Posted by Derek King
What a fantastic day was held at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell on the 10th of November. A cloudy start turned into another magnificent Central Otago day for all concerned.
DG Andrew’s brief to his AG’s was simple “Let’s hold a “Fun Day”.
Because our Rotary District covers a large area, we don’t all get together very often. This is a social day, an opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some new friends from members of other Rotary Clubs. The more we all get to know each other, the more contacts we each have amongst our Rotary Clubs and the more we can all achieve both locally and globally, and of course the more fun we can have on the way!
So, after calling all clubs, over 160 Rotarians, family and friends in over 50 vehicles, arrived at 12.30 having travelled from Bluff to Timaru with some fun stops and activities on the way especially the great teams from the South. Following the BBQ lunch supplied by the Cromwell Scouts (with thanks to AG Nick for organising this), all of those wishing to drive two laps on the full track registered their cars and we had 38 cars warming up ready to their Rotary Hot Laps!
Three convoys of drivers then left behind the pace car over the next 30 minutes and at a decent speed as well. No quietly cruising around at 50kms an hour for this lot!
With the adrenaline still pumping through the veins, which meant that the bids rose accordingly, an auction of 6 Hot Laps in Alistair King’s Toyota 86 raised $1060 and then the great team from Highlands gave away 2 Ferrari rides which raised another $740. Amy from Highlands was so impressed with the bidding war that she doubled up their offer and the two winning bidders got 2 full high-speed laps rather than just the usual one!
Our thanks to those who really needed the adrenaline rush, as we raised $1800 which will go towards a District project and the Cromwell Scouts raised $1200 for their trip to the National Scouting jamboree.
The Hamilton Cup was easily won by AG’s Dave’s Invercargill clubs and their own internal competition to note places, questions and other assorted thoughts meant that a rather interesting looking trophy was also handed over. These were awarded at the prize giving held in the Motorsport museum and our thanks to them giving us all free entry to the museum as at $25 per person, this added up to over $2000 for free😊
Some great feedback was passed on to us and so watch this space as this may be a goer again. “Great day out, an inexpensive way for us to get together as a District and the track driving was brilliant”
So our grateful thanks to Amy from Highland Park for her organisation, donation of Ferrari hot laps, and time, Alistair King for his donation of 6 rides, The Cromwell Scouts for the lunch, the AG’s for their hard work getting this together and to all the Rotarians who took up the chance to be part of this fabulous day.