The Hamilton 400 was a V8 Supercar motor racing event held on the

Hamilton Street Circuit The Hamilton Street Circuit was a temporary street circuit in Hamilton, New Zealand. From 2008 to 2012 it hosted the Hamilton 400 as part of the V8 Supercars championship. From 2010 to 2012, ITM, New Zealand's largest group of independent tr ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

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 ...

. The event was held from 2008 to 2012, and is one of only three New Zealand circuits to host a championship round of V8 Supercars.

History

The event was first held in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, replacing the long running New Zealand V8 International, held at

Pukekohe Park Raceway Pukekohe Park Raceway was a former car racing track that was situated on the outside of the Pukekohe Park Thoroughbred Racetrack, located in the surrounds of Pukekohe. The Raceway was opened in 1963 as a permanent track, replacing Ardmore Ae ...

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Puke ...

, near

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. The 2008 event was notable for a large qualifying crash between

Todd Kelly Todd Evan Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Supercars Championship, Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst ...

and

Jamie Whincup Jamie David Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden Commodore (ZB), Ho ...

, ruling the latter out for the weekend. Whincup went on to win the next two years at Hamilton before

Rick Kelly Rick Kelly (born 17 January 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver who previously competed in the Supercars Championship. He last drove the No. 15 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Kelly Racing. Previously, he dro ...

won a rain-affected

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

event. The final year at Hamilton in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

was dominated by Ford Performance Racing, with their drivers

Mark Winterbottom Mark James "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian former professional racing driver. He last competed in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Team 18. His career ...

and

Will Davison William Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang (sixth generation), Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Supercars Championship, Repco Supercars Championshi ...

winning a race apiece. For 2013, New Zealand's V8 Supercar event returned to Pukekohe Park, and the event is currently known as the Auckland 500.

Mark Porter Memorial Trophy

The winner of each Hamilton 400 was awarded the ''Mark Porter Memorial Trophy'', in memory of Mark Porter. Porter, born in Hamilton, died following a crash in a V8 Supercar Development Series support race to the 2006 Bathurst 1000. Following the demise of the race, the trophy was moved to a permanent display at the Waikato Museum in Hamilton.

Circuit

The circuit is located in the Frankton business district within Hamilton. For each event, city streets were closed off in the days leading up to the event, with various items of road furniture removed and concrete barriers and a pit complex installed.

Demise

On 30 September 2011, it was reported that Hamilton City Council, the local governing body for Hamilton City where the race is held, chose to opt out of the Hamilton 400, with the final event taking place in 2012. The council accepted a $1.25 million payout from V8 Supercars Australia to renege on the seven-year contract. The event had reportedly been run at a significant loss in 2011, leading to the early-exit offer. Following an audit in 2011 the ex mayor Michael Redman resigned after allegations of unwise spending were proven. The report showed that the total cost to Hamilton was about $40million of which at least $3 million was unauthorised expenditure. The report criticised the city council for being secretive about the massive mismanagement. CEO

Tony Marryatt Tony Marryatt (born 1966) is a senior manager employed by local government in New Zealand. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Christchurch City Council, succeeding Lesley McTurk. He lost his position over the cit ...

also came in for criticism, despite his defence of the event.CEO defends part in V8 fiasco
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Winners

Multiple winners

By driver

By team

By manufacturer

Event names and sponsors

*2008–09: Hamilton 400 *2010–12: ITM Hamilton 400

References

External links

Hamilton 400 Event Information
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215121347/http://www.hamiltoninfo.co.nz/hamilton-400.html , date=15 December 2018 Supercars Championship races Auto races in New Zealand Sport in Hamilton, New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 2008 Events in Hamilton, New Zealand