Bollocks, there is more infrastructure at HD now than some Aussie tracks, Hamilton was a crap circuit that had tens of millions wasted on it when some smart thinking would have given us a permanent international facility.
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 7:49am
And Hamilton had all that!
easygoer,
Sep 30, 7:50am
Have you been to HD!I have
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 7:51am
Dead right, there is no place in NZ for street circuits until we have decent permanent tracks. Hamilton was a dumb decision.
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 7:54am
Have you been to the tracks at Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Tasmania, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Bathurst!, .I have
socram,
Sep 30, 7:56am
So what infrastructure is required other than the track and the control tower!The pit garages wil have the hospitality suites on the top and even Pukekohe managed that.Temporary grandstands along the (new) bottom straight and in a couple of other places are not infrastructure.The venue coped with 20,000 at WRC last year and even at the McLaren Festival, numbers were good, so it is possible, even if numbers have to be restricted to say 40,000 for a couple of years. Be well aware that it is also up to those running the V8 series to allow the tracks to make a profit, otherwise it will be like F1, where Bernie always makes money, but none of the tracks ever do.
scarey65,
Sep 30, 8:00am
lucky you!thats my dreamand most are street circuits are they not
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 8:11am
No, there is a mix, by far the best racing I've seen in nearly 30 years has been on circuits without doubt. I go to the Gold Coast every year, the racing is crap, but the atmosphere and wildlife are great!.
easygoer,
Sep 30, 8:15am
Maybe you should point this out to the people who were running it in Hamilton, they took profits for the first three years and denied the Promoters and HCC a profit then took over and when they couldn't make a profit they pulled the plug denying HCC any chance of recovering even a portion of the losses, on top of that they will get the track setup equipment for 1.25 Million, this also suggests they already have an alternate street venue organised, perhaps Redman (ex Hamilton CEO) has negotiated a great deal for Auckland
bopbargains,
Sep 30, 8:59am
The problemwith street races is the cost, disruption to traffic/business andviewing is usually crap. Pukekohewillneed alotof work to getit up to safety standards and then it willstillbe a crap track for drivers and spectators (1 minutes laps). At aguess Hamton Downs would be the bestbet. Close the the population,3/4 alreadybuilt, and just right time for a new joint owner tocomein withacash injection tofinish it off.,
bopbargains,
Sep 30, 9:04am
forgot to add. Itwillbeveryunlikely Auckland willevenwant it. Cost. traffic. red tape.etc. It only give someone justover a year toget everything inorder. Ifit is to stayinNZ ,a street race is pretty remote.
fordcrzy,
Sep 30, 9:09am
clearly the people bagging hampton downs lack of infrastructure have neve ben to oran park raceway.
(yes i know its now closed but that had nothing to with the track, and eveything to do with muppets buying houses next to the track and complaining about the noise.)
bopbargains,
Sep 30, 9:24am
A bit like Western Springs. I wish I couldbuy ahousenext toa motorway and then tryand have it closed downbecause of the noise.
fordcrzy,
Sep 30, 9:47am
seriously though. many of the tracks in aus are pretty average 360 days of the year. then they get tarted up for the v8 rounds with sponsorship/pedestrian bridges temporary pit buildings etc. Oran park was just about a bunch of skyline garages stuck nexteach other and the only ashphalt was on the track.all the roads around the pits and track were dirt roads.
easygoer,
Sep 30, 10:09am
Fair call, I'm not anti HD as a possible venue but without a mojor capital injection it won't happen in the near future, if the track can be completed it would certainly be an ideal place, I am annoyed at the V8 super cars for pulling the pin on Hamilton and more so at our City Council for firstly getting us into this situation and then giving it away without a fight, the compensation from the V8 clowns should have been rejected and the A holes should have been forced to complete the contract or pay a decent amount of compo, I would like to see the 2012 event fail completely and V8 Super cars take a major loss.
socram,
Sep 30, 8:44pm
I see from the NZ Herald that Whenuapai is on the cards.But it needs a 3.5km track putting down. I just hope that they note that back to the last planned Whenuapai meeting in 2001, that was called off at the 11th hour because the Australian premier of the time decided that Mangere wouldn't do and elected to land at Whenuapai instead!Ironically, Queen Elizabeth found Mangere OK just a matter of weeks earlier.
