Three friends start Grand Prix

Press, 14 November 1985, Page 14

Three friends start Grand Prix

A long-time interest in cars and karts led to the establishment of the Grand Prix race track at Christchurch’s Queen Elizabeth II leisure centre.

Three friends, Lyndsay Paterson, Peter Hollobon, and Paul Crichton, set up the track after three months’ work and the expenditure of thousands of dollars. The three men are directors in the Vintage Leisure company, but the Grand Prix track comes under the Q.E. II raceway umbrella. Lyndsay’s wife, Jan, is the secretary-manager at the track during the day. The Grand Prix track is open daily from 10 a.m. until dusk, and with daylight saving, the hours are often extended until 9 p.m. or 9.30 p.m. Floodlights are used in the evenings. The track has been open since the beginning of the school holidays in August and is already established as a drawcard at Q.E. 11. Rides cost $4 each, and give the driver four or five

minutes — a time which usually enables a seven or eight lap trip. Lyndsay said the Grand Prix track at Q.E. II differed from the track at Daytona in that the Daytona cars were more like a kart, whereas the Q.E. II cars were modelled along Formula One lines. The cars are powered by

a 5 h.p. Honda motor through a centrifugal clutch with a two-to-one reduction. They travel at around 20km an hour, although Lyndsay said regulations allowed a higher speed than that. “It seems safer if they are a bit slower,” he said. Lyndsay said the ages of those who enjoyed rides on the track varied from “tall

boys of eight and up” to “some fairly elderly women.” “It appeals to all ages. The only requirement is that the driver has to be tall enough to be able to reach the pedals and old enough to be able to drive fairly safely. Some of the older woman ... I have never seen people laugh so much,” Lyndsay said.