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Will Hampton Downs finally be completed?

27 March, 2015

Is Tony Quinn New Zealand motorsport’s Bruce Wayne? It would seem so if the current rumours are true, and the VIP Petfoods giant has finally been successful in his quest to purchase the financialy crippled Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. In two recent interviews, Quinn has been very vocal about trying to fix what he sees is wrong with New Zealand Motorsport, and he knew he needed two tracks to do it. 

Image source: downforce.co.nz

His quest began back in 2012 when he made his first attempt at purchasing Hampton Downs, and around the same time took over the Highlands Motorsport Park project. With his first offer on Hamptons turned down, he then made inroads to purchasing either Queensland Raceway or more recently Taupo Motorsport Park. Both deals failed to see pen put to paper. Little did we know that he had again made a bid for Hamptons and if the rumours are true then the deal has been made.

Hampton Downs is New Zealand’s busiest motorsport park, operating 320 days a year; but despite this, it hasn’t been without its financial issues leaving the venue unfinished and with a for-sale sign out front basically since it opened. 

So what does this mean for you and me? The facility could now see the completion of the 1.2km club circuit, giving Hampton’s three possible track layouts, the longest of which would be 3.8km. There will no doubt also be other additions to make the venue more financially viable 

It is said current management will remain in place, and I highly doubt Quinn will mirror the business model of Highlands. Which I would like to point out is the only way that venue would exist, due to the strict resource consents allowing only minimal events per year;  Quinn is after all a business man, and from an outsider’s view seems to have New Zealand motorsport’s best interests at heart. This is why I liken him to Batman/Bruce Wayne; a well-to-do business man trying to do good, but often grossly misunderstood. 

We will keep a close eye on the deal as details unfold.

More to the point

6 March, 2026

This Daimler SP252 is so rare, few people know it exists. It’s one of a kind. It’s the only surviving, in fact the only SP252 ever completed; the would-be successor to the SP250 Daimler Dart. It is also the last sports car to have been designed by Jaguar’s legendary founder, Sir William Lyons.
Perhaps one of the original Dart’s biggest problems was it’s somewhat-divisive looks. It certainly went well enough to win fans, although Sir William wasn’t among them. It crushed the opposition in the Bathurst six-hour race, finishing five laps ahead of anyone else, and it was snapped up by police forces in Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, as it was the fastest thing on the road.
So you’d think a stunning new body with the magic Lyons touch would have been a surefire success. Why this car never made it into production is still something of a mystery, as the official explanations barely stack up.

Polishing to perfection

26 February, 2026

The secret to a show-stopping finish is colour sanding, no matter which paint system you use. Even a good painter, no matter how experienced or talented — like my mate Bruce Haye, CEO at Ace Panel and Paint in Whitianga — can’t shoot to a perfect mirror finish. To get that level of perfection, you need to colour sand.
It used to be called ‘rubbing out’ or ‘cutting’, and it was done with pastes that came in cans. They worked — sort of — but the compounds really just rounded off imperfections instead of eliminating them, and they removed a lot of paint in the process. But now your new finish can be made flawless, thanks to microfine sandpapers that come in 1000, 1500, 2000, and even 2500 grit ranges, and Farecla G3 polish — available from automotive paint suppliers.