Which corner at Ruapuna had the oil dumped on it today?

[HenryDorsetCase]

It caused the abandonment of the NZSBK meeting and it looked like a lot. I checked the photos on Shitbook but I couldnt work it out.

Who knows?

[EJK]

I think the spill was across from 4th to 6th corner (Fulton Hogan). I walked over to have a look right after they announced it.

[HenryDorsetCase]

cheers - ten characters

[WALRUS]

Do we know who/what dumped it all? I was watching the CTAS feed/stream to catch my local mates who flew over to compete in the 125 class but that obviously didn't happen (and rightly so)

[Drew]

The filter O-ring split on sidecar 99. Sprayed oil straight up and out of the catch tray.

They tipped nearly 3 litres out of the catch tray once it was back in the pits, so a litre was lost all up.

Though that is a lot still.

[slofox]

Last time I saw oil spilled on Ruapuna was in 1974. At the then Castrol corner. (The track was very basic back then.)

I thought I could be smart and go inside the spill...turned out the cleaner-uppers just hadn't thought anyone would be stupid enough to try going inside the spill and hadn't bothered to clean that bit...crash at 110km/hr. I kept trying to stand back up and kept falling over again. Then I twigged that I was still sliding along at god knows what speed...faster than I could run anyway. :eek:

No permanent damage to myself or the bike though. Bet I wouldn't survive that well nowadays!

[roogazza]

Mid late seventies Onekawa there was cement dust covering just about the whole circuit. Never seen so much cement !!!!!
Won the first with a struggle from Pole and after lunch break where they continued to throw cement around I roamed around the pits relating how slippery it was and to avoid the cement. :shifty::devil2:
2nd race , from pole again, flag dropped , push start , bang , gone !!!
My tactics must have worked ?? !!:bleh::rolleyes::laugh::laugh:

[Grumph]

I wonder if the option of continuing with a shortened circuit was offered...There's a cut through from the hairpin to the dipper entrance which would avoid the affected part. It's been used for club racing many times - often when there weren't enough marshals as it cuts out several points.

Edit - I remember turning up for a Canterbury club day and finding that someone had wiped the sump off a Formula Ford on a kerb and anointed 2/3 of the track.
Took us about 2 hours to get it usable. I believe we got a partial refund from the Car club too.

[EJK]

Some photos if anyone is interested

https://www.facebook.com/725220484306185/posts/1144642272364002/

[roogazza]

Some photos if anyone is interested

https://www.facebook.com/725220484306185/posts/1144642272364002/

Thanks EJK, and here's me rambling on about cement in the 70's.
I knew nothing of what happened yesterday. :lol: :rolleyes:

[Drew]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really. Or just a water cannon and a big hair dryer.

[WALRUS]

I've spent a lunch break out in the sun with a crew of about 15 with brooms and grit taking care of a similar oil spill at my local circuit several months ago. It sucks!

Again, right call to can the day though

[Grumph]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really.

They exist. One-man thing looks like a cross between a Smart car and the shopping trolleys that hold kids. Sweeper/vacuum with a rear mounted bin.
Probably powered by Briggs and Stratton - but crying out for an R1 transplant....

[sidecar bob]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really. Or just a water cannon and a big hair dryer.

Or a factory that can turn out quality oil filters.

[AllanB]

On hearing this yesterday OI was surprised they did not have the tech to get the track race ready again in a reasonable time frame. Drews comment is interesting regarding the dust, I'd not considered that - figured it was a residue oil issue.

So in my ignorance why is there not suitable gear to clear the track - kitty litter to soak it up, and a f-big can of brakeclean and a big brush, followed by some of those annoying leaf blowers ....... or a rideon lawn mower thing.

Reminds me years back someone I knew ran car park sweepers in the evening - that had water jets and rotating brushes.

[Drew]

Brake clean cant be used. Asphalt is pretty much just oil and gravel. The surface would fall apart.

[AllanB]

Brake clean cant be used. Asphalt is pretty much just oil and gravel. The surface would fall apart.


Ha - that sprung a memory out of me. Fairly new asphalt $8k drive some years back and me with some brake clean ...... it did indeed start to eat the surface.

[Grumph]

Or a factory that can turn out quality oil filters.

Well, yes and no...I've seen it happen to a lot of people over the years - some very good mechanics too, using expensive filters...

Most spectacular was Kevin Gray's GSXR at the Manfield WSB round. Warming it up in the pits and there was a flood....The air/oil GSXR 750's hold a shitload of oil....The concrete is probably still stained.

[husaberg]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really. Or just a water cannon and a big hair dryer.

Funny enough i was at the BP station just arround the corner from Ruapuna on Sunday they had one of those massive oversize push mower looking sweepers for sweeping the forcourt.
For a National round maybe having a sucker sweeper truck on loan from FH or something might not be silly

[jellywrestler]

I wonder if the option of continuing with a shortened circuit was offered...There's a cut through from the hairpin to the dipper entrance which would avoid the affected part. It's been used for club racing many times - often when there weren't enough marshals as it cuts out several points.

. rules say you must have a required amount of practice to run a race, especiallly in a championship, they would have had to do a lot of time to do that plus the permit would not have been for a differnt track. i'd be interested to know if that had happened at say nine am would they have had the resources to clean it in a fair time too, just trying to glean something for the future

[jellywrestler]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really. Or just a water cannon and a big hair dryer.

modern synethis oils are not the same as old mineral oils, and what about the environmental issues too?

