Highlands Motorsport Park Experiences

Highlands Motorsport Park runs its own drive menu at its 4.1 km circuit on the edge of Cromwell in Central Otago. The headline is the U-Drive: seven laps of the 1.5 km C Track in a Radical SR3 sports racer or a 5.0 litre Ford Mustang V8 built from a road car into a race car, with a Highlands pro driver coaching you from the seat beside you the whole way.

For anyone who would rather ride, the Supercar Fast Dash is one flat out lap of the full circuit in a Lamborghini Huracan or Porsche GT3, the Highlands Taxi takes up to four people round in a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, and the Taycan Takeoff is a pro driven passenger ride. German built Rimo go karts run on their own 650 m outdoor track. Groups can book the Subaru WRX Experience, and your own car gets on the full circuit at the Track Laps Breakfast and the Winter Drive Experience.

The same site holds the Highlands Museum, home of the Aston Martin Vulcan and Michael Schumacher's Benetton Formula One car, an 18 hole mini golf course and a licensed cafe with a deck over the track. It suits two crowds at once: drivers after seat time in a real race car, and families who do the karts, the museum and the golf while one person drives.

• The U-Drive cars: a Radical SR3, a two seat sports racer with a tuned four cylinder racing engine, six speed paddle shift gearbox, slick tyres and downforce bodywork, and a Ford Mustang with a 5.0 litre V8 and an automatic gearbox, built as a race car from a road car base. A Mustang fitted with hand controls is in the fleet for drivers with limited leg mobility.
• You drive every lap of a U-Drive with a Highlands pro driver beside you calling the lines, and both cars are two seaters so nobody else rides along. The Radical shifts with paddles; the pro talks anyone through it who has never driven a manual.
• The Huracan, GT3, Cayenne and Taycan rides work the other way round: the pro drives, you sit in the passenger seat. The Supercar Fast Dash is a single flat out lap of the full 4.1 km circuit at up to 225 km/h in a Lamborghini Huracan (610 hp, 0 to 100 km/h in 3.1 seconds) or a Porsche GT3, with Highlands choosing the car on the day.
• The Highlands Taxi is a Porsche Cayenne Turbo with room for a group: a guided touring lap of the 4.1 km circuit past the control tower to learn the track, then a second lap at up to 180 km/h, 15 minutes from start to finish.
• The day runs the same way for every drive and hot lap: paperwork at the pit lane tables, photo ID and licence checked, the drivers briefing, then suiting up in the pit lane staging area with helmet and hair net supplied (the helmets carry GoPro mounts), a wait in the bays for your car, and a printed certificate when you come off track. Friends and family watch from the cafe deck above the track or the kart viewing deck.
• Go karts: German built Rimo karts on a separate 650 m outdoor track built from 672 cubic metres of concrete and edged with 4,830 tyres, singles up to 50 km/h and twin motor tandem karts with two seats up to 40 km/h, up to 14 karts out at once, your fastest lap on the screen in the kart building straight after the race and lap times emailed if you opt in.
• The rest of the site in one sweep: the Highlands Museum holds the Aston Martin Vulcan, Michael Schumacher's Benetton Formula One car, an American sheriff's patrol car, arcade driving games and a reaction test machine, with the Young Guns VR room (virtual hot laps with Greg Murphy, Mad Mike Whiddett and Hayden Paddon) included in entry; there is an 18 hole motorsport themed mini golf course with a Lightning McQuinn hole and a Lake Dunstan Trail hole; the Highlands Cafe is fully licensed with a deck looking over the track and its own lake, reached by its own path beside the museum building or through the museum; and the Loo with a View below the deck is a set of themed toilets with one way glass onto the circuit, free to use.

