Thanks VMCC volunteers

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

thanks heaps to the volunteers and organisers

[Grub]

Whats a road sweeper going to do to remove oil? Almost nothing I would say. And anything bad would be spread out more and made worse.

Garry, the fine print in that roadsweeper link says that it can use detergent for oil and residue dispersal. Sounds like just what they need.

Just to confirm a few points.
- We pay a great deal of money for the circuit,what we get should reflect it
- The Taupo track management people are extremely difficult to deal with
- If you thought Mel worked hard on the day, you should see how much effort it took him to get Taupo to let us use the Tower for example ... and many other things
- One of the things that really got home to us about the circuit condition was the guys out there picking bikes and riders up saying on the radio that they couldn't stand up on some parts of T1 and T2 in particular.

It was a pleasure to work alongside Mel and see a seasoned professional at work.

[roadracingoldfart]

Dude, one of the riders that crashed on turn one will be more gifted at riding than 99.9% of any other rider on this site (at least).

Its pretty hard to make sweeping generalisations about how people crash eh?

Sweeping !!! yer rite.
I have been riding for a hell of a long time and racing on and off for the last 24 years . I was invited to start racing by a guy named Robert Holden after beating him on several ahemm road rides in days gone by so i too have had gifted ability before i lost it due to age. I have done 2 Castrol 6 hours and 2 Shell 2 wheelers ,and managed 2 other riders for these events , i have done Wanganui 2 times, I am a past Vic Club F1 race winner on an NSR400 of all things and have won the Post Classic Junior class 2 years ago and came second last year .I was the service manager of Sawyer Honda for 2 years and worked as a mechanic for 4 yrs before getting promoted to that position.
I have mentored riders for years and helped to start the Advanced Rider Course in Wgtn during the early 80s and coached the attendees in race craft and road skills with days at Manfeild saupported by the ACU of the day.

Ohhh fuck ---- maybee i dont have the qualifications to comment on racing . Ill just shut up aye.

[speed63]

Sweeping !!! yer rite.
I have been riding for a hell of a long time and racing on and off for the last 24 years . I was invited to start racing by a guy named Robert Holden after beating him on several ahemm road rides in days gone by so i too have had gifted ability before i lost it due to age. I have done 2 Castrol 6 hours and 2 Shell 2 wheelers ,and managed 2 other riders for these events , i have done Wanganui 2 times, I am a past Vic Club F1 race winner on an NSR400 of all things and have won the Post Classic Junior class 2 years ago and came second last year .I was the service manager of Sawyer Honda for 2 years and worked as a mechanic for 4 yrs before getting promoted to that position.
I have mentored riders for years and helped to start the Advanced Rider Course in Wgtn during the early 80s and coached the attendees in race craft and road skills with days at Manfeild saupported by the ACU of the day.

Ohhh fuck ---- maybee i dont have the qualifications to comment on racing . Ill just shut up aye.

That is a pretty damn impressive CV...

[sAsLEX]

The Taupo track actually has/had an aircraft engine (jet) mounted on the back of a trailer. Don't know if its operational or not and it would only be good for drying the track really.

Whats a road sweeper going to do to remove oil? Almost nothing I would say. And anything bad would be spread out more and made worse.

The 4 hour car race is on My Laps. Seems there wheren't alot of entires.

The sweeper/cleaner thing I linked to uses a large tank of water to pressure wash and sweep the surface, with detergent if you wish to facilitate removing oil and grime, and there is one that sucks up most of this to leave the track clean and nearly dry........

Aquazura Street Scrubber Dryer

Aquazura is the first machine of its type, in the world. It combines two cleaning actions; scrubbing and suction. This is the best method of cleaning urban areas. It is also environmentally friendly as it collects the waste water used to clean with.

Aquazura uses the same scrubbing head as the Aquadyne. Five independent brushes adapt to the profile of the surface, while rotating so that waste material is collected within the machine’s footprint. The Aquazura has two water tanks; a 1500 litre clean water tank to supply the scrubbing head and a 1000 litre recovery tank for the debris and used water. A 600mm wide suction nozzle and 1200mm wide squeegee collect all the litter and waste water as the machine travels along. Aquazura will leave the pavement spotlessly clean and virtually dry. As all waste material is collected, disposal can be controlled.

And after that solar heating would quickly clear the remaining moisture. Its is interesting to note that most of the "racers" didn't complain about the wet but the inconstancy in the grip.

[scracha]

If i crash in the dry it was most likely my fault. If i crash in the wet its most likely my fault and if i crash on a slipery oily track its not my fault , is that what your saying ???.

So if you crashed on an oily patch on a public road would it be your fault too?

[ajturbo]

It was a pleasure to work alongside Mel and see a seasoned professional at work.

i was talking to him in M'd's in bulls... he seamed quite calm after the days events...
he even let slip the REAL reason he stopped the racing....
was it beacuse it was too slipery?
was it beacuse there were so many crashes?
was it beacuse frosty was hiding UNDER his bike?
was it beacuse of all the injuries?

no...!
it was because he wanted to get home in time to watch the motoGP!!!
sneeky bugger

[skelstar]

Ohhh fuck ---- maybee i dont have the qualifications to comment on racing . Ill just shut up aye.

I did write something but realise now that I'm not a racer so i should just be quiet.

[DEATH_INC.]

I wonder how many of those that went down were on unsuitable tyres for the conditions? I know of at least a couple.....
Whilst being pissed at the cancellation of the event, I still appreciate the time of all involved to run the day. Many thanks to you all.

