Home to top racers closes
Club fears it will hit the wall with no track for two years
The breeding ground of New Zealand motorsport stars such as Scott Dixon is closing in order to make room for container storage. KartSport Mt Wellington will shut its doors on October 12, leaving about 150 motorcycle members in the lurch with nowhere to race.
The Auckland Motorcycle Club — also known as the Bucket Racers — have hired the Mt Wellington track to race every weekend for more than 30 years.
The head of the Bucket Racing committee, Liam Venter, said it was likely the club would cease to exist without a track.
“It would be terrible to lose it. Our youngest is 14 and our oldest is 74 and he’ll overlap you on the track, he’s pretty amazing and that’s because he, like the rest of us, are so passionate about it.”
Venter said rumours started floating back in July.
“I had no idea. If I did we would have tried to stop it back then. We’ve been left out the loop completely . . .”
Venter said landlord Panuku Development Auckland planned to lease the site to a container company for storage at a higher rate. Panuku Development Auckland’s portfolio management director, Ian Wheeler, said KartSport Mt Wellington entered into a formal ground lease with Auckland Council in 2009. “This was initially on a three-year term and was never a long-term arrangement. Since the lease expired in 2012, Auckland Council has been in ongoing conversations with KartSport Mt Wellington about their relocation to Colin Dale Park, with the club indicating it would move out by the end of 2017.”
The Herald asked the council to confirm the site would be leased to a container company at a higher rate but got no response.
Wheeler said Panuku had continued to work with the group to confirm a relocation date, agreeing to a further extension during that time.
“Panuku understands KartSport Mt Wellington has been offered a community lease at Colin Dale Park and are in discussions with Auckland Council to progress this.”
Venter said the new site would not be completed for two to three years: “If we don’t have a track for two years our community won’t survive.”
Venter said the biggest issue was that there was only one other track in Auckland but they couldn’t use that because they couldn’t get resource consent. KartSport’s about 200 members could use the Auckland Car Club track, however.
The University of Auckland Formula SAE Team also uses the facility regularly, along with the Mt Wellington Roller Club.
Venter said the track was a breeding ground for top racers such as Dixon, Mitch Evans, and Nick Cassidy. Herald