A tribute to the historic Pukekohe Park Raceway with a diesel tint
Pukekohe Park Raceway is a historic motorsport venue 50 kilometres south of Auckland City. The track opened in the early 1960s and has hosted an incredible array of motorsport categories including V8 Supercars, NZ SuperTourers, Tasman Series open-wheel racing, production cars, and even truck racing.
News broke earlier this week that Auckland Thoroughbred Racing – the owners of the venue – are set to exclusively focus on horse racing from April 2023. And unfortunately, that will spell the end of motorsport activities at the circuit.
The Repco Supercars Championship made its first visit to Pukekohe for a non-championship race in 1996, while the first race for points took place in 2001.
The premier Australasian touring car category is set to cross the Tasman Sea to visit the fast and flowing venue later this year, and shy of a visit early in 2023, this will be the last time the V8 monsters taste the Pukekohe Park tarmac.
After what is a sad development for motorsport fans on both sides of the Tasman, here’s a look back at some race truck and transporter action at Pukekohe Park Raceway over the years.
Another big thank you to Mike Cornwall, Alan Farac, Dave Aldridge, and Blair Jacobs for allowing us to use photos from their motorsport photo collections.