Hampton Downs. Worth going some really good cars there

car all fixed and going, be there by lunch time

Agree socramhadfewproblems o n sunday, the starting system clapped out toohad to flag start races. Would have thought control tower would be a priority afterthe garages were built .

Expensive building as the plans are for a three storey affair.Current garages are only half done as they need to build the hospitality suites above to seal the roof!(Several garages were awash today.)

Control tower would be nice but it is part of the infrastructure and therefore will not generate income.The extra income needs to come from the profits from extra accommodation to be built on the outside of turn one, then from the "village" and the units to be built along the long bottom straight.Once the track is extended, there will be the option of the existing circuit, call it the "National" circuit, the new one will be the "Club" circuit and the two combined for major events only will be the "International" circuit - but most of you wil know that anyway.
All down to money.Just remember as taxpayers you footed an expensive (failed) legal challenge to the track from Corrections and Transit NZ as it was then, that also cost the developers millions that was ear-marked for the track and delayed construction for two years.
If I won lotto, I would gladly sponsor further developments or improvements!

agree socramall mthat money wasted on bull shyt. we might keep the prisioners awake, PC crap, now that their under floor heating isnt working . poor sods.it takes a while for a major development lile HD to make it. With support it will work, support it dont knock it

Low turnout last weekend1500!where are all the true fans !Will be interesting to see if the super tourers sustain a good crowd after the first race novelty . It may not be'trueracing " but it pulls in the $ .

fine today, good racing, small crowd

first time visiter today, ithink hamptons got a heap of potential, but from a spectaters point of view i think the racing is poorly run. For a start to long a wait between races and stopping for lunch, whats that about,. I think drivers go there to get on with driving and the crowd want to watch, plenty of time for chat between races and afterwards.

I hear the Muscle Cars put on a good display on Sat, and were told off by boffins. The crowd loved it, so why not give them a bit of rope to entertain!

OK, maybe you have no idea from the other side of the fence so to speak.Let me try and educate you.
The racing is not poorly run, but when a driver either buries his car in the sand or has an engine blow up and sprays oil all around the track, racing is not going to recommence until it is safe to do so.
I am the very first to admit that the recovery time for dead cars at HD needs improvement, but unlike Manfeild and Taupo, you can't get an ATV out and tow the dead cars to the centre of the track - the price you pay for having a track with some rise and fall.
Generally, a race is about 12 minutes for 8 laps and the target is 3 races per hour. (In the UK for example, it would be 2 races per hour.)That is then 8 minutes between the end of one race and the beginning of the next.Unfortunately, the powers that be down in Wellington, have dictated that because the pit exit is AFTER the first corner, then drivers need an extra warm up lap so that they have seen all corners before they start.
Many drivers arer incredibly dozy on their warm up lap as instead of driving around at about 80% of race speed, they dawdle and instead of a five car gap, they seem to think it is OK to have a 100m gap, so the warm up lap takes twice as long as it should.
As for a lunch break, just remember that as we don't have too many people queuing up to be flag marshals, they are stuck out there, rain and shine from 8am to maybe 5:30pm and 6pm.If we had reserves, we could possibly keep going through lunch, but we'd also need reserves for the Clerk of the Course, the race controllers, timekeepers and commentators.
Motorsport permits now also need to incorporate lunch time track parades and each person who goes out on the track has to sign a disclaimer.Some previous lunch time entertainers (sic) seem to think it is OK to charge up to $1,000 to burn a bit of rubber and that means that we need at least an extra 100 people in through the gate to justify it.
Unfortunately, several of the regular classic sports car drivers weren't at this meeting as it costs 50% more than normal to enter, and two weekends on the trot straight after a series weekend is tough on the budget - and travelling to and from the track six times in two weeks is also a bit tough, especially on the family.What that means is that some grids do not pay - F5000 (super tourers in a couple of weeks time) etc. and as the real income is from the drivers, smaller grids reduce the income.Spectator income can never be guaranteed, so the promoters are not going to 'waste' money they haven't got, on dubious time fillers at lunch time.
This may not satisfy you but although your comments are valid, this is notan event backed by a major company with bags of cash to pour in and the track infrastructure is still incomplete.

Well after the initialbig crowd of 2010, it is now just true racingfans going .The super tourers will pull inbig crowddue to theamount of publicity ( mostly free )on Tv& the "names " racing .

Correct.Although we classic nuts justify the fields (over 350 cars at HD) compared to tier 1, the fact remains that the majority of spectators are part time car enthusiasts who go for the spectacle and as above, the names, even if the racing is processional.

Went to a BBQ last week and the lady of the house had been to HD for the first time, in fact, to a race meeting for the first time. Her expectations were totally shattered as to quote her " I really expected a load of foul mouthed bearded bogans.The opposite was the case.I just loved it and the people were so nice."

