Plans Revealed For New North Island Circuit

First details have been revealed of a brand new motorsport and driver training facility in the Bay of Plenty’s TECT Park.

Thunder Ridge Motorsport Park is the brainchild of Hampton Downs co-creator Tony Roberts, long-time racer Roger Williams and former Pukekohe Park and Hampton Downs circuit manager Gary Stirling.

Plans for the facility just off State Highway 36 between Tauranga and Rotorua in the TECT Park are already well-advanced and the objective is to create a flexible Bay of Plenty facility for both the region, the New Zealand events and automotive industries and for the wider New Zealand motorsport community.

The 3.2 km circuit itself will have eight corners and a 26 metre elevation variation with rising and falling features reflecting the landscape and will also include high speed banked corners designed by racing drivers.

A club house, rest rooms, café and camping grounds will also be included. Motor homes will be welcome in the forest setting – set to be one of the most scenic automotive facilities in Australasia. The circuit will not require any public funding and will be fully compliant to world governing body of motorsport, the FIA’s stringent high standards.

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“Our vision is for Thunder Ridge to be place where young people and the average man in the street can participate in motor racing or just indulge their passion for cars or bikes, just like the old Bay Park experience at Mount Maunganui’ explained Roberts. “The circuit, combined with the supporting facilities, will be a drivers paradise. Planning permission has been granted and the project now just needs a finalised lease from the Western Bay of Plenty Regional Council before work can commence.”

The 70 hectare facility will cater for a diverse range of interests. It will be available for grass roots motorsport events, car club events, track days and will provide the Bay of Plenty and its surrounding regions – as well as wider New Zealand - with a world class and affordable facility for multiple activities.

Thunder Ridge will also offer on-site garaging for private owners of vehicles who would like to base their machines where they can be used safely and cost effectively. But it’s the wide range of what will be on offer on-track that Roberts, Williams and Stirling believe will appeal.

“It’s going to be a place where everyone with an interest in cars, bikes or even cycling and running competition will be welcome to indulge their passion,” added Roberts. “Everyone will be welcome and made to feel welcome because it’s going to be a place that was conceived and designed with that philosophy at its core.

“This is the place where new drivers can learn under expert tuition at an affordable price and a place where our younger car-mad generation can come along and play with their cars rather than creating a hazard on public roads. That alone will be of huge benefit to the wider region Thunder Ridge will serve.

Club level motorsport weekends that will include Fridays, Saturday and Sundays within the price will be a mainstay. Practice days, fun-focussed play days when owners can take their road or track cars onto the circuit with or without an expert instructor alongside them, private test days, car club meeting days, new car launches, motor industry customer events, motorcycle rider training days, cycle racing, road running events and charity events are all in the pipeline for the new circuit and at a reasonable charge.

“Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga Councils have had the foresight to purchase land and process consents for the utilisation of this land for ‘fringe activities’ of all kinds, including motorsport,” added Williams.

“We are three directors with a love of motorsport and considerable motorsport experience who want to build this facility and to work with the other like-minded clubs at TECT Park.

“Lately, motor racing and circuit access in New Zealand – like just about everything – has become out of reach for many because of rising costs. The sad demise of Pukekohe Park only made that problem worse and heightened the need for something new.

“Some of our international super stars, such as Liam Lawson in F1, Scott Dixon in Indycar and Mitch Evans in Formula E all started at grass roots level and relied on everything being affordable.”

“When the vision becomes reality, we should be welcoming our first customers in 2026.”

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