Lyttelton community fight back against boyracing

Boyracing is a term that’s exploded in popularity in Ōtautahi. People identifying with the term can be found in cars with modified exhausts and racing style decals, frequenting the inner city and occasionally the small port town of Lyttelton.

Working closely with local Cass Bay residents and the Belfast Residents Area Association, former Lyttelton councillor hopeful Dave Dunlay hoped to take matters into local hands by implementing a community-driven solution.

He said this issue has been going on for two decades now, with numerous locals coming to him during his 2025 campaign with a story that hits close to home.

"You'll get these cars coming past with their modified exhausts making a lot of noise and speeding is a problem... seemingly nothing's been done. And so it was time to go, enough is enough, let's do it."

Dunlay proposed using portable CCTV cameras around the bays, a technique that helped dispel boyracers from the Belfast area in 2024. Locals rallied behind the idea, including Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink. 

Weenink herself backed the recent Antisocial Road Use bill, which sought to make amendments to the Land Transport Act of 1999. Introduced in May of 2025, the bill targets antisocial behaviour that affects small communities like Lyttelton, making it easier for police to issue penalties and forfeit vehicles from offenders. 

"I'm really interested to hear back from young people and hear what they've got to say about what's happening with the law changes because as we know it does tend to be those younger people who would be impacted," she says. 

Lyttelton local Lola has lived in the area for most of her adult life. During her youth, she briefly engaged in the culture of boyracing. 

Reflecting on that time in her life, she said it's something she wouldn't try again, "I was probably pretending and trying to be cool and acting like I wasn't really scared. It is very masculine, like it's not someplace where people are asking if you feel safe."

For commuting, Lola frequently uses the Evans Pass Rd, a bend where boyracers drive as racing circuits. Lola described a scene she witnessed one day on the drive over into Sumner from Lyttelton, "There was one time where I was overtaken at the start of the hill and then by the time I got to the other end of the mountain they had crashed because they were going so fast."

The concept of alternative driving circuits was brought up to local MP Weenink and Dunlay by locals, an idea they both expressed interest in should it pick up traction.

"What I'd like to see is that if we can find an area that could be used as a recreational facility for them. That would be great, because I know that this is something that people obviously enjoy and it would be useful if they can still do what they want to do. We don't want to be killjoys, we just want people to be able to sleep at night and to not feel frightened on the roads," said Weenink.

In a newsletter update, Dunlay said they are nearing the $5,000 target which allows a two-month trial with the same portable cameras used in Belfast. Dunlay called this successful progress, ensuring Lyttelton residents have quieter nights.