Baypark Raceway, 67 to 95, RIP

[TonyG]

[Kiwiboss]

WOW, those are some very cool photos Tony!!! colour pictures of the 2 Aussie Camaro's as well now thats gotta be pretty rare!! Luv the Minilite wheels in the big cars, just so era correct

Defiantly worth saving, scanning and posting, well done.

Dale M

[Michael Clark]

Great shots from some great days

[Jeff]

Seemed that every time we would go there the flooded subway under the track at the start/finish line would claim a few victims....
I recall the '78 International rally used the subway and track and the water was up to the headlights of the cars. Caused a lot of anxiety amongst drivers ! Spectators gave a round of applause to cars that didn't make it through.

That photo brings back many memories, although back in the early days all the cleared land was in trees, where the back entrance road weaves a crooked path. Easter used to see many late night parties under those trees, and loads of us used to camp under there. That was the days when there was a race meeting on the Saturday and drags on the Sunday, plus the Hot Rod show in Mt Mauganui. Taking photos for NZ Hot Rod magazine back then, and three events to cover, plus a party on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, drive home Monday and spend all night developing and printing photos and back to work on Tuesday. The things you can do in your twenties!
And there wasn't a house for miles back then, just the camping ground at the beach end.

[Jeff]

Photo taken and developed at home by my dad Bruce.
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[Jeff]

These two photo's from Google Earth show the transition of Bay Park to a housing estate.
First photo taken in 2003 - sorry it's a bit fuzzy. Note the Rorison house is just foundations now but the red shed still stands behind it.
I visited the site at this time and walked around what was left of the house etc... it was very sad but predictable that BayPark would go eventually ( noise was already a problem )
As a point of reference in the photo's the house at the bottom right on the boundary of Rorisons with the 3 rooflines is still there and the driveway in to Bay Park appears to be in the same position as the one now into the housing complex.

This photo is from 2013 showing complete coverage of the site

This interesting picture is from the Rorison Family showing their truck fleet in the foreground and Baypark behind, not many pictures around that show the overall size of Baypark, taken in the early 80's i've been told!! Parents were involved with the speedway track in the middle in the early 70's, great memorys(but im sure most have?) and what about Graham Pierce and Peter Hanna, nows there's two characters if there ever was!!

Dale Mathers
Tauranga, NZ

[Rod Grimwood]

Great shots from some great days

agree with that, superb old shots, and I was there Dale, only a youngster at 15 but there and remember it all. Paeroa on way home for pizza and a break, long haul in a old Victa that unfortuately only got us back to Papakura on southern motorway and then collected by a bus and I got home on the Tuesday after rest in Middlemore after being ejected from Victa in roll over. yep hard to forget 'first Bay Park'

PS and at 'last'

[Steve Holmes]

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These two photo's from Google Earth show the transition of Bay Park to a housing estate.
First photo taken in 2003 - sorry it's a bit fuzzy. Note the Rorison house is just foundations now but the red shed still stands behind it.
I visited the site at this time and walked around what was left of the house etc... it was very sad but predictable that BayPark would go eventually ( noise was already a problem )
As a point of reference in the photo's the house at the bottom right on the boundary of Rorisons with the 3 rooflines is still there and the driveway in to Bay Park appears to be in the same position as the one now into the housing complex.

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This photo is from 2013 showing complete coverage of the site

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Amazing to see!

[Steve Holmes]

My brother has just come back from NZ and rescued these from a box at mums.
Not the best quality now but at least saved for posterity.

Outstanding photos Tony, thanks heaps for posting. Nice to see the Bryan Thomson and Terry Allan big block Camaros, along with Joe Chamberlains Trans-Am example. The draw of these cars really packed 'em in! The organisers had to shut the gates early afternoon on race day at this event, as the facilities had reached full capacity.

[bry3500]

[video=youtube;ACgKhQdEb_E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACgKhQdEb_E[/video]

[bry3500]

[video=youtube;Kkd2_KrUaqI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkd2_KrUaqI[/video]

[khyndart in CA]

Not looking quite as good as I remember during some of my misspent youth but still a good memory especially at the end of this clip as I remember doing 2 laps in my Anglia in 1968 with a friend before being told to get off the track !
(About as close as I got to being a race driver ! )
So here is a clip from 20 years later in 1988.

[video=youtube;BGxBPREP0mA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGxBPREP0mA[/video]


(Ken H)

[John McKechnie]

At 93 seconds ,I see a Grant Sprague Motors sign there

[Roger Dowding]

There was an Article on Baypark [ Lost Tracks ] in "Australian Muscle Cars " a couple of years ago by Sandy Myhre - which was quite inaccurate -covered in another thread - here is a letter regarding the errors.
Sandy had used the article she wrote in her book " 50 Years On Track " published years ago, which has the same inaccuracies.

Letter from Mike John

The last event - a picture from NZ Herald Newspaper at the time

[Roger Dowding]

Final event programme as posted on my thread about the article
1995

Peter Hanna - Funeral Card from 1998. RIP Peter.

[Roger Dowding]

Tony Rutherford RX2 turbo January 1982 - Milan Fistonic photo

There must be many more photo's from the era - I went only about three time 1969 - 72 ish and no photos.

[Roger Dowding]

Post on the Dogbox Club thread about the Dodge Fire Engine that was at Baypark
Posts by GBRK on TRS
The F100 was eventually sold and replaced by the Dodge. Its final years were spent at Baypark Raceway where it remained being used right up until the tracks closure. This important part of NZ motor racing history survives to this day.

Fire Boss For Sale
Rather than start a new thread I will post this here since it already includes some history of the Fire Boss which is now offered for sale.

I am not the owner but if anyone is interested in purchasing the Fire Boss please pm me and I can pass on details to the owner for contact.

It is hoped that someone within the fraternity will recognise that this is a nice, perhaps important piece of NZ Motorsport the likes of which are often overlooked in museums and collections not being a flash race car but significant nonetheless.

If offered to the general public it risks being broken up and the history lost. It has had a reasonable restoration done and is in very good condition. It wouldn't take too much to restore it to a very high quality.

Some not very good photos follow but if anyone is genuinely interested and requires better ones I can arrange that,

Thank you.

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Suggestion that " Leadfoot Ranch " the Millen Ranch Museum would be a good place to save it