Community
Te Anau was abuzz with car enthusiasts over last weekend. The kick start to the weekend was the “Friday Night Cruise” with “Lets Go Cruising” attracted over 80 vehicles plus motorcycles.
Organiser Nathan Botting said “It was great to see so many people out on the streets watching the cruise. Very pleased with the turnout and seeing the community out enjoying the cruise enroute to Te Anau Club carpark finish line”.
The inaugural Te Anau Motorama on the Saturday (12 November) attracted 204 vehicles and motorbikes with some preregistration from November 2021. There were a number of entries that had booked from when we had planned to have it in February 2022. Most of those carried their entries over to the new date. When the announcement of the new date, more online pre-registrations gradually came through and then there would have been approximately 100 entries on the day, said Nathan.
“There were six categories which all had local sponsors for each one, *Best American- #158 Steve Horton SS RS Camaro *Best Australian – #103 Chris Labes Valiant AP 6 *Best Motorcycle- #185 Michael Ross Harley Road King *Best Unique/ Other – # 17 Doc Sutherland Vintage Boat *Best European – #52 Gazza Newhouse Ferrari and People’s Choice Award”- #39 Doug Robbie of Te Anau 1964 Cadillac Model -De Ville Coupe American.
“The atmosphere on the Saturday was very cruisy and the wide range of different types of vehicles and models was a change from most of the other shows which was great to see”.
“It was great to see so many people come and have a look. The market was also a draw card for spectators”, he said.
A thrilling display by Te Anau aerobatic pilot Ivan Krippner for those present at the Motorama event. Ivan is very good at adding an extra thrill for crowds attending events in Te Anau of late. It certainly is appreciated by all.
Ivan is a Commercial aerobatic Pilot/Instructor and owner/operator of Wings & Water with his wife Kylie who is also a pilot. They have been operating the floatplanes on Lake Te Anau Lakefront since 2015. Floatplanes have been operating on Lake Te Anau since 1962.
“Nothing but great feed-back from all. We are very proud of how well our first Motorama went. The atmosphere was so cruisy on Saturday”.
“The support from Southern Dragways coming up and doing their start-ups was a great bonus for all the petrol heads’.
Southern Dragways INC.Life Member Peter Lormans of Queenstown said “The event was great. We have gone to many in the past and this one is up there as well done. Good mix of cars and things to do”.
“Southern Dragways INC have been looking to run drags at Te Anau/ Manapouri Airport and looking to run drags as part of the Motorama event next year”.
“This is a work in progress with the local promotions group and Southern Dragways the drag club from Invercargill”.
“Just want to thank our Committee, Sponsors, Te Anau Events, Te Anau Fire Brigade and everyone else that helped get the day across the line. We were very lucky with the weather it was an outstanding day and so many people came for a look.
It was awesome to see entrants had come from far and wide including the McLaren that had come all the way from Masterton, the number of entrants exceeded our expectations” said Nathan.