• Open 10am to 4pm seven days, opening at 1pm on ANZAC Day and closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Drives, hot laps and karts are booked by session at book.highlands.co.nz or on 03 445 4052, and Highlands strongly recommends booking for weekends, public holidays and school holidays. Museum entry is bought at the door or the cafe counter and mini golf is walk in.
• U-Drive laps and prices: seven coached laps of the 1.5 km C Track. Radical SR3 NZ$434, Ford Mustang V8 NZ$399. The hand control Mustang is booked by phone.
• Hot lap and kart prices: Supercar Fast Dash NZ$204 for one lap of the full circuit. Highlands Taxi NZ$154 per car for up to four passengers and two laps. Taycan Takeoff from NZ$129. Go karts NZ$59 for a single kart and NZ$54 for a tandem kart, 10 minutes a session.
• Who can drive a U-Drive: 18 years of age and over, holding a current driver licence that is sighted on the day (learner licences are not accepted), minimum height 165 cm. Highlands recommends drivers under 188 cm and 110 kg and asks anyone outside that to call first. The licence terms ask for competence with a manual gearbox for the Radical. The drives are not open to pregnant women or anyone with a heart condition.
• Hot lap passengers must be over 7 years of age. Anyone under 18 years of age needs a parent or legal guardian to sign the indemnity form and show photo ID. Everyone shows photo ID and the booking confirmation or voucher at check in.
• Bond: a NZ$2,000 hold is taken on a credit or debit card before a U-Drive and released after the drive if the car comes back undamaged. Highlands' wording: the bond covers damage caused through negligent or inappropriate use of the vehicle. Alcohol is zero tolerance on every self drive activity.
• What to wear for any drive or hot lap: a long sleeve shirt covering to the wrists, long pants covering to the ankles and enclosed shoes, no loose items, with long hair tied up and tucked inside the helmet. A balaclava is compulsory and sold on the day for NZ$10. Helmet and hair net are supplied and there are lockers in the pit area. Check in at the pit lane tables 15 minutes before your booked time.
• Add ons: in car video of your U-Drive NZ$50, decided before you go out; extra Fast Dash laps NZ$109 each, sold as two laps for NZ$313 or three for NZ$422; a phone mount in the Fast Dash car for your own footage; two booster seats for the Taxi (clip in child car seats cannot be fitted, and you can bring your own booster). No passenger seat is sold in either U-Drive car.
• Weather: the U-Drives, the Fast Dash and the karts do not run in rain or on a wet track, and Highlands contacts booked customers when a session cannot go ahead. The Taxi runs rain or shine with the fast lap slowed when the track is wet.
• Cancellation: a prepaid booking can be changed or cancelled for a full refund up to 24 hours before by contacting Highlands directly. Inside 24 hours any change is at Highlands' discretion and can carry a fee of up to 100 percent of the price paid, and a no show with no notice is treated as used. Highlands can cancel or change any session for weather, low numbers or track availability and accepts no responsibility for costs that follow. Gift vouchers are valid for 3 years from purchase, redeemable at the front desk on any product at the park but not on event tickets.
• Kart rules: single karts from 10 years of age and 140 cm tall, maximum 2 m and 120 kg; tandem karts need a driver 16 years of age or over and a passenger of at least 120 cm, and are built for an adult with a child (two adults are allowed but strongly discouraged). Enclosed shoes only, phones not recommended on track, GoPros on a chest mount only. The kart team can ask for a control test in a test kart first and has the final say.
• Groups and own car formats: the Subaru WRX Experience runs ABS braking, a timed slalom and a timed gymkhana in one of four WRXs with a pro driver leading each activity, groups of 4 to 12, 1.5 to 2 hours, NZ$499 per person for a group of four and NZ$399 per person for 5 to 12, two laps added for NZ$109 per person; a shorter slalom only WRX Teaser is NZ$149 per person; both are booked by enquiry. The Winter Drive Experience is a three hour road safety course in your own car with a professional racing driver, 8:30am to 11:30am, maximum 10 people, NZ$389 per person including a mechanic's safety check of your car and morning tea, with karting added for NZ$40, on dates listed on its page. Track Laps Breakfast, next on Sunday 25 October 2026 with 9am check in and a 9:30am start, is two laps of the full circuit behind the Highlands pace car in your own car (current WOF, full licence sighted on the day, closed shoes) plus breakfast in the cafe for NZ$49; passengers ride free and eat for NZ$19, and it runs rain or shine.
• Museum and mini golf prices: museum NZ$30 adults, NZ$20 seniors 65 years and over, NZ$10 children 5 to 16 years of age, NZ$60 for a family of two adults and three children, half price on the day for anyone with an experience booked. Mini golf NZ$25 adults, NZ$15 children 5 to 16 years of age, NZ$20 seniors, NZ$60 family, also half price with an experience. The cafe opens at 9am, an hour before the rest of the park, and publishes its food and drinks menus on its page.
• Birthday parties, stag and hen groups, school and coach groups and corporate days are booked through the group bookings page or groups@highlands.co.nz.
• Race meetings, including the New Zealand Grand Prix, take the circuit over on event weekends; the events calendar is on highlands.co.nz. The park sits at the corner of State Highway 6 and Sandflat Road on the edge of Cromwell.

• Last verified: 18 October 2026
• Official link: https://www.highlands.co.nz/