Dirt trackracing in NZ?

[Ivan]

does anyone do dirt track racing in NZ like they do in the states???

[scott411]

does anyone do dirt track racing in NZ like they do in the states???

in a word no, (or like the do in aussie as well,)

[ellipsis]

...yeah..at times...a few people over the years have tried to get flat track racing an up and going thing...its hard pushing shit uphill...

[Ivan]

nah well im keen to try organise even a 1 off event possibly called the "New Zealand Grand National" or something like that

[Paul in NZ]

It was quite strong around ChCh for a while. There was a track out Little River way...

http://nzftra.webs.com/

[scott411]

nah well im keen to try organise even a 1 off event possibly called the "New Zealand Grand National" or something like that

i would be keen to ride in one, in my travels i went to a drit track meeting in Taree just north of Newcastle, Troy Baliss was making a return to the track in the first time in 15 years or so, very interesting quick fire 4 lap races round a kydney shaped track, the hot set up was motard wheels and wets on mx bikes,

in the US now they runa singles class using 450 MX motors, and then the big twins which are using the normal xr750 harleys, but also triumph, ducati suzuki twins, and even ninja 650r kawasaki motors,

[ellipsis]

....I built the track at Little River...Wairewa Oval...670 meters on the inside line...I had about 15 meetings there...like most attempts at keeping things going forward, it got too much to keep that oval in racing trim...pretty typical stuff really, only me and a couple of others putting in so much energy that we couldn't keep it up...we had some fairly big and spectacular meetings there...Chris Hyder on a Morgo Bonnie had the lap record...cant remember it off hand...20ish seconds..90+mph...I have lots of vids and pics...I went road racing, a handfull of my friends still turn up regularly at Leeston and Ashburton Speedway...

[Paul in NZ]

....I built the track at Little River...Wairewa Oval...670 meters on the inside line...I had about 15 meetings there...like most attempts at keeping things going forward, it got too much to keep that oval in racing trim...pretty typical stuff really, only me and a couple of others putting in so much energy that we couldn't keep it up...we had some fairly big and spectacular meetings there...Chris Hyder on a Morgo Bonnie had the lap record...cant remember it off hand...20ish seconds..90+mph...I have lots of vids and pics...I went road racing, a handfull of my friends still turn up regularly at Leeston and Ashburton Speedway...

Good for you - I would have loved to have seen that....

[Ivan]

Good for you - I would have loved to have seen that....

what if it was held in a paddock like a flat track but more a oval shape would that still be alright?

[ellipsis]

what if it was held in a paddock like a flat track but more a oval shape would that still be alright?

...every paddock will be of a different nature...yank flat track is run on 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile and mile tracks, they must also do a tt which has a right turn and a jump to be able to own the number 1 plate, they even do it on tarmac...Wairewa Oval was at the head of a lake and was soft silty stuff and somtimes it was fairly damp and hard and sometimes it was like clay...beggars cant be choosers...if you can get a paddock and a friendly grader and digger operator and a few bucks you can have a flat track...good luck...

[Motu]

Flattrack was fairly big in Auckland when Bryce Subritzky started what was called the Stock Bike class at Rosebank Speedway in around 1977/78 - basically any stock framed bike, practically the only rules were no brakes, no knobs, and a 750cc limit. I remember the first few meetings, it was pretty popular and all sorts of bikes turned up - I took my Rickman out, disconnected the brakes and took my baffles out, rode it home again. There were up to 25 bikes on track !!! Sleepy Tripp the midget driver came down, borrowed a bike and went out wearing a T shirt - he went down in front of the pack and they ran over him. Then they split it up, but still a dozen bikes out there.

