Hampton Downs. The one good thing about the len brown decision to throw 10million of your and my ratepayer money at the horse ra

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msigg, Jul 16, 12:13am
Yea hawat, I did read that too. My biggest concern is that it will stuff up highway 1. look at what happened when they had an open day at the airforce base outside palmerston north. Total disaster. hampton downs must get the roading and exiting improved to be able to hold huge events.
This is a must otherwise it will never happen. I think the writing is on the wallfor the V8 supercars here, anyway.
patiki1, Jul 16, 12:22am
Auckland only has one,HD is NOT in Auckland.
shark574, Jul 16, 12:57am
Auckland city stops at Bombay. 15km to HD.

Do you think Auckland council will help fund an event held in Waikato council area!
socram, Jul 16, 1:33am
Semantics.100% correct as far as poltics and local government funding goes, but far as I am concerned, both tracks are less than an hour away from home, which was the point I was making - but you all knew that anyway. A year or so ago, Pukekohe wasn't in Auckland either.Both are considered local tracks.

I really don't expect Auckland Council to stray away from their core business and keep putting up our rates either.The purpose of the so called Super City (sic) was to reduce costs, not increase them, whilst our incomes are virtually frozen.
elect70, Jul 16, 1:34am
Who cares if the Aussies dont want to use itUncle Len will line their pockets with $$$to get it in Auck . They would only fill the infeild withhospitality /corporatetents& be off limits to joe public & block any decent viewsPuke aint too bad to watch V8SC at ,they put a big screen up, but everybig prang takes hour to fix the barriers sothey shorten the races
kazbanz, Jul 16, 1:48am
If making that comparisson I'd suggest Pukie -road access wise is the same as palmy.HD is much more akin to western springs.-2 lane highway both directions an offramp/onramp for north or south. The bottleneck will be getting actually into and out of the place I suspect but once the first 500m-1km is travelled its all open highway
hawat, Jul 16, 2:09am
I was a bit gutted when I read that they were going back to Pukekohe. Everything we've heard about HD was great. I couldn't for the life of me see why they would be going back but kind of resigned myself when I read that article this morning.
But socram are you saying its all smokescreen politicking and they would get an increase in approved patronage from Resource Management! If that is the case then this whole thing is very disappointing and once again needlessly costing Auckland ratepayers 6mill! Geeze Uncle Len, whats that about!
socram, Jul 16, 3:16am
It is a relatively simple process to get the crowd limits lifted for a one off event - if the powers that be desire it.It is really no different from closing off part of Hamilton or Wellington for a street race is it!Let's face it, anything can be done if that desire is there.HD re-routed Hampton Downs road so that prison access is not disrupted. Simple traffic control on north and south off ramps straight into car park areas (ignoring the stop signs) plus parking at Meremere Drags with a shuttle bus, suggests that the problems are relatively minor with regards to traffic.Meremere copes with 20,000 fans OK for the Rotary nationals and they don't even have a southbound turn off on race day.Fans from the north could still use HD turn off, head back north to Meremere to park, leaving the main HD on ramp south as the major one for the fans from the south in the evening.
However, I do share the concerns that there is no shaded spectating at HD (yet), but I note it didn't stop the poms at Silverstone last week!Many fans there had to walk several kilometres to get to the track. Not everyone is going to stump up for a stand ticket anyway.
Having recently been to Monaco and seen what they do to run a race meeting, the attention to detail is mind boggling and no one appears to be in the least bit bothered that the City is effectively shut down - 2 weekends out of 3 in May.
Goodwood Speed Festival seems to cope with a crowd limit of 50,000 a day - and that is miles away from decent roading.
I spoke with a local motorsport events traffic planner last year and he seemed to have valid answers for every question I raised.
Rally NZ had 19,000 a couple of years ago at HD without a major traffic hiccup.With Gary Upson (ex Rally NZ) also now on board at HD, I have no doubt whatever that the ability to run a successful event is there, but they do not have the sweetener of spare cash to entice the V8s.

