Hampton Downs: is there an issue?

[Billy]

You reckon the fence at Paeroa is safe? It is there as a demarcation line only. If a bike hit it, the outcome would be little different to no fence.

Mmmmm,Probably not the best example,However the question was,How safe would it be without the fence,It clearly does the job as both Craig Shirriffs and Paul Brown from Blenheim have crash tested it for us.

[gixerracer]

Mmmmm,Probably not the best example,However the question was,How safe would it be without the fence,It clearly does the job as both Craig Shirriffs and Paul Brown from Blenheim have crash tested it for us.

wot u talkin about??

[MSTRS:Me]

He be talking about the chicken wire strung up on the main street at Paeroa. You know - the safety fence...
Apparently you have tested it. And it won.

[gixerracer]

He be talking about the chicken wire strung up on the main street at Paeroa. You know - the safety fence...
Apparently you have tested it. And it won.

have only crashed at turn 1 and then the kink down the back straight before the hairpin and maybe going in to the esses in practice once, but thats all never down the front straight, Im never racing at Paeroa again it is too dangerous for me now

[Robert Taylor]

The Hump is a Hazard and will be the failing of any significant events ever coming there.
The Wall is not a safety device, unless the competitors safety is completely disregarded, as it seems to be with this particular wall, safe for the spectators not for the competitors maybe.

As I have said before and will say again, this is NOT the IOM or MANX GP, this is a purpose built race circuit, issues with walls and humps are not acceptable, and frankly to me shows the amateur style of the track designer and possibly others in its design.
I dont mind standing up at this point and saying I told you so, first time I saw this track I said this was going to be an issue and it is (albeit very sadly) I think from memory I was told I was wrong, clearly not.

As just a part of the equation of track safety how about having the bike setup so that its chassis is only minimally disturbed by that hump? Plenty of Superbikes have traversed that hump without too much chassis aggravation.
Im not justifying the hump or any intrasigence to either remove it etc but it seems to be overlooked that chassis setup may have been a mitigating factor of no insignificance.
Just last night at HD I readjusted the rear suspension of a trackday bike that had been maladjusted by a former racer who should have known better. Had it been ridden at race pace over that hump it too would have got into a tankslapper.
How many accidents are caused or majorly contributed to by badly setup bikes?

[Robert Taylor]

It is actually a very valid comparison. Hampton downs is a buisness run as a buisness taking money from customers to use the track.

I know people who have written letters to the track regarding safety issues there and have had NO response to the letters.

With the now Prooven safety issues there, the track management should CLOSE the track down untill it is made safe, instead of continuing to hire it out to cover there huge investment in building it, I know it takes money to make money, but not when the potentuall risk of it is as we have seen.

RIP TIM, thankyou for potentually helping to save others

Well then the same argument applies to the IOM, Irish road racing, Wanganui and Paeroa to name a few.

[Quasievil]

As just a part of the equation of track safety how about having the bike setup so that its chassis is only minimally disturbed by that hump? Plenty of Superbikes have traversed that hump without too much chassis aggravation.
Im not justifying the hump or any intrasigence to either remove it etc but it seems to be overlooked that chassis setup may have been a mitigating factor of no insignificance.
Just last night at HD I readjusted the rear suspension of a trackday bike that had been maladjusted by a former racer who should have known better. Had it been ridden at race pace over that hump it too would have got into a tankslapper.
How many accidents are caused or majorly contributed to by badly setup bikes?

Of course Robert youre right about this ,I know full well about the importance of bike set up, I learnt the hard way.
To be fair tho Im not sure many of us can afford a Ohlins setup but I know that most can afford a hour long cost for a set up guru to attend to a good set up on std suspension, something I really need on my R1 as its handling like poo

[Robert Taylor]

Of course Robert youre right about this ,I know full well about the importance of bike set up, I learnt the hard way.
To be fair tho Im not sure many of us can afford a Ohlins setup but I know that most can afford a hour long cost for a set up guru to attend to a good set up on std suspension, something I really need on my R1 as its handling like poo

My post was in no way intended to be a billboard for my services and products. The bike I readjusted at HD last night ( one of many ) had stock suspension and the person who adjusted it before me turned it into a potential death trap. Readjusting it minimised that risk.
This takes 10 minutes at most with nearly all bikes to get them into a proper zone of adjustment. Its not going to turn them into a well fettled bike with premium qualty pedigree aftermarket suspension but it makes a big difference nonetheless.

[Quasievil]

My post was in no way intended to be a billboard for my services and products.

I knew that bro, wasnt meant to read that way.
next time youre up can ya text me and figure my one out?

[Billy]

have only crashed at turn 1 and then the kink down the back straight before the hairpin and maybe going in to the esses in practice once, but thats all never down the front straight, Im never racing at Paeroa again it is too dangerous for me now

Really,So you didnt crash the first GSXR750 you raced there after fitting Simon Turners derestricted gear shift sensor ???

[gixerracer]

Really,So you didnt crash the first GSXR750 you raced there after fitting Simon Turners derestricted gear shift sensor ???

Not down the front no, it was after the second hump doqn the back i run wide at the kink and crashed ended up at the hairpin with bike on top of me

[Tony.OK]

So hows this corner different to the "dangerous" corner at Puke that so many say is a death trap? Or is it just a newer version of the same?

Just curious

[Quasievil]

So hows this corner different to the "dangerous" corner at Puke that so many say is a death trap? Or is it just a newer version of the same?

Just curious

Its the same, Puke is another track with stupid walls to close to it

[DEATH_INC.]

So hows this corner different to the "dangerous" corner at Puke that so many say is a death trap? Or is it just a newer version of the same?

Just curious

It's a fair bit different (I'm assuming you're talking about the 'hill' at puke?) but all too much the same. Have you not ridden hampton Tony?
For those that haven't, you crest the hill on the front 'straight' at 220-230ish kph over this 'hump' which will get a superbike/fast 600 airborn a few inches, at least the front will come up, then the track has a light/medium r/h turn that you take flat out (4th/5th gear on the 10) around 250kph?- but there is no runoff to the concrete wall on the outside.
At Puke, the corner is on the crest of a small hill you come over it at (3rd gear) 160ish kph? (someone can correct me here, I've only done puke once...) at full lean (knee on the ground etc) again, almost no runoff to the armco barrier.

How's that sound to you guys?
The speeds are my best guess, I don't really ride around looking at the speedo....

[DEATH_INC.]

I think the difference is that it's fairly easy to crash at puke pushing it around the corner, but at hampton you'd have to be pushing pretty hard for the actual corner to be a problem.