[GSVR]

The sweeper/cleaner thing I linked to uses a large tank of water to pressure wash and sweep the surface, with detergent if you wish to facilitate removing oil and grime, and there is one that sucks up most of this to leave the track clean and nearly dry........


And after that solar heating would quickly clear the remaining moisture. Its is interesting to note that most of the "racers" didn't complain about the wet but the inconstancy in the grip.

Thank sAsLex and Grub for pointing that out. Sounds like a good machine.

Other solution would be not to allow any vehicles out that are leaking fluids. The track has to make money so I'm picking they let anyone make a booking that has the funds. Some spills can't be stopped like in a crash but in other cases a users will go out aware of a leak. Only way these guys are spotted is the oil they leave in the waiting area or their pit. Some cars don't have catch tanks and blow oil out the overflow at high revs or load.

Cleaning a whole track sounds like a long process at the almost walking pace street cleaners operate at.

Don't really wanna discuss this anymore here as this thread should be a thank-you to the helpers.

[roadracingoldfart]

So if you crashed on an oily patch on a public road would it be your fault too?

I dont think the comaprison can be made between road riding and racing due to these points...
On the road you come across an oily patch out of the blue and yes i have crashed on diesel etc on the road. But on the track you know what the corner was like and the track condition is because you have just been through there on even just the warm up lap so you do have knowledge of the condition. If you see a patch of cement laid down then you would have to be quite silly to use that particular area of track .
Dont get me wrong folks im not trying to be a smart ass but it started of with people blaming the track for the crashes. The track is an inanimate object that just sits there and we are in organic item capable of good/ bad decisions, not the track. The fact is the rider falls of his machine for whatever reason with nothing else but phisics aiding him / her. Our aim as riders is to overcome the natural effects of phisics to ride fast and safe but there is a limit created by more parameters than we can throw a stick at.
I was lucky to have talked at length many times to the wonderful man known to many for his work with phisics/bike riding and raced to many NZ titles and race wins. Dr Roger Freeth. He had very solid theories and i dont think i can remember more than a couple of crashes by the man.
I have remembered what he told me about and utilise it all the time, it works.
I dont want this to go on for ever but i am wanting to pass all i have learned on to another or multipal riders and thats why i am sponsoring a rider to race my own bike from next season on.
Last Sunday was a classic case of the need to get more people to understand what can be learnt, if only people listened.
Cheers Paul.

[JayRacer37]

I wonder how many of those that went down were on unsuitable tyres for the conditions? I know of at least a couple.....
Whilst being pissed at the cancellation of the event, I still appreciate the time of all involved to run the day. Many thanks to you all.

There wasn't an 'unsuitable' tyre for the track. At no point was there a layer of standing water, it was never 'wet'. Using a wet tyre in those conditions would have been worse after about two laps, cause it would have been torn apart. So long as a tyre has temprature, in those conditions, tread and pattern of tread can only have up to "5% influence on outright grip" (from Conti attack range designer). If there isn't standin water, there is no point having tread.

someone said about that the racers didn't mind the wet; just the unpredicability - exactly. Wet is fine - not knowing whether this corner is the same as the last is not.

Crashing on the first lap IS understandable in those conditions, as grip was NOT at a level that is acceptible - lower than a crappy piece of out state hiways in similar conditions, and not good enough.

Someone also asked about the paint compared to the pits - one and the same. Rediculous. And Dangerous - the inconsistancys are crazy.

Also, on the exit of turn 4 (just after going over the top of the hill) there is a black patch that is a repair; it covers most of the track for about ten meters. This has the same gri pas the paint and is unavoidable. Every lap I rode over it and had BOTH front AND rear let go till I got to the other side of this repair.

Taupo Circuit needs some MAJOR suface workto bring it to what I would consider to be an acceptible level for racing on. THEN we can worry about the neumourous dangerous walls.

NOW - who keeps bagging Puke?? its a padded playground compared to this place. Taupo's only blessing is that its speeds are so slow. Which also makes it kinda boring.....can we just go back to Manfeild please

[moT]

The thing is you have to learn to ride and adapt do different conditions if the track is slippery ride on it like its slippery.. "if you put water into a cup it becomes the cup put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle put water into a tea pot it becomes the teapot be like the nature of water." Bruce Lee

[mikey]

Ye I was allso one of the unlucky ones to bin my bike at a cost of at least $3000. 27 bikes down was a joke. Taupo has a cleaning machine i am told and it was not used after a car endurance race the day before. If you say all 27 bikes had damage like mine at a cost of $2000 thats $54000!! not to mention the brocken bones. I think the track surface needs to be looked at, i know we had a little drizzle but i raced all 5 rounds of the Nationals and we had drizzle at times and no offs. The track should of been in a fit condition to race on. Maybe the suface is new but you could see heaps of crap and oil after a small sprinkle of rain. Hope all the guy's and girls that fell off yesterday heal up quickly. Roll on the next round and i hope we stay upright.

A blamer eh.
did someone else make you go race?
did someone else sign your disclaimer/idemnity from?
did someone else look at the track condition for you and say" nah, that shit looks awesome sticky mate, go HARD INTO THAT FIRST CORNER"?

[Torque]

It is true we make the call to race or not, but when you here guy's on the radio telling the staff in the tower, they are having problems staying on there own two feet because it is very slippery on the track. You have to wonder if the surface is good for racing on at the time. Racing at wanganui was way safer.