If that is the perception of motorsport then we have a major image problem to overcome. Speedway at Western Springs for example, have some of the best organised events anywhere and the crowds are so well behavedthat you only ever see a couple of token police officers around.

To hear the mouthy anti-brigade, you'd think it was a drug runners and arms dealers convention.

Ticket prices for a weekend at HD or Pukekohe are often as little as $20, so that represents great value for money compared to that miserable horse show I was dragged to last year, with $100 for a hopeless two hour show and no parking available.

very well said, great racing.

They have taken my advice & now put up 10tannoy speakers so us old farts can hear .

I stood alongside one, Sunday, for a short time. Much better - but if you have an FM radio with earpiece, you can pick up the commentary, as long as you are very close to HD of course.Sorry, can't remember the frequency.Might be either 102.5 or 105.2 or thereabouts.
I have a small FM radio courtesy of the Goodwood Festival, that hooks over my ear. Fantastic sound quality too.

as always plenty of taxpayers money for legal challenges.
baypark had the same situation.

Socram;Im sure you would have flag marshalls queing up at the door, i would gladly be one if i had enough notice as i work a rostered systym at the moment.

socram,is there a class that a special can race in,i mean like a cut down Ford 10,does that special have to be built and already raced years ago to race now !

The Auckland marshals group are always desperate for flaggies - even today (I know it is a work day for most) for TRS practice at HD.
With HD & Pukekohe often on the same day (expected and totally unavoidable), they are often very stretched - link to the marshals group.
http://themotorsportclub.com/!id=139

It goes without saying that all the less dedicated ones have come out of the woodwork to flag at the super tourers weekend.

Modie.Ford 10 special would I am sure, be welcomed by Waitemata Vintage Car Club. They are running at HD Easter weekend - Mid April.Nice bunch of guys.Not at all precious.Plenty of more recent specials running based on old bits and pieces.

Great thanks socram,do they have to be fitted with a roll cage !

Frequency is 102.5. Just about run the ute battery flat listening to it when we were up there for the Suzuki Tri Series. Glad they have Tannoys now. Looking forward to the Nationals. Yes, I am talking bikes, but I reckon we need all the events there we can get, so it makes it better for all. A fantastic asset. Oh, and you car guys think you have image problems. Joe public doesn't know fiberglass from crome, or leathers from leather. Or a race bike from someone going past on the back wheel down the motorway.

Some of the guys are very hard to work with, especially if you have to be in pairs ie one on radio, one on flag and you get an old hardnose. I enjoy spending the day with some of them but others just moan and moan.

It can also irk me when one of the organisers is really busy and getting flustered then bites your head off over the radio for asking something or criticising your lack of haste in flagging a spun car. I know it's not a totally relaxed burger flipping gig but you've gotta give people some leeway on making a call, lots of cars just have a simple spin on their own or whatever so if it's out of race traffic and moving in a safe pattern to rejoin then eh; your job is to warn cars entering the area, if they have all passed the flagpoint then it's pretty pointless if they are already rejoining with no disruption cause you can't stop them ahead of you anyway.

Of course I don't flag for big events and have only crawled around like a cockroach behind the scenes at puke and hamilton but still.

And some of the flag chiefs are attractive young ladies!(Well, there is one anyway.)Ideally, you have two on flags.One is looking forwardsand is responsible for the yellow or white, then green flags and the other stands facing them, responsible for the blue flag.Agree that you may get an occasional dinosaur, so all the more reason to get some new blood into the system!
Years ago, we also had a point observer (nowadays on radio) and two incident marshals, so ideally, 5 per flag point and if sufficient, at least two on stand down.Sadly, at some smaller meetings, you end up with drivers having to take a turn, as without each flag point manned, there is no racing.
Organisers aren't normally on the radio to marshals.That is the job of the Race Controller, who is part of the marshals team.

Your comments about flags are probably out of date as flagging has changed considerably over the years.Double yellows are now out when a car comes to a standstill after that flag point and the driver is still in the car or a marshal is attending.Years ago, that was a stationary yellow but as drivers consumed with red mist never slowed down, the rules had to change.Also the reason for the safety car (hate it!) as drivers never slow enough and put other drivers and officials in danger, so now manyraces are adversley affected as there is a procession behind the safety car for two or three laps until the obstruction is cleared, so an 8 lap race is usually totally ruined - particularly handicap races.

Admitably yes my flagging is probably not entirely accurate but when you turn up they tell you what they want. Funny thing though, way back I was at pukekohe with the waiuku dirt track at an open day, one car dropped an oil filter on the backstraight so they red flagged it for cleanup. All these beat up crappers single filed slowly to the pits, I was with them in my road car of the time. The ford performance vehicle club cars kept going till they had finished their 10 laps or whatever, I was quite amused when one of the officials met them at the pits at their nice cars to tear them a new one.

I mention organisers etc on the radio cause like you said the number of people gets tight so people normally doing other things leap in.