March 2023 is going to be the last time you’ll ever get to race, spectate, marshal or be any other part of a motorsport meeting at the legendary Pukekohe Park Raceway and organisers want you to be a part of the flying farewell.
The Month of Motorsport Festival is going to be the last rev of the engine for the iconic venue and Pukekohe Motorsport have teamed up with promoter SpeedWorks to give the track a fitting send off.
The final two motorsport meetings at the Park will take place over the weekends of March 3 to 5 and March 23 to 26. The four day finale – the Flying Farewell – will also mark the one and only time that drivers will get to practice and compete over the race weekend on both of the iconic circuit layouts.
A mouth-watering selection of racing cars synonymous with the history of the world famous track will feature over the month, including Muscle Cars, V8s, V8 Utes, OSCA, Mazdas and the mighty Super Trucks.
The Flying Farewell weekend will be the first time in years the Super Trucks will have thundered their way around the track and their participation will be a guaranteed crowd puller.
As well as those Pukekohe Park Raceway legends, the fastest closed wheel racing cars in the country will also be a big part of the two final weekends with the opening round of the 2023 North Island Endurance Series running at the first weekend and two awesome GT classes for the Flying Farewell weekend.
One GT class racing at the meeting will be based on the fastest 36 cars in the North Island Endurance Series and will feature GT3 and GT4 cars from Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, McLaren, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Nissan and others in a pair of all-out no holds barred one hour sprints.
The second category – Open GT – will be free of restrictions on horsepower, tyre allocation and driver classification with organisers aiming to unleash monsters like the Crawfords, Brabham BT62 and Renault RS01 in shorter races where the lap records could take a battering one final time.
It will be one of these racers that will take the final chequered flag at the final motorsport meeting at Pukekohe Park and that flag is set to be thrown by one of the greatest names in New Zealand motorsport history.
In addition to the racing, car clubs and even Facebook Groups of motorsport fans and car enthusiasts will be invited to come along for one final chance to take their own pride and joy around the circuit at a more sedate speed than the racers in a packed programme of activity over the two final weekends.
“We are inviting car club groups and every motoring enthusiast of every kind, and exhibitors, to reach out and make sure they are part of these two massive weekends,” said SpeedWorks Geoff Short.
“The final Supercars weekend was awesome, but this is the final pair of weekends at the track and we want everyone who wants to come to be part of those weekends.”
Organisers will launch ticketing for the two weekends imminently – and there’s also the opportunity to by a Month of Motorsport Festival Pass which will get you into both race weekends, on all days, and includes parking and Grandstand access.
Main image: Supplied | Words: Supplied
