The final running of the race was in 1996, a non-championship sprint event for teams from the Australian Touring Car Championship.

[2] For the first race in 1985, the FIA delegate who inspected the Wellington Street Circuit was 1960 Armstrong 500 winner John Roxburgh from Australia.

[citation needed] In 1987, the Nissan Mobil 500 Wellington Street Race was a round of the inaugural FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Both the factory backed BMW Motorsport (Schnitzer) and Ford (Eggenberger) teams were disqualified from some races for technical infringements.

Also, Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone had been given power over the WTCC at the last minute over the original organisers, the NZ based Strathmore Group.

With some races decided by stewards hearings, the WTCC generally descended into a farce by the end of 1987 and the series was not run again in 1988.

Twelve cars competed in the event, as part of a two-event series in New Zealand which also included races at Pukekohe.

In addition the main sponsors Mobil requested a higher level of rate payer subsidy from the City Council.