said.

Walker said the strong support for Ngongotaha Motorsport from the community was indicative of much greater concern for these sorts of objectives.

“I think it’s wonderful that some 4,000 have so far responded to Leon’s petition page. Community buy-in along with commercial buy-in will be vital for his vision,” Walker said.

The skid pad.

Khan said it was good to meet with Walker, and he was “very hopeful” about getting the pad operational.

“I’m definitely excited to have him on board to help out in any which way he can,” Khan said.

Khan said he brought Walker “up to speed with everything” and they discussed the consent, along with issues raised by Waka Kotahi, the NZ Transport authority, relating to the property’s driveway, and the development of a business plan - areas Khan said he knew little about.

Khan said he was very grateful for the support from Walker and the community. He hoped to work with a team to go through the finer details.

“I mentioned to Tony that I’ve also had a consultant voluntarily offer his services to help me to get answers from Waka Kotahi/NZTA,” Khan said.

Khan is planning for the three to meet soon.

“They are steering me in the right direction to make it that little bit easier and cheaper,” Khan said.