The three days of motorsport action is expected to attract a big crowd, though ticket sales up until yesterday have been slow.
Motorsport park manager Mike Sentch said a few thousand tickets had been sold ''but motorsport is very much an on-the-day thing ... at Easter [for the grand opening] we pre-sold 2500 tickets but we got 7000 people on Saturday and 6000 on Sunday.
''So going off that, we're looking at over 10,000 people on the Saturday.''
The Highlands 101 feature race on Sunday will involve the 42 fastest cars from the weekend racing over 101 laps of the 4.1km circuit.
Motorsport park owner Tony Quinn is hoping to see the event become New Zealand's biggest endurance race, a Kiwi equivalent of Australia's Bathurst 1000km race.
''We believe we've created a race that's nothing like anything that's been done in New Zealand for a number of years,'' he said.
He is confident he and co-driver Fabian Coulthard, driving an Aston Martin DBR9, will be on the grid for the feature race.
New Zealander Greg Murphy is expected to team up with Australian motorsport commentator and racer Neil Crompton in a McLaren MP4 12C.
Former Ferrari Formula One driver Ivan Capelli will return to the Australian GT Championship with Bathurst team-mate Jim Manolios behind the wheel of a Corvette Z06R and Kiwi Craig Baird will team up with Australian GT Championship leader Klark Quinn - Tony Quinn's son - in a Porsche GT3R.
The other classes racing this weekend are the inaugural Toyota 86 championship and the final one-hour and three-hour races for the Asko South Island Endurance Series, featuring names such as V8 touring car regulars John McIntyre, Jonny Reid, Daniel Gaunt and rally ace Chris West.
Mr Sentch said there would be about 120 cars racing in the three-day meeting.
Acting Central Otago Mayor and Cromwell Community Board member Neil Gillespie said while the event would be ''fantastic'' for Cromwell, its effects would also be felt more widely.
''It's not just good for Cromwell, it's good for Central Otago, the Southern Lakes District, Otago, Southland, the South Island and New Zealand. It's fantastic and it's bigger than just Cromwell.''
Central Otago Visitor Centres manager Pam Broadhead said the Cromwell i-Site especially had been fielding many inquiries from people from all over the country seeking accommodation.
Many of those people were under the impression accommodation providers were full over the weekend but as of yesterday afternoon, there were still 26 rooms left in hotels, motels and backpackers.
There were also beds available with 25 bed and breakfast-type providers in the wider Cromwell basin.
''And when we've filled up our region [Central Otago], there's beds left in Wanaka and Queenstown.''
Mr Sentch said the weekend was about more than just motorsport - the karts at the Motorsport Park would be operational, along with bouncy castles and other activities for children.
