New Taupo Track

**trev** · 26th March 2006, 11:22

There were KBers at the new track both Wednesday & Friday & I can't find a report anywhere. What gives.

**k14** · 26th March 2006, 11:56

Originally Posted by trev

There were KBers at the new track both Wednesday & Friday & I can't find a report anywhere. What gives.

yeah ditto, want to find out the details from a riders point of view.

**Mental Trousers** · 26th March 2006, 12:10

Probably still waiting for the blood to flow back to their heads (the one on the end of their necks cos it's all stuck in the other one already).

**Leong** · 26th March 2006, 14:47

Originally Posted by k14

yeah ditto, want to find out the details from a riders point of view.

Well, I'll leave the riders report to more experienced riders... all I can say is that it's much more interesting than Pukekohe or Manfeild. But I did shoot some video.... not too good as it was my first attempt, but gives you an idea of the track! Also attached is the map of the new track....off www.tauporacetrack.co.nz

**DEATH_INC.** · 26th March 2006, 15:19

Breifly......it's pretty technical, lotsa tricky bits to find a good line through.Bloody hard on tyres, kills the left side real good.On the new short track there's I think 7 left corners that you exit full power,and of the 6 rights, only 1 you're really powering out of....and if you include the full track it's much the same still,maybe add 1 more right under much power......
The back straight is hardly a straight on the new shorty, you power outta the left leading on to it in a sorta big curve to the chicane.....even on the full circuit it's not as long as first thought,I only got 5th gear down it.(it was a peice of piss to wheelie,even with a crosswind...)

Short new;Down the pit straight 3rd gear on the gixx,downhill, brake hard down to second and chuck it left into the hairpin,fullpower for a short burst to the righthander,ease off thenchuck her in hard then hard left still on the power ease then hard right to the infeild hairpin (right)brake then throw her in hard and back on the gas....full noise round the right kink then real hard on the brakes for the lefthander, hard left then wind on the gas, into third and full noise all the way round the big sweeping left up to the chicane onto the main straight,straight through hard on the brakes hard left over a couple of bumps and sweep round under full power to the chicane, ease off a little through the first left bit then brake hard and chuck her right, trying to avoid the pothole that's there already, keeping tight to the right then hard left and on the power for the pit straight again....that's my lap anyhoo.

On the full track it's obviously the same 'till the lh sweeper which you stand her up and brake hard about half way round,2nd and hard right then hard left through the tricky little chicane that joins the tracks,try to stay tightish left to the r/hander (which seems different with the new approach) into 3rd hard right, then flick left, then hardish right on the power into 4th then brake for the sweeper,2nd not cutting in too soon, hard on the power as early as poss (to try to keep the thou's in sight) onto the straight (try to ignore the temptation to do a wheelie) into 3rd,then 4th,5th to just before the 150m marker hard on the brakes and sweep into the l/h part of the chicane and repeat as short track.....
There ya go....

**loosebruce** · 26th March 2006, 15:44

Hard on tyres, spesh when your forks aren't quite right

Track is good, only new short is let down by tthe bullshit little chicane onto the back straight, kinda ruin a good track if you ask me, they could've made a better go at it. And if you fuck it up, that concrete barrier is pretty close.

Other than that it's mint, can't wait to get back.

**Motoracer** · 26th March 2006, 15:46

Death's done a good write up... I'll just say that the surface is just amazing! It's so smooth that there isn't any room for even the dust particles to settle down into.. So in some dusty areas, you can even see a thin film of dust being blown by the wind as the bikes go past.

After my first session, I looked at my tires and they looked like brand new... They almost even had a gloss finish... That's cause since the track is so damn smooth, it had the same effect as going over it with a 600 grit sand paper...

The only thing that wasn't right with the track was the fact that they had two bumps on the apex of the esses, just after the end of the back straight. I heard that they are going to reseal that soon. After that, it'll be a perfect track!

I have never ridden or driven on any world class tracks over seas but I'd imagine that this should be pretty fukin right up there!

Since everyone said that the track is new and it doesn't have much grip, I ended up going slower than nessary but that's OK. I'll just go harder next time.

**Quasievil** · 26th March 2006, 16:08

Well to be honest I had a freckin nightmare on the day, butthe track is way cool, needs a little work doen to it, like a nasty bump coming into the twisty before the front straight, had a couiple of moments there, other than that I agree with Death, very technical and needs some time spent to learn it, but aint that just cool !! a new track to learn.
Cant wait to get back on it, especially now the bike is feeling a little better, started of SHITE handling was crapola and nasty. Tony Rees and Shaun Harris both worked on my bike how fuckin cool is that !!! by the end of it the bike was way better, but not quite right, further investigation I found that 19/20 psi aint right (contary to what a certain KB biker told me) and I should be running 30psi front and rear, with that I reckon it should be even further improved.
Bloody good day

**DEATH_INC.** · 26th March 2006, 16:43

Dunno if you can se the weird wear on this(it's sorta like a tractor tyre), but dss3 and LB's (after we 'sorted' the forks) were doing this too....fronts were ok though.

**dss3** · 26th March 2006, 18:49

Originally Posted by DEATH_INC.

Dunno if you can se the weird wear on this(it's sorta like a tractor tyre), but dss3 and LB's (after we 'sorted' the forks) were doing this too....fronts were ok though.

Yeah I was having another lookie and mine today, kinda looks like the tyre rubber started rolling up at the edge of the treaded part of tyre, and then just kept rolling up and getting wider and wider, making big triangle marks on the tyre... wierd.

**manxkiwi** · 26th March 2006, 19:13

Some of us haven't reported yet 'cos we're still recovering!! Rode my ass off all day, was so good. The little RGV used 30 litres of fuel. Thighs are still a bit stiff. I've only been doing track days for a couple years now, but that was certainly the best I've yet had. Weather came good, track was awesome, just about rode 'till I couldn't ride anymore and I think everyone had a ball. Perhaps with the exception of the guy on the R6!! (1st session). By the way, my tires on the little bike looked fantasic at the end of the day. Though obviously they're only doing a fraction of the work of the big bikes. Big up's to Rodders anyway on a fantastic day.

**Devil** · 27th March 2006, 08:16

Was my first proper track day. I thought the new short track was awesome, I was having a ball in the big left hand sweeper. I puckered everytime I went over the bumps in the esses onto the front straight though. I'll be happy when they re-seal that.

By the time they opened up the full track I was well past it mentally and couldnt get back into the groove so didn't enjoy it as much as the short track. Hate that darn sweeper on the old track!

Big ups to Rodders for organising a sweet day.

**erik** · 29th March 2006, 00:11

Originally Posted by Leong

Well, I'll leave the riders report to more experienced riders... all I can say is that it's much more interesting than Pukekohe or Manfeild. But I did shoot some video.... not too good as it was my first attempt, but gives you an idea of the track! Also attached is the map of the new track....off www.tauporacetrack.co.nz

What program can I use to watch that video? Quicktime says it can't find the required decompressor and VLC media player freezes.