A unique opportunity to watch some the fastest production cars attempt land speed records on the brand new TEL highway will never happen.

A brand flat straight section of highway between the Kaituna river and the Paengaroa roundabout would be ideal before the trucks get to it, says Tauranga motor sports fan Shane Plummer.



Glenn Smiths Crawford DP03 Porsche twin turbo Prototype was a possible NZ record contender.

“This time of year, a day like today with cold weather is just fantastic for an engine, and no wind like today which is probably about the time we would have run it, it is more than likely the NZ land speed record would have been broken and probably smashed.

“It was just one of those perfect situations where a brand new road that was built to a higher specification than normal - I understand they asked the contractors for more of a smoother mix - so it’s that flat, long straight. The opportunity there to use the road before opening as part of the opening celebrations would give an opportunity to successfully break the land speed record.”

They sent a proposal through, worked with some experienced race organisation people and had begun the process of obtaining a New Zealand Motorsport licence for the event.

The NZ Motorsport organisation would have surveyed the course ticked off all the requirements for medical, rescue facilities and personnel on site, plus security and crowd control.

He admits a two or three day event with the addition of 40-100 club cars might have been more than NZTA might have liked. But the event has been denied due to possible mixed messages.

“NZTA didn’t want the road to be known as the road that has the NZ land speed record, because someone’s going to go and do something silly on it, and that’s basically the approach that they took,” says Shane.

The Castrol Trophy for the land speed record has been held by Owen Evans since 1996 at 348.23km/h on a rural country road. That record was recently broken by Eddie Freeman at 355.485km/h at Ohakea Airbase on Oct 27, 2012 in a modified Lab Lamborghini Superleggera.

Shane says a Crawford Racing Le Mans Porche 911 was to be a likely contender, but he was also hoping to attract a Bugatti Veyron - a production car that could have seized a new record.

“In Tauranga there’s a really nice flouro frog green Lamborghini. In Rotorua there’s an Oakley branded Ferrari, and Phil Rudd has a McLaren,” says Shane of possible club licence contenders for a possible production class record. But it will now never happen.

“From a motor racing perspective – and a Tauranga perspective, we would have had a lot of people come and watch that. We would have done quite well from a tourism perspective,” says Shane.

The NZTA is standing by its decision.

“The road is not a race track and nor should it be treated as such,” says BOP highway manager Niclas Johansson.

“Our work to create a truly safe transport system needs safe roads, safe vehicles, safe road use and safe speeds. In this case we have provided a safe road and it is up to people to do their part and drive at safe speeds to ensure everyone’s safety.

“Nationally on highways around the country we are seeing a reduction in high speed incidents and we are confident the public wants this trend to continue just as much as we do.

Once the road opens later this year, the speed limit on the Tauranga Eastern Link will be 100km/h. Anyone travelling above this speed is risking their lives, and the lives of every other person using the road, says Niclas.

Publicity, photos and media coverage of the event would undoubtedly include information about the TEL, and while on a closed road, the association is too obvious not to jeopardise NZTA’s safe speeds messaging.

“Such an event would add to the common belief that speed is thrilling and that this particular section of the Highway can handle extreme speeds,” says Niclas. “Following the Darfield speed record a few years ago there were a number of serious crashes involving people who ‘had a go’ well after the formal event and when the road was open to the public.”

The letter was written before police seized a 1997 Peugot 407 from a driver they say was traveling at 200km/h on the recently opened Te Maunga/Domain road section.