It became a very popular class and there were other tracks where they rode - I know there was the Outlaw track at Meremere, and one at Kumeu...and I know they went to other tracks as well. I got the Rosebank guys to come and race at our dirttrack on Waiheke Island when we got bikes onto the car dirttrack. But by the early '90's it was all over. I think one of the main reasons was cost. When Bryce first started the class it was to get guys out on the track, and they just dragged anything out of the shed - a much cheaper way to get into the sport than the whole speedway bike thing. But in the end people were using modern MX and enduro bikes in flattrack - it became very expensive. Why spend 10 grand to be competitive in flattrack, when you could get an old 2 valve for a couple of grand and do real speedway.

Owl Morris is a member here, and he wrote the Stock Bike rules in the MNZ rule book. You can see some old flattrack stuff on his website. http://owlmorris-ttsr500.4t.com/catalog_3.html

[slowpoke]

Flattrack was fairly big in Auckland when Bryce Subritzky started what was called the Stock Bike class at Rosebank Speedway in around 1977/78 - basically any stock framed bike, practically the only rules were no brakes, no knobs, and a 750cc limit. I remember the first few meetings, it was pretty popular and all sorts of bikes turned up - I took my Rickman out, disconnected the brakes and took my baffles out, rode it home again. There were up to 25 bikes on track !!! Sleepy Tripp the midget driver came down, borrowed a bike and went out wearing a T shirt - he went down in front of the pack and they ran over him. Then they split it up, but still a dozen bikes out there.



Aaaaaah Sleepy Tripp, what a driver!! Farkin' awesome in a midget, made a huge impression on me as a youngster when we did our annual trip to Western Springs. Those were the days: Sleepy Tripp, Leo Vercoe, Mel Kenyon, AJ Foyt vs Ted Tracy, Max/Barry Butterworth, Owen Shaw etc etc.

It's a shame that a few cocks are gonna kill Western Springs and all the heritage that goes with it.

[Motu]

When Sleepy Tripp first came over with his VW powered midget he drove around the local drivers like they were standing still and he was on a slalom course - next year half the field were VW's, a year later and they all were. No more Offy's, Daimler V8's, Vauxhalls and Holdens....or V8 2 strokes....

One year I was working next door to where Sleepy's midget was stored when it came over. So it turns up on the transporter and unloaded - then the cops swoop! When it was on the wharves the drug dogs were really interested in it, specially the hump. When they opened it up they didn't find drugs but engine parts. Some druggy must've been pushing it onto the boat. Sleepy got into trouble, fined and I think he had to miss a meeting or two.

Of course he had flattracked bikes when a lad, so he wasn't too bad out there on a bike.

[slowpoke]

When Sleepy Tripp first came over with his VW powered midget he drove around the local drivers like they were standing still and he was on a slalom course - next year half the field were VW's, a year later and they all were. No more Offy's, Daimler V8's, Vauxhalls and Holdens....or V8 2 strokes....

One year I was working next door to where Sleepy's midget was stored when it came over. So it turns up on the transporter and unloaded - then the cops swoop! When it was on the wharves the drug dogs were really interested in it, specially the hump. When they opened it up they didn't find drugs but engine parts. Some druggy must've been pushing it onto the boat. Sleepy got into trouble, fined and I think he had to miss a meeting or two.

Of course he had flattracked bikes when a lad, so he wasn't too bad out there on a bike.

Cool, good story. I can remember he had the first of was it the torsion bar setup? Instead of the ordinary ol' ladder type chassis? Everyone else was hammering around as per normal and he comes around the outside with the inside front wheel pawing the air a coupla feet off the ground. Looked awesome at the time. Especially in those luvverly VW powered cars with the big K and N's out each side, they were just the schizz as far as I was concerned, and sounded great too.

[ellipsis]

....see how hard it is OP, to try and compete for track time or interest from speedway types...cant get a look in for the overiding interest in 'cars'...we used to play on country speedways a lot...sometimes we got rocks thrown at us by tintop fuckwits who reckoned we were stealing their track time...

[slowpoke]

....see how hard it is OP, to try and compete for track time or interest from speedway types...cant get a look in for the overiding interest in 'cars'...we used to play on country speedways a lot...sometimes we got rocks thrown at us by tintop fuckwits who reckoned we were stealing their track time...

