Highlands Motorsport Park

Highlands Motorsport Park at a glance

Location

Cromwell, Otago

Type

road course

Length

4.1 km (2.548 mi)

Turns

22

Direction

clockwise

Surface

asphalt

Opened

2013

Owner

Tony Quinn

Address

Corner SH6 & Sandflat Road

Phone

+64 3 445 4052

Website

highlands.co.nz

Track map and layout

Highlands is a purpose-built 4.1-kilometre, 22-turn road course on flat Central Otago farmland outside Cromwell, laid out in a figure-of-eight with an overpass carrying the track over itself between turns 16 and 17. Built from a blank canvas in 2012-13 rather than adapted from an old airfield, it packs a long pit straight, several high-speed sweepers and a tighter, twistier infield section into a compact footprint with mountain views on every side. The full circuit runs clockwise and is used for the New Zealand Grand Prix and Highlands 101-era GT racing, while a family of shorter configurations - the A, B, C, D and E courses, from just over a kilometre to just under three - are used for karting, drive experiences and club racing. The mix of fast corners and a tight infield rewards both outright car speed and precise braking.

Configurations

Events and race weekends

Highlands opened with the Highlands 101 GT endurance race as its showpiece from 2013 to 2016, but that event is no longer on the calendar; today the park's biggest date is the New Zealand Grand Prix, run for Formula Regional Oceania cars and one of motorsport's longest-running Grand Prix titles outside Formula One. The Highlands Festival of Speed, a car-culture and demonstration-run event first held in 2014, returns roughly every two years. The circuit also hosts a round of the South Island Endurance Series, the Toyota GR86 Championship New Zealand, and club meetings run by Motorsport New Zealand affiliates through the year.

Getting there and parking

Highlands sits on State Highway 6 at Sandflat Road on the edge of Cromwell, in the heart of Central Otago wine country. Queenstown Airport is the main gateway for visitors and is roughly 45 minutes' drive away via SH6, making Highlands an easy half-day trip from Queenstown itself. Self-driving is the only practical way in; there is no rail or scheduled bus service direct to the circuit gates.

• Queenstown Airport (ZQN) · about 45 min drive

Combine a visit with Cromwell's wineries and the Otago Central Rail Trail - most people treat Highlands as a half-day stop rather than a dedicated trip.

Hotels and camping near Highlands Motorsport Park

Highlands is unusual among circuits in this guide for having genuine on-site living: Highlands Park is a small residential subdivision built around the circuit itself, and a number of its Pit Lane apartments and townhouses are rented out to visitors overlooking the track and pit straight, commanding a premium during race meetings. Beyond that, Cromwell township is 5-10 minutes away with motels, apartments and a holiday park, while Queenstown, about 45 minutes' drive, has the widest range of hotels and is where most international visitors base themselves for a longer Central Otago trip.

Where to look

Cromwell (motels, apartments and the Cromwell Top 10 Holiday Park, 5-10 minutes from the gate) and Queenstown (widest hotel choice, about 45 minutes away).

Track days, driving experiences and lap records

The public cannot simply turn up and lap Highlands in their own car the way they can at some other New Zealand circuits; instead the park runs a year-round menu of commercial self-drive (U-Drive) and passenger-ride (We-Drive) experiences on its shorter configurations and the full lap. Self-drive options include go-karts, a Radical sports car and V8 muscle cars with an instructor alongside, while passenger experiences put visitors in a supercar or a high-performance EV for a lap with a professional driver. Motorsport New Zealand-affiliated clubs also use the circuit for competitive track days and race meetings.

Who runs days here

• Highlands U-Drive (go-karts, Radical, V8 muscle car)car
• Highlands We-Drive (Supercar Fast Dash, Highlands Taxi)car

Typical cost: Go-karts from NZ$59; Supercar Fast Dash passenger lap from NZ$204; Radical or V8 muscle car U-Drive from around NZ$399-434

Lap records

Spectator guide

Because the layout is compact and largely flat, much of the lap can be watched from a small number of vantage points around the main straight and infield, and the park's cafe terrace and Pit Lane balconies both look directly onto the action. There is no permanent grandstand seating in the way older circuits have; spectating at race meetings is mostly from grass banks, the main building's terraces, or rented Pit Lane apartments. Central Otago has a dry, sunny climate for a New Zealand region, though January and February days can still turn windy.

Best places to watch

The cafe terrace and the infield banks near the pit straight give the widest view of the lap; rented Pit Lane apartments overlook the circuit directly during race weekends.

Weather

• Jan-Feb: Central Otago summer: warm, dry days often in the low-to-mid 20s°C, but can be windy

History of Highlands Motorsport Park

A circuit built from scratch

Highlands Motorsport Park is one of the youngest circuits in New Zealand motorsport, opened on 30 March 2013 on flat farmland beside State Highway 6 at Cromwell. It was the vision of Scottish-Australian businessman Tony Quinn, who wanted a facility that combined a serious international-standard race track with tourism, hospitality and a motorsport museum under one roof - a model he later repeated at Highlands' sister venues Hampton Downs and Taupo in the North Island.

Highlands 101 and the early years

The park's showpiece event from the outset was the Highlands 101, a 101-lap GT endurance race first run in 2013 and won in its opening two years by Quinn himself, co-driving with professional partners including Fabian Coulthard and Garth Tander. From 2016 the race was folded into the Australian Endurance Championship, but it has not been run since, and the circuit's premier date has shifted instead to the New Zealand Grand Prix, a title dating back decades in New Zealand open-wheel racing and now contested by Formula Regional Oceania cars each summer.

Beyond racing

Alongside competitive motorsport, Highlands built its identity around visitor experiences: an outdoor go-kart track, self-drive laps in Radical sports cars and V8 muscle cars, passenger rides in supercars, an 18-hole themed mini-golf course and the National Motorsport Museum, whose collection has included ex-Formula One cars and the only Aston Martin Vulcan in the Southern Hemisphere. A small residential precinct, Highlands Park, was built around the circuit itself, letting owners and visitors alike watch racing from their own balconies.

Present day

Today Highlands remains a fixture of the South Island motorsport calendar, hosting the New Zealand Grand Prix, the biennial Highlands Festival of Speed, a round of the South Island Endurance Series, the Toyota GR86 Championship and a steady programme of club racing, while its tourism side continues to draw visitors travelling between Queenstown and the rest of Central Otago.

Frequently asked questions

Other tracks nearby

• Teretonga Park · 169 km · road course
• Timaru International Motor Raceway · 182 km · road course
• Euromarque Motorsport Park, Ruapuna · 314 km · road course
• Levin Motor Racing Circuit · 700 km · historic circuit (defunct)
• Cemetery Circuit, Whanganui · 746 km · street circuit
• Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon · 748 km · road course