Euromarque Motorsport Park (often referred to as Ruapuna) is a permanent

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

circuit owned and operated by the Canterbury Car Club Inc on land leased from the Christchurch City Council. It is located at 107 Hasketts Road in Templeton, west of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. It was opened as Ruapana Park in 1963, and between 2004 and 2013 was known as Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park.

Mike Pero Michael Pero (born 26 February 1960) is a New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur. Professional history Pero founded his mortgage broking business in 1991. In 2011, Pero established a real estate company under the same brand name. In recen ...

joined the circuit as title sponsor from 2013-2023, as Mike Pero Motorsport Park. In the early parts of February 2023, the sponsorship deal was over, and Euromarque became the new title sponsor. The track also features a drag strip, pit garages, racing school, speedway circuit and even a radio controlled car circuit. There are a number of configurations of the circuit with licences from FIA Grade 3 to National grades 1, 2 and 3.

History

The track was opened in November 1963. The circuit was a fairly simple sealed surface road course, at just a mile in length and comprising essentially a flat tri-oval with an extended main straight down to a hairpin bend. In 1976 the main straight was widened and a staging area added to allow drag racing to take place. The biggest change in the circuit's history came in 1993 when it was extended to , along with other renovations.

The circuit

The track surface is hot mix bitumen and runs for in a counter-clockwise direction with many fast sweeping corners. It rewards smooth and tidy drivers. It supports six layouts, from the "A Track" to the "Grand Prix with dipper". The track features on the motorsport racing simulation game

Project CARS 2 ''Project CARS 2'' is a motorsport racing simulator video game developed by Slightly Mad Studios and published and distributed by the Bandai Namco Entertainment group. It was released worldwide on 22 September 2017 for Microsoft Windows, Play ...

as Ruapana Park.

Layout History & Track Configurations

File:Ruapuna-Park.svg, Original Circuit (1963–1992) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park ('A Circuit' AKA Trioval).svg, 'A' Trioval Circuit (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park ('A Circuit' AKA Trioval plus 'Dipper').svg, 'A' Trioval Circuit + Dipper (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park ('B Circuit').svg, 'B' Circuit (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park (Club Circuit).svg, Club Circuit (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park (outer loop).svg, Outer Circuit (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park (Grand Prix Circuit).svg, Grand Prix Circuit (1993–present) File:Powerbuilt Raceway at Ruapuna Park (longest layout).svg, Long Circuit (1993–present) File:Ruapuna Circuit Map.jpg, Ruapuna Circuit (Mike Pero Motorsport Park) map

Events

The circuit hosts both 2 and 4 wheeled events. The "Skope Classic" is a major annual event held at the track. The two-day-event includes practice and racing on Saturday and racing in classes on Sunday for classic and historic cars. It is one of the events of

Southern Festival of Speed The Southern Festival of Speed was a classic and historic racing series held in the South Island in New Zealand. It started in the late 1980s with the revival of the 1950s Dunedin Street Circuit. It comprised rounds at three permanent circuits and o ...

. The track hosted the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1998 and 1999.

born driver

Simon Wills Simon Wills (born 3 October 1976 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former racing driver who currently runs a graphic design business. Racing career Formula cars Wills finished runner up in the 1995 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship. He had ...

won both races in his

Reynard 94D The Reynard 94D is an open-wheel formula race car, designed and developed by Malcolm Oastler, and constructed and built by Reynard Motorsport, for use in Formula 3000 categories, Formula Nippon, and Formula Holden Formula Holden was an Aus ...

Naming rights

Since 2013, Mike Pero, founder of Mike Pero Mortgages and Real Estate, has had a naming rights sponsorship deal to Ruapuna, which was known as Mike Pero Motorsport Park. This deal ended in 2023, with Euromarque replacing. For 10 years before, the naming rights had been held by Powerbuilt Tools.

Lap Records

The official lap record for the Euromarque Motorsport Park is 1:15.810, set by Scott Dixon on 5 December 1998. While the unofficial all-time track record is 1:11.265, set by Liam Lawson on 21 January 2022. The official race lap records at the Euromarque Motorsport Park are listed as:

Notes

References

External links

Canterbury Car Club Official websiteRuapuna Park in Google Maps
{{D1NZ Locations Ruapuna Ruapuna Ruapuna New Zealand Grand Prix