[jellywrestler]

On hearing this yesterday OI was surprised they did not have the tech to get the track race ready again in a reasonable time frame. .

one wonders what's written into the track hire contract. i was there this morning and it was wet and a rider training guy was there, i pointed it out but they were riding on the roads so all ok.

[Kickaha]

The problem is effectively picking up the excess dust. The dry dust presents nearly as big a hazard as the oil did.

Need a ride on hoover really. Or just a water cannon and a big hair dryer.


On hearing this yesterday OI was surprised they did not have the tech to get the track race ready again in a reasonable time frame.


Apparently there is a place in Christchurch that use a combination of some type of soda and waterblasting/steam cleaning for exactly this type of spill, on a good day it is dried up within about 20 minutes. I have someone getting me the details to see if it could be a future option

[husaberg]

Apparently there is a place in Christchurch that use a combination of some type of soda and waterblasting/steam cleaning for exactly this type of spill, on a good day it is dried up within about 20 minutes. I have someone getting me the details to see if it could be a future option

Most oil spill kits contain kitty litter.
looks like limestone but its called zeolite buggar all dust its some volcanic mineral.
There is a quarry or was a quarry near Rotorua. found it.
https://www.bpmnz.co.nz/en/minerals/zeolite/

[sidecar bob]

Well, yes and no...I've seen it happen to a lot of people over the years - some very good mechanics too, using expensive filters...



As I said to the team in question, "time to find a cheaper brand of filter"
The ones I used on the pink sidecar were a car part number & my clients had unwittingly product tested them over hundreds of thousands of km for me.
They were $3:72 plus GST my buy.

[rustys]

Most oil spill kits contain kitty litter.
looks like limestone but its called zeolite buggar all dust its some volcanic mineral.
There is a quarry or was a quarry near Rotorua. found it.
https://www.bpmnz.co.nz/en/minerals/zeolite/

At VMCC we use a product called "Lime Flour" available from farmlands, i think we pay around $6 a 20kg bag, its as cheap chips, on every flag point we have a 20kg bucket of the stuff available, plus much more in store if we need it, it does a bloody good job, when needed, plus a proper 240ltr whellie bin on wheels regulation "Oil spill Kit" ready all the time.
Shame about what happend over the weekend but thats beyond our control, when we are all involved in racing engines, the inevitable will happen anywhere anytime, thats motorsport.
I still don't know about this Containment Tray system enforcement, everyone is trying to do something to prevent the oil spillage, but its in the hands of the gods of how and where the oil will come out of a failed engine, i have seen two blown engines on solos both had oil trays but still most of the oil went on track, again you can't blame anyone.

[jellywrestler]

I still don't know about this Containment Tray system enforcement, everyone is trying to do something to prevent the oil spillage, but its in the hands of the gods of how and where the oil will come out of a failed engine, i have seen two blown engines on solos both had oil trays but still most of the oil went on track, again you can't blame anyone.

it was bsb spec

[Mental Trousers]

I still don't know about this Containment Tray system enforcement, everyone is trying to do something to prevent the oil spillage, but its in the hands of the gods of how and where the oil will come out of a failed engine, i have seen two blown engines on solos both had oil trays but still most of the oil went on track, again you can't blame anyone.

They definitely help. My bike put a conrod through the front of the block on the fastest part of Paeroa, wasn't a single drop of oil on the track but quite a lot in the catch tray. That would've screwed the whole day for everyone rather than just me.

I won't go without one just because I don't want to be THAT GUY who shut down the whole day for everybody when it was preventable.

[sidecar bob]

The problem with sidecars is that they don't immediately crash upon getting oil on the rear tyre.
Hence why sidecars manage to oil large distances of track.

[husaberg]

At VMCC we use a product called "Lime Flour" available from farmlands, i think we pay around $6 a 20kg bag, its as cheap chips, on every flag point we have a 20kg bucket of the stuff available, plus much more in store if we need it, it does a bloody good job, when needed, plus a proper 240ltr whellie bin on wheels regulation "Oil spill Kit" ready all the time.
Shame about what happend over the weekend but thats beyond our control, when we are all involved in racing engines, the inevitable will happen anywhere anytime, thats motorsport.
I still don't know about this Containment Tray system enforcement, everyone is trying to do something to prevent the oil spillage, but its in the hands of the gods of how and where the oil will come out of a failed engine, i have seen two blown engines on solos both had oil trays but still most of the oil went on track, again you can't blame anyone.

Lime flour is just finely ground lime i hope its cheap it only costs $20 ton for the normal stuff;)

[rustys]

Lime flour is just finely ground lime i hope its cheap it only costs $20 ton for the normal stuff;)

Good for the soil.

[husaberg]

Good for the soil.

Normal ag lime might be better far less dusty.
of course you still need to get rid of oil soaked lime.
Kitty litter Zeolite has an advantage in that it soaks up like a sponge but is in 4mm odd Chip form with no real dust and doesn't really turn slimy and gluey when wet like lime does.

[AllanB]

Cat litter has worked wonders to my oil spills in the garage/drive over the years.

What's with oil - I can do a oil and filter change, no spill but guarantee at some point moving the dirty oil/filter about as I tidy away tools etc I'll spill or drop something into the oil.

[rustys]

Peat or sphagnum Moss is another good soake,r upper, believe it or not, all natural product.

[husaberg]

Peat or sphagnum Moss is another good soake,r upper, believe it or not, all natural product.

Wool as well. Some kiwi company processes it for offshore oil spills.
The crash barriers used at the GM street race were originally all Spag moss only problem with it was it used to rain and they had to be dried out afterwards.
They went to plastic milk jugs later which were maintenance free, But the moss was also reasonably soft to crash into.