Yesterday, over 40 million dollars worth of cars drove through Nelson
The convoy of 32 privately owned McLarens stayed overnight at the Grand Mercure Nelson Monaco during a short stop over in the McLaren Epic New Zealand Tour 2016.
The tour is in recognition of New Zealand born Bruce McLaren and the automotive pedigree he began when he founded McLaren Automotive in 1963.
McLaren owners have come from across the world to join the tour, from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia and America.
As part of the super car tour they’re travelling from Auckland and heading all the way down to Queenstown.
The group were initially scheduled to drive via Kaikoura last night, but due to the roading disruptions caused by the recent earthquake they stopped overnight in Nelson before heading towards Tekapo this morning.
Local woman Tia Andrews was filling up her car at the Stoke Mobil when much to her surprise and her 11-year-old son Logan’s excitement, art of the convoy pulled in to fuel up.
“It was my boy that spotted them and he almost had heart failure when he did,” says Tia.
“I thought there had been a car accident or something the way he was shouting, ‘Mum, mum, look, mum!
“He just couldn’t talk because it is such a once in a lifetime opportunity, he will never ever get to see those cars again most probably. They are multi million dollar cars and it was just sheer chance and luck that we saw them.”
Tia says she and Logan got the chance to take photos, talk to the drivers and even sit in one of the cars.
