About Us

Wheels Week started as an annual tourism event hosted by the Ashburton District Council in 1990 created to bring visitors to the district. The unprecedented popularity of the week saw the event quickly become unmanageable and very expensive for the council to continue to host and, after much consideration, it was scheduled to be cancelled. The community stepped in and a public meeting was held to discuss the viability and the future of the event. 

7 volunteers from the public were elected to form a committee that would take over the running and hosting of the event, with local sponsors coming on board to support continuing the event. 

17 years later, the once small community event showed no signs of slowing down.

Roaring Success

By 2007, Wheels Week had grown in leaps and bounds, smashing historic event records with the biggest programme ever held. Collectively, individual events welcomed over 10 000 visitors who streamed into the district to experience what had become an iconic South Island wheels extravaganza. 

28 groups organised over 60 action-packed events throughout the week all over the district. The original Wheels Week kicked off festivities on a Saturday with the Ashburton Vintage Car Club Swap Meet and ended the following Sunday with the finals of the Ashburton Car Club Street Sprints race. 

Some of the other events that were held during the original week included jet boating on the Ashburton River, aircraft displays, mobility scooter racing at the RSA, garage raids and the street parade.

Some of the first events from the original week are still being held and enjoyed today, starting and ending with the same two popular events as the programme continues to attract new exciting participants from all over the district.

Many of the event sponsors continue to be involved and support Wheels Week since it began with some of them even taking part and competing in individual items such as motorcycle shows and runs, car shows and racing lineups like the street sprints.