Taupo International Motorsport Park and Events Centre (previously known as the Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park) is a motorsports circuit located in Broadlands Road,

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is owned by Tony Quinn who also owns Highlands Motorsport Park and

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club. History The motorsport park i ...

. The circuit was an upgrade from a Taupo Car Club's circuit to the new international layout in 2006. The Motorsport Park was completed in 2006 at the cost of

NZ$ The New Zealand dollar (; currency sign, sign: $; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcairn Islands. Within New Zeal ...

13 million. It features driver training facilities, a motorsport business park with 13 first floor corporate suites and a second floor race control, corporate and catering complex.

History

On 21 January 2007 Taupo Motorsport Park hosted the sixth race in the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season and on 20 January 2008 it hosted the fifth race in the

2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season The 2007–08 A1 Grand Prix season was the third season of A1 Grand Prix. Calendar The Indonesian round at Sentul was removed from the calendar. Following the farcical Beijing round the previous season, the second Chinese event was moved to Z ...

. In order to create more overtaking opportunities, a tighter chicane was introduced at the end of the straight. On 25 January 2009 Taupo Motorsport Park hosted the fourth race in the

2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season The 2008–09 A1 Grand Prix season was the fourth and final season of A1 Grand Prix. A1 Team Ireland became the fourth A1GP champions, after a title battle which went down to the final round in Great Britain. Ireland won with 112 points, wit ...

. Owing to the tight 'S' bend close to the start causing collisions in the past, the rolling start was replaced by a standing start for the 2009 event's Sprint race. The Taupo Race Track project has received a Silver Award by the Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand, praising the high-quality delivery of the project, which was designed and constructed in tandem to achieve very tight deadlines.''Taupo Race Track'' – ''Innovate NZ'', Brochure of the '2007 ACENZ Awards of Excellence', Page 18 However, on 8 May 2008

Newstalk ZB Newstalk ZB is a nationwide New Zealand talk radio, talk-radio network operated by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, NZME Radio. It is available in almost every media market, radio market area in New Zealand, and has news reporters based in m ...

reported that the motorsport park was NZ$3 million in debt and the owners were seeking equity to help keep their business afloat. The circuit was renamed Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park on 26 November 2015, as a tribute to former

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver and team owner

Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Champ ...

. The renaming occurred as Taupo directors announced they would be rebuilding the circuit to maintain its FIA Grade 2 status. However, the circuit is renamed Taupo International Motorsport Park, after Tony Quinn purchased the circuit in November 2021.

The circuit

The track includes four alternative configurations (consisting of , , and ), two separate pit areas, a three-story pit lane complex with 32 ground floor pit garages that is currently under construction. The track also features an

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...

standard long, wide

dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...

with full capacity viewing for 10,000. The motor racing circuit has various licences ranging from National Grade 1 Motorsport Licence, FIA Grade 2 Motorsport Licence and International Motorcycling Safety Standards depending on which track configuration. A1 Team Ireland's driver Adam Carroll commented that the track has few bumps and is technical and tight.

Lap records

The unofficial all-time track record is 1:14.072, set by

Nico Hülkenberg Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German racing driver who competes in Formula One for Sauber. In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Hülkenberg won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2015 with Por ...

on the qualifying of

2006–07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand The 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, New Zealand is an A1 Grand Prix race, held on 21 January 2007 at Taupo Motorsport Park, New Zealand. The sixth race in the 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season and the first meeting held at the circuit. Re ...

. As of April 2025, the fastest official race lap records at the Taupo International Motorsport Park are listed as:

Other events

In a break from the usual open-road courses,

Athletics New Zealand Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) is the national governing body for athletics (sport), athletics in New Zealand. This includes responsibility for Track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. History The organisation was fou ...

selected the Taupo Motorsport Park as the venue for 2024 New Zealand Road Relay Championships.

Notes

References

External links

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Circuit info
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