Council Waives $21k Car Club Lease For 5 Years

Teretonga Park is the oldest raceway in the country “and something worth protecting,” Southland Sports Car Club president Boyd Wilson told councillors today.

Addressing the public forum of the Community and Regulatory Committee on Tuesday, the car club won its plea for council to reduce its annual lease payments.

The Southland Sports Car Club was operating under a financial environment that was not sustainable, and losing $60,000 a year out of its capital reserves.

The club also asked council to help them work on enhancing the world class facility, but Mayor Tom Campbell was cautious about any partnership.

Teretonga already hosts international events and is used extensively by other clubs and organisations, involving motorcycling, triathlon, driver education and Burt Munro.

Boyd told the committee the Southland Sports Car Club only used the facility 20% of the time, and pays two fulltime staff to maintain the grounds and reserve.

At a recent event it had to spend $90,000 to upgrade the track for a particular event, and a further $3 million will need to be spent on rehabilitation in the near future.

Boyd said motorsport used to generate large sponsorship but that had declined in recent years.

Group Manager - Community Spaces and Places Rex Capil told the meeting, the partnership between council and the club is critical moving forward, for them to retain viability.

They also needed to look at ways they could maximise revenue from users groups, and an independent market valuation will be carried out, Rex said.

The car club had been paying $17,825 a year but the lease had been up for review since 2024 - the new higher rate of $21,250 was based on a market valuation.

Councillors agreed pausing the $21,000 was not a huge loss of revenue annually, considering the economic benefits motorsport and other events bring to the region.

The committee also supports the concept of the Southland Sports Car Club presenting a partnership proposal for consideration by council and other stakeholder organisations, to develop a development plan, recognising the wider economic benefits for the region.