Timaru International Motor Raceway is a

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 situated about 10 minutes or outside of

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

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 ...

. The circuit is accessible from either

State Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbere ...

or the Timaru-Pleasant Point Highway. It is often called ''Levels'' because of its previous name ''Levels Raceway''. The Timaru International Motor Raceway holds some of the major sporting events on New Zealand's motorsport calendar.

History

Before Timaru International Motor Raceway was born there was The South Canterbury Car Club Inc, which was formed in 1947 and were only running hillclimbs and paddock events at the time. The club progressed from this to running the Waimate 50 Street Race on the streets of

Waimate Waimate is a town in Canterbury, New Zealand and the seat of Waimate District. It is situated just inland from the eastern coast of the South Island. The town is reached via a short detour west when travelling on State Highway One, the main No ...

until 1966. In 1967 a street event was run in Timaru in the Craigie Avenue area. Land was then purchased at Falvey Road and a permanent circuit built, the first event held there was in November that year. The club continued to develop the venue running club and National Championship racing. In 1988 the circuit length was increased to and develop to the international FIA category 3 standard that it is today, allows the South Canterbury Car Club to run international events as well as National Championships including the NZ V8 Touring Cars and Super Truck Racing. 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 ...

, Bruce Pigeon Memorial, was held on 9 February to 10 February 2008.

The circuit

The car racing track's surface is hard on tyres and brakes because it is chip tarmac. It has a mixture of tight "first and second" gear and fast flowing corners. It is rated

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

grade 3.

Lap Records

The official lap record for the Timaru International Motor Raceway is 0:56.260, set by Greg Murphy on January 1995. The official race lap records at the Timaru International Motor Raceway are listed as:

Notes

References

External links

Official Site
Motorsport venues in New Zealand Sports venues in Canterbury, New Zealand Sport in Timaru {{Autoracing-venue-stub