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Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes - Source: Photosport
Hamilton is losing its V8 Supercars street race after next April's event.
Hamilton City Council (HCC) and V8 Supercars today announced the early termination of their agreement to stage the annual race.
Australian organiser V8 Supercars will make a one-off $1.25 million payment to Hamilton City Council to break the contract early.
That means next April's event will be the city's last.
Last year, following the financial demise of the previous promoter, V8 Supercars stepped in to save the event and took on the financial risk in staging it.
In a joint statement today, the council and V8 Supercars say the 2011 race was impacted by the Canterbury earthquake, Rugby World Cup and economic downturn.
Attendance and corporate sponsorship fell below expectations and the event returned a "significant loss" to V8 Supercars, the statement said.
In addition, V8 Supercars expressed preference for a November race date, however, the council advised that November would not suit Frankton businesses and is outside of school holidays yet very close to Christmas. Moving the race would also require a lengthy and costly resource consent process, it said.
"HCC and V8 Supercars have been discussing the event's outlook for some time and are disappointed that in spite of their combined efforts to find a way forward, future races held in Hamilton are likely to remain unviable and result in no return to HCC," the statement said.
"In that evaluation, ongoing challenges - including Hamilton's distance from a major corporate centre, modest hotel infrastructure and the downturn of ticket sales in the Waikato region - have also been taken into account."
V8 Supercars has released the council from its annual financial commitment after the 2012 race and V8 Supercars will continue to absorb any losses from the Hamilton event.
V8 Supercars will also assume responsibility for the race-related infrastructure.
Hamilton Mayor Julie Hardaker said: "This is the best outcome for both the city and V8 Supercars. While I am sorry to see such a high profile event go, there has been a cost to the ratepayers which is not sustainable. We've reached an agreement with the promoters that is the best for the city."
Hamilton City Council Chief Executive Barry Harris said that contrary to some media reports, V8 Supercars in no way blindsided the council.
"V8 Supercars has been completely transparent and collaborative in working with council in attempts to find ways forward," he said.
V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane said a street circuit is expensive to create, with race infrastructure unique to each venue, and requires considerable corporate sponsorship to achieve.
"Despite our best efforts, in the current market we could not secure the corporate support we had budgeted for Hamilton."
"The 2012 event will be our last in the Waikato and while we assure fans we will do everything possible to find a new venue, unfortunately we cannot guarantee racing in New Zealand after 2012," Cochrane said.
