Rodin track
‘This is just a more practical way to get the same kind of driving experience you would from owning an F1 car’
In Waiau, about 125km north of Christchurch in New Zealand, there is now a stunning 1450-acre motorsport development set in typical Lord of the Rings scenery. The facility features a state-of-the-art factory and a unique test venue with is six kilometres of custom-built tracks, large workshops, a pit garage with hospitality and a driver training centre.
This is all the brainchild of Australian David Dicker, who, with the help of funding from his successful IT business, has created this impressive development as a manufacturing and test base for his Rodin Cars concern.
The factory and design studio has a range of state-of-the-art equipment and technology, including industry leading CAD modelling hardware and software, SLA 3D printers, large titanium 3D printers, CNC machinery, automated robots, industrial autoclaves, PVD Ion plating systems, a full electrical department, a large assembly shop, plus everything else needed to build racecars in-house.
Kinetic art
The first car all this kit is actually there for is called the Rodin FZed; named after French sculptor Auguste Rodin – the brand imaging is from his famous work, The Thinker.
The real breakthrough for the company came when Rodin acquired the Lotus T125 design in 2016. This single seater was conceived by Lotus as a customer car that looked like an F1 car and even drove like one. Rodin then shipped all the components and designs out to New Zealand to form the basis of the FZed.
The Lotus
