All attendees at the Grand Opening of Taupo’s Lakeside International Dragway have every right to be annoyed at us for being messed around. Without covering every detail of what went wrong on January 2 we offer the following explanation.

This was the first event held at Lakeside. It was supposed to be the second but due to the weather we were unable to hold a shakedown event in December.

Leading up to the December event we were unable to test the systems in place because it rained nearly every day and in fact we waited five days in the rain at one stage trying to set up the lights. When we did eventually get them set up, (leading up to Christmas eve between showers) we had a fault in the board in the Xmas Tree and had to fly another one out from the USA which did not get to Taupo until the 28th.

While we did some testing of the lights, further problems with the timing system did not manifest themselves until we tried to run brackets on the day of the Grand Opening.

On the facility side, the weather continually played havoc with construction and track preparation. In the last two weeks leading up to January 2 we had the track steam cleaned, sand blasted, completely washed down (three times) and swept by broom innumerable times.

Twice in that period the rain was so heavy up to eight inches of soil was washed onto the startline. Having to cope with that let alone rectify the problem while trying to undertake track prep was extremely difficult. Before the event we were aware the dust could be an issue and had been watering the ground daily to reduce the problem. Unfortunately the wind was drying everything out faster than we could water it.

In the week leading up to the event we did have a track capable of taking New Zealand’s top cars. In fact we had Chad Head, former chief of track prep for NHRA working to get a surface for us and on New Years Eve we were all ready to run. The dust and wind killed it between then and race day even though we washed the whole track down once again. When the strong wind again came up on the morning of January 2 it may as well have rained from the outset.

On the entry issues for both competitors and spectators - people turning up well before the scheduled start time created massive problems for us. Staff were not even in position when queues started forming. At Lakeside we have to work with a resource consent plan, traffic management and health and safety programme. So many turning up before the advertised opening time lead to all sorts of problems which we should have had contingencies for. We didn't and I apologise to everyone who was disappointed. Since the Grand Opening we have had debriefs with different groups of people involved and will overcome these issues.

This was the biggest motorsport event ever held at Taupo by a long way and stretched all resources previously used. In an attempt to remedy a bad situation we have made the NZ Hot Rod Magazine Club Champs on January 28 free entry for spectators and will work to ensure there are no repeats of previous problems.

We would like to thank all those who have offered their support before and since the Grand Opening and look forward to better things to come.

Gavin McLaughlin

Bruce Macilquham

Directors, Lakeside International Dragway