Aussie V8s 2013 NZ

! So you can get there in the first place! Not everyone likes sitting in traffic for hours (maybe you do!).
HD was a mistake from day one, middle of NOWHERE! will always get the hardcore fans but never the masses.[/quote]

its only 15mins further from Auckland . You have to catch a bus from the car park in Hamilton .whats the diff !

haha, It would be 15minutes with 100000 people heading down there at once.

I suggest you talk to the track owners and their financial controller and listen them, not Cochrane - and don't believe whatever spin the Herald decides to print!Tony Roberts said in that article you quoted that Cochrane was playing games (big surprise there.)

Read post #1 again as this was written by one of the two owners and is nearer the truth than any other rumours or opinions.All Aussie V8s has to do is pay the track hire and decide what temporary stands they want to erect, (and pay for them) but there is no way they could stop spectators from accessing the inside of the track, as that is where most of the temporary stands would have to be.

Even though the permanent hospitality suites over the pit garages haven't yet been completed, organisers effectively have access to up to 27 apartments that can be used as corporate suites, catering for up to 20 people in each.Pukekohe has no pit garages or hospitality suites at all and still needs loads of temporary stands - though it does have the advantage of a large covered stand with restaurant facilities.

The costs of staging a race at a permanent track is many millions less than any street circuit and causes no real inconvience to local businesses or residents. It is true that Central Hamilton and the Pukekohe township always got in behind the event and the downside for HD is that it is a bit isolated, but that is also a double edged sword, as it also means no noise complaints.Can you say that about Pukekohe since they built the shopping park!

The initial 20,000 crowd limit set by the court was only ever a temporary measure until such times as the track had proved it could cope with the crowds and it can be overturned for a one off weekend.

Traffic management on and off site is manageable and even if the expressway is reduced to one through lane instead of two, that is no big deal for a couple of hours a day, for four days.

If the V8's get to HD then the banks will have confidence in lending to those businesses who had signed up for the"Village" at HD, sited along thebottom straight.When that area is developed, there will be a party central area for racegoers.

Like Anaheim, this is a project initially sited in the middle of nowhere,that will eventually be ringed by other viable businesses outside the control of the HD management.It will take time, but it can only get better.Sure, things would happen much quicker if Tony & Chris sold maybe a 25% share in the enterprise, but from a V8 perspective, expecting Auckland tax payers and rate payers to fund it is not really a vote catcher.Better to offer say 1,000 x $2,500 debentures to the general public just to get the track extended, as that in itself will then make the whole project more viable faster.

Hampton Downs is more accessible from Auckland tha Pukekohe is, en masse. Pukekohe is attached to a town, Hampton Downs is right alongside NZ's largest arterial route with good access from both North and South.

Incidentally, we went by car to Pukekohe for one of the last V8s there, and traffic was exceptionally well managed by operating a vast clockwise one way system and a couple of policemen on point duty controlled it very well. We weren't delayed by more than about 5 minutes, in or out

If you are stuck in traffic for hours, then it is the system that is wrong.

HD offered to extend their 'back road' right through to the dragway to make a circular route of value to both the dragway and HD if the land owners or Transit as it was then, would do their bit.Transit squanderd millions by fighting the project when it could have spent the money on building a proper interchange at Dragway Rd.

Incidentally, we went by car to Pukekohe for one of the last V8s there, and traffic was exceptionally well managed by operating a vast clockwise one way system and a couple of policemen on point duty controlled it very well. We weren't delayed by more than about 5 minutes, in or out

If you are stuck in traffic for hours, then it is the system that is wrong.

HD offered to extend their 'back road' right through to the dragway to make a circular route of value to both the dragway and HD if the land owners or Transit as it was then, would do their bit.Transit squandered millions of public and private money by fighting the project when it could have spent the money on building a proper interchange at Dragway Rd.

doesnt bother me either way. Live in Pukekohe, and HD is only 10-15 mins down the raod MAX

A track extension is planned in three years, with the earthworks already done. Watson says the longer track could tie into the arrival of V8 Supercars, though "they could run at Hampton Downs now. They do run on short tracks." Meanwhile, it will host the new V8 Supertourers' class while meetings continue with Supercar management.Pukekohe is ready to go with a few Safety Barriers.

What ever is done.the only way to make a small fortune from motor racing is to start with a big one.

Cromwell Motorsport Park should be the venue for the scv8s.
http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central-otago/196311/plans-rev-after-park-sale
How big (or should that be small) is the crowd at the Middle East Super Car races !
Real hi-tech would be to a have a hologram (like Tupacs) race at Pukekohe, and no need to spend any money upgrading the facilities, more money for the corporatehorse-pitality. Shift the Cloud from down on waterfront out there.

esprit looked what happened to the state highway one when they had the air show recently. Stopped.

Just listening to Cochrane today it sounds like Puke is the prefered option.Almost guaranteed by the sound of it.

Although I didn't hear it, doesn't surprise me.

Quoting #24 again - "Councils are easy to fool , track owners aren't .Thats why they want street races."

You just need to adapt that to say that where councils and politicans are involved, Cochrane can probably smell easy money. As I understand it, HD is available for hire at a fixed price, which means that Cochrane arranges and pays for the rest and collects all the income, from all sides.If the event is a commercial success, he then gets the major benefit.If it fails to make a profit, he loses, not HD, not the rate payers and not the tax payers.

So as most cynical observers have already stated, it is nothing to do with the best racing, the best track, the best spectator experience or the traffic, it is only about the money, but sorry to say, that is the case in just about all professional sport these days. They are no longer sports, they are businesses.

socram, you hit the nail right on the head, about 10 times I reckon. Well said.Bill

last time i went to puke we were walking through raw sewage to get to the grandstandcant wait to go back thereyeh right

Cant believe the arguments about track location. is Bathurst in the center ofSydney!, are Silverstone or Brands Hatch in the middle of London!, is the Green Hell around Koblenz!, most of the biggest spectator tracks in the world are often more than 50kms from the nearest town.Location is irrelevant, end of story.

Cant believe the arguments about track location. is Bathurst in the center ofSydney!, are Silverstone or Brands Hatch in the middle of London!, is the Green Hell around Koblenz!, even the biggest spectator track in the world (Talladega) is more than 50kms from the nearest town.Location is irrelevant, end of story.

mentioned in here 'the mountain'. please stop it, it makes a mockery of NZ racing whenever said, especially as 'THE mountain' is so much a part of Aus/NZ V8 racing & is actually a mountain, not a pimple on an ironing board

Pukekohe is being run into the ground by the horse racing club. They would be able to hold their own but the horses are beating it to death.

Hampton downs is the better track, I like puke but I'd be banned if I spoke my true thoughts on those horse twats after personally dealing with them on other matters.

How do the majority of spectators get to them!

Cars of course, how do we all get anywhere these days, plenty of paddock space around HD!

I wonder if they are car nuts and can drive. ( bit radical but fits the question)

Don't be so hard on NZ, the Wellington street races were an international success. maybe because they attracted an international field!

& that has to do with 'the mountain' how!

i still like puke, put it this way. if they do up pukekohe raceway then we will have 2 awesome tracks to race on! but i agree the viewing is pretty crap at pukekohe, but i like driving on it