I am still confused that If Aussie V8s is a profitable structure, why does it need an ongoing public handout per annum once the track is upgraded!The Puke track and facilities upgrade may well be money well spent, but with fewer than 3 major events a year at either track, suggests that we can probably do without throwing public money at it for a lot of temporary infrastructure.
If Eric Watson, Owen Glenn or any other rich lister (even Dotcom!) was putting their money into it, I'd be delighted.But they are not.
twink19, Jul 16, 3:35am
and the councilors that made the decision havnt seen all the documents, only going on what Tony said, you will make millions, TUI anyone
hornnett, Jul 16, 5:08am
Oh and hornett, please explain how I make a fortune out of an apartment if I am using it myself! One or two weird people on here, maybe tinged with a touch of envy. Zero trades also says a lot. Yup, school is back today. Or maybe the capital city is just jealous that Auckland now has two race tracks and they have, er, er - none!

Edited by socram at 10:23 am, Mon 16 Jul

Quote
socram
And what if you dont use it yourself it just stays empty then!.Hey I might be weird but it was not hard to see why YOU wanted money spent by others on YOUR back yard.
Auckland can anything it wants just to keep its occupants there,as New Zealand really doesn't want them moving.
hornnett, Jul 16, 5:11am
So whats your point!lol.Sounds like toys been thrown out of the cot to me.
socram, Jul 16, 6:11am
#10 - I won't feed the troll again.
74nova, Jul 16, 6:20am
A bit off topic, Some one needs to build a drag strip in Kumeu.
patiki1, Jul 16, 7:07am
HD circuit in Whenuapai for me.
kecal, Jul 16, 9:42am
socram , if all that is needed to bring h downs up to standard is a couple of millionand a bit ofconsent to have a bigger crowd and some traffic flow management , then in my non political andunbiasedopinion why the h.l is it so hard to make the correct decision.
it seems puke is just a money pitand getting deeper forauckrate payers.alot to do with who profits the most I presume instead of whats good for the sport as a whole.
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:08am
Solike a challenge.
And so no answer to the self serving attitude of yours then.Seems to be a common habit in nz today, pretend to be helping others while they have their own self interest at heart.
socram, Jul 16, 10:12am
$2.5m is just the physical track extension.Current priority is completing the hospitality suites and control tower - then the track extension.
socram, Jul 16, 10:16am
No contest then! State your (unpaid) input into local motorsport first.
sr2, Jul 16, 10:19am
You're doing it again mate, don't feed the troll; it just encourages him (or her).
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:23am
#10 - I won't feed the troll again.

Edited by socram at 6:12 pm, Mon 16 Jul

Quote
socram
There is a big difference between my hobby in motor sport and sorting out a half finished private track for people like you.
In fact I have done 2 track days there and the progress between those times shows a real lack of progress,looks like you want to speed that up by using others money.
socram, Jul 16, 10:30am
Wow, two track days.I look up in awe and bow to your superior knowledge of all things HD and whatever you think my involvement really is.

You accuse me of being self serving, but I ask you what you have done
for local motorsport, unpaid, and so far, you have failed to answer.If you have done nothing, then there is no point in me adding anything to refute your totally ill-founded accusation.
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:41am
" I won't feed the troll again."
Actually local motorsport is the main stay of all racing in nz ,and my support probably is a lot more in the entry fee than entering these days.But thats support nonetheless.But a PRIVATE TRACK like HD is in fact a business, please explain why you think that the rest of use shouldpoor our money into a private business!Do you gain or the rest of us.
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:41am
" I won't feed the troll again."
Actually local motorsport is the main stay of all racing in nz ,and my support probably is a lot more in the entry fee than entering these days.But thats support nonetheless.But a PRIVATE TRACK like HD is in fact a business, please explain why you think that the rest of us shouldpoor our money into a private business!Do you gain or the rest of us.
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:53am
"Wow, two track days. I look up in awe and bow to your superior knowledge of all things HD and whatever you think my involvement really is."
Yea so what is your involvement with HD as you sure are pushing there case pretty hard here. Motive money maybe as you dont strike me as the charitable kind.lol
" I won't feed the troll again."
hornnett, Jul 16, 10:58am
Their egos are not listening to you.