Having said that,I was always keen for Whenuapai to become a motorsports centre as it has a lot going for it, (though mayor Bob Harvey dismissed the idea) having already hosted "Wings and Wheels" from 1983, with crowds of 40,000 with no real drama.They also have a fair bit of useful infrastructure in place and it is very close to Auckland with the new motorway almost passing the door. Having raced it several times and also marshalled there several times, the downside is that spectators can't really see much and they are likely to be a long way back from the action, with cars behind concrete barriers. Pouring millions into any temporary circuit for one meeting a year is not good use of the dollars when that investment could be permanent and for the long term benefit of spectators and competitors.
Interesting that according to the Herald, Frank Radisich has had Whenuapaipermission for years, so why hasn't it been used!
The Whangarei Street race also lost a packet as again at the 11th hour, Motorsport NZ banned the faster cars.
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 9:03pm
Or Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.
mokaubach,
Sep 30, 9:07pm
This country has squandered 10's of millions of dollars on Street races, starting back with Wellington, and what do we have to show for it!.zip. I cannot understand the preoccupation V8SC has withNZ having a street race when they could help NZ to create a world class permanent facility.
stocky88,
Oct 1, 12:26am
Whenuapai, no way, to many complainers too close. airports make lousy race cicuits, no good for spectators. forget it. The only way to get a V8 race going here is to rename it the Rugby V8 series. No other sport seems to exist.
marmatt,
Oct 1, 1:00am
itwill never go to hampton as the owners dont get on with v8 super cars owner
fordcrzy,
Oct 1, 1:12am
THE COUNTRY HAS SQUANDERED 100'S OF MILLIONS MORE ON RUGBY. why the hell shouldnt we have a world class racing track! it seems perfectly ok for the government to fork out millions on world class rowing/cyclingRugby/netball/at- hletics facilities.etc etc.
WHY THE HELL CAN'T THEY SUPPORT MOTOR RACING!
elect70,
Oct 1, 2:43am
There is also the row between HD & MNZif MNZ got on board then finance could behelped findto pay for it . BUT HD arent going to spend mega $justforthe aussiecarsunless they get long term contract& sponsors .Who caresanyway , plenty of good M sport at HD without the overblown hyped up BS ofaussie V8 or NZV8 No city in NZ will hosta street racedue to cost .
socram,
Oct 1, 2:59am
Says who!Justify that statement!I agree with elect70. We don't really need to bend over backwards to get the V8s at HD anyway.
MSNZ are not very popular with 4 majpr tracks I could name and if there was a rival/breakaway structure set up, I think you'd find that most regular north island competitors/organisers would happily jump ship.I would.
Tier 1 racing has been a joke for ages and you'll note that it doesn't go to HD nor were MSNZ present at the official opening of the track.Read into that what you will.
However, breaking away from MSNZ would cause problems for the Oz V8s as they need the international FIA approval and MSNZ are tied to the FIA.Any rival organisation might not be and therein lies the challenge.The breakaway side only needs to sort out its own insurance to be viable locally and that is not insurmountable.
mokaubach,
Oct 1, 3:25am
So once again, its a case of jumped up egotists pissing up their power poles, marking their patch, and the racers and punters lose out. Typical chest thumping crap from people who forget who they are representing. Its any wonder there are breakaway classes in many forms of motorsport.
easygoer,
Oct 1, 6:45am
Interesting to note Greg Murphy said that V8 bosses obviously have another venue on the go which is why they want the Hamilton trackside equipment and that the only likely place to hold the event is Auckland. HD bosses said they would have paid more than the 1.25 million Hamilton City Council accepted as they will need to purchase this equipment for HD anyway. I would like to see a boycott of next years V8 race in Hamilton, what do you think, is that the right move or should everyone support it instead!
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