
Threshold not reached for car giveaway
The man behind Queenstown's inaugural Ayrburn Classic car show says a promised car giveaway did not happen because ticket sales failed to reach a certain threshold.
Every ticket buyer was to go into a draw to win a Fraser Clubman Lotus 7 replica, worth about $60,000 - and VIP ticket buyers got four entries.
Ayrburn hospitality precinct developer Chris Meehan said ''there was a rider on the ticket that said we had to sell a certain number of tickets, and we didn't get to that number''.
They sold just over 2000 tickets to the two-day late-March event, against a hoped-for 4000.
He put that down to rain on the Sunday, although the event also clashed with a Porsche meeting in Hawke's Bay.
However, feedback was still ''fantastic'', Mr Meehan said.
To lessen the chance of rain, the 2026 classic - for which tickets go on sale today - will be held on February 20-22, the weekend before the NZ Open golf tournament at the neighbouring Millbrook Resort.
''We've already got very strong indications of support for next year, and it'll just be one of those things that get better and better.''
As for whether there will be a car giveaway, ''we're considering whether we jackpot the car to next year''.

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