Haha. To be fair we also made a special trip to see Ivan Mauger when he brought out Ole Olsen and a few other guns. They were farkin' brilliant too, and the stands were absolutely chockers so there was no lack of interest from the average punter.

[ellipsis]

....they were good days...Maugers Troupe were our absolute heroes 45 years or so back in time...Templeton Speedway was so chocker with people on a saturday night...I never ever thought back then that one day in the future the same heroes would become acquaintances and friends...our flat track travelling show got to play with a bunch of world champ and euro champ Scandinavians when they came down on a busmans holiday to NZ a lot of years ago...we were a bit in awe of them, they thought we were crazies with big balls...funny ole life..

[eelracing]

:confused::scooter:
...every paddock will be of a different nature...yank flat track is run on 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile and mile tracks, they must also do a tt which has a right turn and a jump...if you can get a paddock and a few bucks you can have a flat track...good luck...


No luck required as it's already being done NZ Vintage style.

Get yourself an old dunger as theres no need for all that flash malarky and fill your boots up on good old fashioned white knuckle racing...1st pic is a class winning old Piston Eater 400,pic's 2,3 & 4 have a Can-Am and a 73 CR250 roosting some poor bastard on a TS400 of all things.

Addictive fun and cheap too.

[slowpoke]

:confused::scooter:


No luck required as it's already being done NZ Vintage style.

Get yourself an old dunger as theres no need for all that flash malarky and fill your boots up on good old fashioned white knuckle racing...1st pic is a class winning old Piston Eater 400,pic's 2,3 & 4 have a Can-Am and a 73 CR250 roosting some poor bastard on a TS400 of all things.

Addictive fun and cheap too.

Great pic's!! Haven't heard "Piston Eater" in decades, haha, thanks for that. Hmmm, looks like a shit load of fun but I'm even worse at chook chasin' than poofy road racing, so even the mankiest ol' one legged Rhode Island Red will out run me.....

[ellipsis]

:confused::scooter:


No luck required as it's already being done NZ Vintage style.

Get yourself an old dunger as theres no need for all that flash malarky and fill your boots up on good old fashioned white knuckle racing...1st pic is a class winning old Piston Eater 400,pic's 2,3 & 4 have a Can-Am and a 73 CR250 roosting some poor bastard on a TS400 of all things.

Addictive fun and cheap too.


...couldn't agree more, but the OP did mention 'Yank style'...and cheapo knobblied up dirt bikes on a rugged dirt paddock is more kiwi style tt...all good fun...not strictly flat-track racing....

[eelracing]

Great pic's!! Hmmm, looks like a shit load of fun but I'm even worse at chook chasin' than poofy road racing, so even the mankiest ol' one legged Rhode Island Red will out run me.....

Mate that's what gaffa tape was invented for.
Trust me when I say that it gives you the same buzz as roadracing only more affordable and less crying.



...couldn't agree more, but the OP did mention 'Yank style' flat-track racing....

We don't need no steenking yankees!

A mate Gavin who normally hangs out in the adventure section on KB tried to organise a flat track race but lack of numbers curtailed it in the end.
However he did find out that the owner of a private speedway track located between Bulls and Ohakea airbase was more than willing to let him run a meet and his only stipulation was the use of a trials type rear tyre and no front brakes otherwise anything goes.But this was for vintage mx bikes so not sure of moderns.

Ivan you should give him a bell and enquire.Its a great venue as there is area enough to camp out and a bar on site to boot.

[ellipsis]

...some mates flat-trackers, this was a crew from out near Akaroa way...we raced regularly at a half dozen SI speedways and our own track...there were a couple of other teams that turned up and we had some fair old ding dong battles...

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[eelracing]

...some mates flat-trackers, this was a crew from out near Akaroa way...we raced regularly at a half dozen SI speedways and our own track...there were a couple of other teams that turned up and we had some fair old ding dong battles...

