Thanks VMCC volunteers

[skelstar]

O boy is this going to a mind-game for the last round at Taupo!

[roadracingoldfart]

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

Ohhhh yes Please can we, can we please , pretty please can we.

[roadracingoldfart]

O boy is this going to a mind-game for the last round at Taupo!

I cant go fast enough to qualify for that round . I dont have the mind for it.

[ajturbo]

i want to thank a couple of the RACERS.. who gave their time to help others..

they made themselves avalible for any questions/concerns or even a friendly
chat..
they gave their time to take/show some lines to new racers

so thanks for all your help guys!!!
and don't worry, you WILL be aproched again at manfeild

JAY Lawrence
and
Graeme Billinger

these 2 guys were aproached for assitance for the new racers/juniors in the street stock class, and without hessation they said yes.



(shit i hope i have spelt your names right!)

[scrivy]

Was the track really in that bad of a state??

I've raced at the Manfeild long circuit in winter before (1995) with then passengar Chris Meads (his first ever outing). We aquaplaned severly at quite horrendous speeds, with Mr Meads seriously considering not passengaring for me!! (But thank god he did - we went on to win two titles!) But the track was an abolute ice rink at the time!!

Going back to 1993, the new Ruapuna extension. This was so slippery and unpredictable in the wet, that people were going around at walking speeds!!

I just think that racing at Taupo in winter time (or in winter like conditions) has to make people respect the track conditions just that much more. If its cold enough to make our hands friggin cold - imagine what our poor bloody tyres have to go through!!

Do we minimise the winter racing we do at Taupo to avoid any further carnage??

[ajturbo]

Was the track really in that bad of a state??

I've raced at the Manfeild long circuit in winter before (1995) with then passengar Chris Meads (his first ever outing). We aquaplaned severly at quite horrendous speeds, with Mr Meads seriously considering not passengaring for me!! (But thank god he did - we went on to win two titles!) But the track was an abolute ice rink at the time!!

Going back to 1993, the new Ruapuna extension. This was so slippery and unpredictable in the wet, that people were going around at walking speeds!!

I just think that racing at Taupo in winter time (or in winter like conditions) has to make people respect the track conditions just that much more. If its cold enough to make our hands friggin cold - imagine what our poor bloody tyres have to go through!!

Do we minimise the winter racing we do at Taupo to avoid any further carnage??

it wasn't that cold..... we have had a lot colder track days...(kb)

[DEATH_INC.]

What the hell is wrong with Taupo????? I've ridden thousands of laps there in all sorts of conditions with no real problems. The only offs I've had were due to pushing things, not track conditions. Get over it and learn how to ride to the conditions....

[DEATH_INC.]

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).

That's my point. Did the tyres maintain enough heat? Even in the summer you get cold shear at taupo, so on a cold wet day do you really think they were warm enough to work? Anyone have a pyrometer? I'd like to test this theory sometime.....

[Cleve]

What the hell is wrong with Taupo????? I've ridden thousands of laps there in all sorts of conditions with no real problems. The only offs I've had were due to pushing things, not track conditions. Get over it and learn how to ride to the conditions....

My understanding was that it wasn't cold temperatures (the weather was quite mild), rather following a long period of no rain, a lot of recent use by other vehicles and then on the Sunday very light and occassional rain which just caused all the last few months of oil and other crap to just raise to the surface and sit there.

[DEATH_INC.]

My understanding was that it wasn't cold temperatures (the weather was quite mild), rather following a long period of no rain, a lot of recent use by other vehicles and then on the Sunday very light and occassional rain which just caused all the last few months of oil and other crap to just raise to the surface and sit there.

What long period with no rain? It was only a short time ago the gixxer trackdy was rained off due to the track looking more like a jetsprint course than a race circuit.....

[JayRacer37]

That's my point. Did the tyres maintain enough heat? Even in the summer you get cold shear at taupo, so on a cold wet day do you really think they were warm enough to work? Anyone have a pyrometer? I'd like to test this theory sometime.....

no - the tyres did not maniain temprature.
yes - we had and used a pyrometer.

Problem is - NO tyre was going to hold a reasonable temprature (exept maybe racing intermediates, which are in short supply in NZ) OR wets - of course wets would have fried on the nearly dry track within two laps.

[speed63]

What the hell is wrong with Taupo????? I've ridden thousands of laps there in all sorts of conditions with no real problems. The only offs I've had were due to pushing things, not track conditions. Get over it and learn how to ride to the conditions....

Second that

[Clivoris]

What the hell is wrong with Taupo????? I've ridden thousands of laps there in all sorts of conditions with no real problems. The only offs I've had were due to pushing things, not track conditions. Get over it and learn how to ride to the conditions....

There is obvious truth in the argument that we should ride to the track conditions. The other truth is that many skilled people were crashing due to the "novelty" of the conditions. The choice we had to make was balancing up the length of time that it would take for riders to adapt, or the conditions improve (and a dry track didn't improve the conditions), versus the real risk of more serious injury or death, occuring. I wouldn't want to be the one standing in front of someone's family saying "S/He should have been riding to the conditions." or "I thought it was going to get safer despite 27 crashes." Please don't interpret this as me having a go at you. I'm not. Just trying to communicate the dilemna.

[FROSTY:Me]

Typing on Frosty's behalf

The condition of the track surface was unbelievably slippery when the misty rain came down. I genuinely believe that it was a very bad combination of factors.
1. The track surface is still very 'green' so hasn't got that roughness that older tracks have got.
2. There was a indurace car meeting held the day before which i saw some of. As I understand it, the cars don't have catch bottles for oil/glycol that they pump out when run continuously.
3. The rain that fell was just enough to float the oil and rubber residue from the race meeting the day before in a unpredictable manner.
Unfortunately I must say Crasher i disagree with you. You were luck enough to be racing on a dry track which it was for 50% of the time. The lap times of one of the few races that was finished shows how slowly and carefully everyone was riding. eg Qualifying for F2 fastest lap was 1.14 The race fastest lap was 1.24 I consider my riding on the whole to be on the conservative side. But the slipperyness was totally unpredictable giving no warning. On the whole those that did crash, I genuinly believe were not pushing any boundries and I must say I for one was riding extremely conservatively. The crashes I saw in the 30 seconds of the F3 race before I lay down for a little sleep were not guys pushing hard at all.

[White trash]

Great debate going here.

I unfortunately can't comment as I didn't stay upright long enough to truly find the grip level of the track.

Well done to the organisers and marshals. That was definitely the best run meeting I've yet been to.