Te Kauwhata, Waikato, New Zealand4.6 (183 Google reviews)Next: 2026 NZIGP Waikato Challenge, 21 to 22 November 2026
Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is near Te Kauwhata in north Waikato, and it's the northernmost circuit in New Zealand. It hosts NextGen NZ Championship rounds, Mad Mike's Summer Bash and car festivals like the GT-R Festival and the Toyota GAZOO Racing Festival. On a normal day the café is open, and the go karts run from Wednesday to Sunday.
Most events here are general admission, so you walk around and pick your spot. For Mad Mike's Summer Bash a grandstand with raised seats sits right next to the International Drift Circuit (2026). No other grandstand details are published, so there's no pick yet.
Grandstand
Drift Circuit Grandstand
Right next to the International Drift Circuit, with raised seats. Sold as Grandstand Admission for Mad Mike's Summer Bash (2026).
Facilities
Café
Parking
Aoraki Coffee Roasters café, open seven days with food. Mad Mike's Mad Lab and Toyota GAZOO Racing's live workshop are next to it. There's also mini golf, the go karts (with picnic tables and BBQ hire), conference and meeting rooms, and Gasoline Alley garages for rent or storage. No pets, apart from guide dogs by arrangement.
Plan your day
Getting there
20 Hampton Downs Road, Te Kauwhata, in north Waikato. Spectators come in through Gate 1, and the top car park sits next to the café.
Camping
There's no campground. During some events, self contained motorhomes and caravans can stay on site with one ticket per night, separate from event entry. No tents, and there are no toilets, showers, water or power. No open fires, and no animals apart from service animals.
Coming at a different time
Visiting outside an event
Worth a visit any day
The café is open seven days, and the go karts run Wednesday to Sunday from 10am, every day in the school holidays. Mad Mike's Mad Lab and the Toyota GAZOO Racing workshop are next to the café. On the last Sunday of every month, Caffeine and Gasoline fills the top car park with cars and bikes from 9.30am, free. Track drives and skid pan sessions are booked ahead.
Open on normal days
Café
Go karts
Good to know
Good to know
A circuit paid for by its own apartments
Hampton Downs was funded by selling 80 trackside apartments, something no circuit in New Zealand had tried before. It opened in 2009, Tony Quinn bought it in 2015, and the next year it was extended to the 4.0 km International layout used today.
The track
A permanent circuit that runs clockwise. The 4.0 km International layout, with 10 turns, came in 2016 when the original track was extended. The 2.63 km National circuit has 6 turns and the 1.2 km Club circuit has 5. There's also an off road track, a wet skid pan, an International Drift Circuit used for drift events, a 530 m sprint kart track, and an 840 m kart track that only runs on special event days. Race lap records: 1:27.637 on the International, set by Michael Lyons in a historic Formula One car in 2017, and 59.444 on the National, set by Ken Smith in a Formula 5000 in 2019.