It must of been one hell of a riot punting those beasts around a track...you southern boys and your fourstrokes.

But they must of been some good sessions that inspired the yammy v twin.:gob:

[ellipsis]

..the XV was a bit of a handful, it was not what I would have chosen to be my FT bike of choice, but it was cheap at the time...had just done an off road excursion through a fence and was laid up, down near the beach and the fella didn't really like bikes anymore...it had salt crystals as big as your fist growing out of the exhaust ports...it took me a few laps and made my sphincter work overtime before I mastered some kind of technique....fucking good fun though...it busted more bones than any other form of idiocy I have ever tried before or since...the other bikes were not far behind in not being the most ideal competition machinery...but it was about cheap thrills...the CB350 was a giant killer...

[slowpoke]

...some mates flat-trackers, this was a crew from out near Akaroa way...we raced regularly at a half dozen SI speedways and our own track...there were a couple of other teams that turned up and we had some fair old ding dong battles...



Haha, lets see KR or BRM do some ride reviews on those jiggers!

[Crasherfromwayback]

:confused::scooter:


No luck required as it's already being done NZ Vintage style.

Get yourself an old dunger as theres no need for all that flash malarky and fill your boots up on good old fashioned white knuckle racing...1st pic is a class winning old Piston Eater 400,pic's 2,3 & 4 have a Can-Am and a 73 CR250 roosting some poor bastard on a TS400 of all things.

Addictive fun and cheap too.

Yeah I for one can't wait to get back out there. Gonna be YZ465 armed as well as RM400T! Plus Rach's CR is on the water now.

[eelracing]

Haha, lets see KR or BRM do some ride reviews on those jiggers!

Haha you could imagine the review..."where's the electric starter?"




Yeah I for one can't wait to get back out there. Gonna be YZ465 armed as well as RM400T! Plus Rach's CR is on the water now.

Three very tasty bikes I must say mate.How is Rach getting on with the lounge room bike build...any updates?

Johnny Old Vintage meet coming up on the 31st March,I know it's a workday for you but it is a fantastic track and worth a sickie.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Three very tasty bikes I must say mate.How is Rach getting on with the lounge room bike build...any updates?

Johnny Old Vintage meet coming up on the 31st March,I know it's a workday for you but it is a fantastic track and worth a sickie.

Cheers mate. The 400T is such a mess...we've replaced just about every part of the original. Only the nuts and bolts, electrics (and they may even be fucked yet), rear wheel and swingarm left from the bike. But whilst we're not going for the brand new 'restored' look...it should be a good race bike. I won't have a bike in time for the Johnny Olds fuck it all...but I have swung the day off so I'll be out there watching and drooling.

[yorkshire raceramesh]

Ivan, PM sent.

[Ivan]

cheers will contact you back

I was thinking something along the lines of flat track bikes so harleys etc if there are any about a modern 450 class etc

[ellipsis]

...more FT pics from SI...Ellesmere Speedway Flat Track Fun Day...

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[ellipsis]

...found some more vid of us playing our game...

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[Owl Morris]

Flattrack was fairly big in Auckland when Bryce Subritzky started what was called the Stock Bike class at Rosebank Speedway in around 1977/78 - basically any stock framed bike, practically the only rules were no brakes, no knobs, and a 750cc limit. I remember the first few meetings, it was pretty popular and all sorts of bikes turned up - I took my Rickman out, disconnected the brakes and took my baffles out, rode it home again. There were up to 25 bikes on track !!! Sleepy Tripp the midget driver came down, borrowed a bike and went out wearing a T shirt - he went down in front of the pack and they ran over him. Then they split it up, but still a dozen bikes out there.

