The Way to a Circuit!

[franci_c]

Hi everybody! I'm a brand new kiwibiker user...to be honest I'm a brand new kiwi, as well....I'm from Italy and have been in NZ for just 4 months. I used to ride a very nice bike at home and now I decided to start riding again in your nice country. That's why I need your help. I live in Auck, and today had a trip to Pukekohe, the closest track, to have a look. Honestly, I didn't have a good impression: the circuit seems to be too straight for me (I like curves!) and the cars running were bringing a lot of dust on the track. What can you tell me about circuits? What is the best one? Maybe Manfield (but quite far)? Also the Taupo's seems to be nice, even if smaller... And what about prices/bookings and stuff? And if I wanted to hire a trailer to get somewhere with my bike , what is the best thing I can do? I still don't know how things work here, but you know what I wanna do, so any kind of advice is very well accepted! Thanks to everybody for your help, I'm sure I'll have a lot of good tips.
Hope we can have fun together, someday!
Cheers,
francesco.

[yungatart]

Welcome to NZ and our crazy gargre. Frosty will be able to help answer all your ??'s re tracks etc. Enjoy your time here.

[Riff Raff]

Hi Francesco and welcome to KB and New Zealand.

Keep an eye out for track days on here. Pukekohe is around $90 for test days and you should probably try it to see whether you like it or not. KBers often head out on the Friday test days - not so many Saturday ones now that the racing season is on us again. Most people seem to prefer Taupo and Manfield, and Ruapuna in the South Island is supposed to be really good.

[Sparky Bills]

HEY.
Welcome.
Most of the tracks in NZ suck really.
Manfeild is ok, but pretty damn bumpy. I havnt been to any of the tracks down south, so you will have to jit up some people from down there.
Theres a trackday on Labour weekend. Saturday and Sunday!
Would be a good chance to check out the track (Manfeild) and meet some KBers from all over NZ.

[sels1]

Welcome aboard the site Franci :niceone:

[motobob]

Welcome aboard Francesco. Pukekohe has fast curves and is exciting to ride on a bike with alot of power. Probably not many circuits in the world where you can achieve 290kmh speeds on a standard production bike. Taupo is currently being extended to about 3 kms which will add some more curves for you. Never been to Manfield so can not comment.
Coming from Europe costs should be a lot lower.
The best circuit is an individual choice. Personally I like Pukekohe.

Cheers

[franci_c]

Hey guys, what a fast answer! I was sure to get help from you, thanks a looot! As you said, I wanna try pukekohe. At least is quite close. Maybe from the "inside" will be better! 90 bucks for a test day is quite a good price. Do you have to book of something? Can you just ride there in the right day (maybe after checking the website?) and buy a ticket? What can you tell me about trailer hiring? Well, I can easily ride to pukekohe, but in case I wanted to try Manfield maybe I'd better hire one.
Thanks again for your great welcome!

[Gremlin]

Most service stations have trailers you can hire, also hirepool has them as well...

Dunno about prices...

[TonyB]

Hi Franci :spudwave:
Well I can't really comment on the North Island circuits. But the general feeling from those who get to ride all of them seems to be that Ruapuna near Christchurch and Levels near Timaru are the best in the country. They are definitely more technical than Pukekohe

[marty]

Hi Franci :spudwave:
Well I can't really comment on the North Island circuits. But the general feeling from those who get to ride all of them seems to be that Ruapuna near Christchurch and Levels near Timaru are the best in the country. They are definitely more technical than Pukekohe

i would have thought 1/2 the fun of getting to manfield was, well, getting to manfield!

[motobob]

Do you have to book of something? Can you just ride there in the right day (maybe after checking the website?) and buy a ticket? What can you tell me about trailer hiring? Well, I can easily ride to pukekohe, but in case I wanted to try Manfield maybe I'd better hire one.
Thanks again for your great welcome!

At Puke just turn up at anytime after 10am, go to the race control building on the inside of track. Fill out form, pay $90 receive sticker and then wait out the car sessions. On the Saturdays they have food and drinks available.

Trailer hire is usually between $30 to $40 per day. Some service stations will give you a 24 hour period which is useful for loading up the bike the night before. Just make sure the bike is in a secure place. Trailers are general purpose and not bike specific, so you will need a ramp and tie downs.

So get your bike and get oout there dude.

Cheers

[zadok]

Welcome to K.B Francesco. :spudwave:
Thinking of getting another Fireblade?

[FROSTY]

welcolm --looks like your questions have basicly been covered.
Pukie is -well Periods of insane fun -mixed in with periods of intense boredom-but ya can wright a letter home when on the back straight.
Taupo is good untill you start going really fast--then it gets um interesting
Personally from a north island riders point of view i'd pick manfeild--its a bit rough but sooo much fun
Now BUNG ME YA $60 for the KB trackday in december :devil2:

[franci_c]

Hey guys, thanks again for all those replies! Motobob, thanks for the infos.
I'm not gonna take another fireblade... at the moment I'm looking for something cheap. Have a couple of ideas:
1. rgv250: it was my passion when I was a teenager. Then, as a two stroke, it's quite funny and easier to put the hands on. At home, in italy, me and a friend of mine reconstructed a completely destroyed nsr125, so i have quite an experience.
2. a 600cc sportbike, even in bad condition, can do most of the work by myself.
Well, I should be riding something in a couple of weeks...and then have a try at Pukekohe! Just hope that this f****g weather will be f****g somewhere else by then... sorry, but it's been raining for too long, I hate it!
Seeya.

P.S. how can I change the "L-Plate rider" state under my username? It's not nice to me...!

[crashe]

Kia ora and welcome to New Zealand.

The "L" plate thingee....
ok post as much as you can...
after 30 posts you become scooterBoy...
Then at around 100 posts it changes again...
Eventually you will become a "Forum Whore" (1000 posts)