It became a very popular class and there were other tracks where they rode - I know there was the Outlaw track at Meremere, and one at Kumeu...and I know they went to other tracks as well. I got the Rosebank guys to come and race at our dirttrack on Waiheke Island when we got bikes onto the car dirttrack. But by the early '90's it was all over. I think one of the main reasons was cost. When Bryce first started the class it was to get guys out on the track, and they just dragged anything out of the shed - a much cheaper way to get into the sport than the whole speedway bike thing. But in the end people were using modern MX and enduro bikes in flattrack - it became very expensive. Why spend 10 grand to be competitive in flattrack, when you could get an old 2 valve for a couple of grand and do real speedway.

Owl Morris is a member here, and he wrote the Stock Bike rules in the MNZ rule book. You can see some old flattrack stuff on his website. http://owlmorris-ttsr500.4t.com/catalog_3.html

Bit late now but it is owlmorris.com/catalog_3.html now

[Motu]

Have you got used to the K180's yet ? I've got them on the R65 now, not impressed with them in the gravel, the K70's had far more grip. Good in the seal though. I think I've finally grown up, no more testosterone....and lack the ability to toss it in deep, nail it just deal with what happens. I suspect if I did then the K180 would be there for me.

Now you are a man of leisure...if I have some free time in Auckland, I'll curb my desire to get out as fast as I can. Or maybe at the Meremere track....

[Owl Morris]

I've been having a play on my Flattracker on the vintage Speedway Club track at Meremere. No racing, just trying not to fall off. I go out with a couple of Solos and we try to stay out of each others way. Sixty three year old bodies don't bounce like they used to.295090295091295092

[Owl Morris]

Have you got used to the K180's yet ? I've got them on the R65 now, not impressed with them in the gravel, the K70's had far more grip. Good in the seal though. I think I've finally grown up, no more testosterone....and lack the ability to toss it in deep, nail it just deal with what happens. I suspect if I did then the K180 would be there for me.

Now you are a man of leisure...if I have some free time in Auckland, I'll curb my desire to get out as fast as I can. Or maybe at the Meremere track....

Shit, that was quick. Um K180s great on dry clay, slithery and fall off if too wet. I'm suffering badly from roadrace syndrome, every time it steps out I scream HIGH SIDE and shut off. Out again this Sunday should be a good meeting they are having a V8 60 day.

[Motu]

I reckon the K180 would've been exceptional on the nasty hardpack clay Waiheke dirt track. The cars would make a 10 ft wide blue groove,I had more lean angle with the TS/TM400 than I've ever done on seal. I used a trials tyre on the rear, and a speedway rear on the front. This sunday....hmmm.

[Globetrotter511]

Flattrack was fairly big in Auckland when Bryce Subritzky started what was called the Stock Bike class at Rosebank Speedway in around 1977/78 - basically any stock framed bike, practically the only rules were no brakes, no knobs, and a 750cc limit. I remember the first few meetings, it was pretty popular and all sorts of bikes turned up - I took my Rickman out, disconnected the brakes and took my baffles out, rode it home again. There were up to 25 bikes on track !!! Sleepy Tripp the midget driver came down, borrowed a bike and went out wearing a T shirt - he went down in front of the pack and they ran over him. Then they split it up, but still a dozen bikes out there.

It became a very popular class and there were other tracks where they rode - I know there was the Outlaw track at Meremere, and one at Kumeu...and I know they went to other tracks as well. I got the Rosebank guys to come and race at our dirttrack on Waiheke Island when we got bikes onto the car dirttrack. But by the early '90's it was all over. I think one of the main reasons was cost. When Bryce first started the class it was to get guys out on the track, and they just dragged anything out of the shed - a much cheaper way to get into the sport than the whole speedway bike thing. But in the end people were using modern MX and enduro bikes in flattrack - it became very expensive. Why spend 10 grand to be competitive in flattrack, when you could get an old 2 valve for a couple of grand and do real speedway.

Owl Morris is a member here, and he wrote the Stock Bike rules in the MNZ rule book. You can see some old flattrack stuff on his website. http://owlmorris-ttsr500.4t.com/catalog_3.html

I believe that was my fathers bike he borrowed. Yamaha SC500. Put a nice dent in the fuel tank.