Noise is getting the better of us!

[Maido]

which one?

[Biggles08]

The sound level check point at Ruapuna is taken at Pothole . The left hander just past flag point 2. The highest reading at the Gp meeting was 94.3 decebels. It was from one of the 600 class bikes. Please don't ask which one .

ahem...

[FJRider]

I'd like to wave something at the neighbours..

Yes, it is my dick.

Short wave .... Classic ....

[Kiwi Graham:Me]

I'm off to pukekohe this afternoon with 2 bikes that have no silencers whatsoever. The norton has reverse cone megas and the douglas just has open pipes. It will be interesting seeing if the steward starts with the noise policing at the classics festival. Just about every single bike there will get the finger waved at them.

I'd like to wave something at the neighbours..

Yes, it is my dick.

The reality of this is setting in and was realised last weekend at the Classic Festival held at Pukekohe.

Auckland city council were in attendance following a huge amount of pressure from the neighbours. In addition Pukekohe Park also carried out its own noise testing.

One third of the entries had problems.

120 were black flagged!!!

Any Machine over 100dBA was excluded from the meeting on the spot……37 had to pack up and go!!!!

Any machine over 96dBA had one opportunity to reduce the dBA of their machine……80 were over this threshold.

As an aside……..(on a different) day a train recorded 98 dBA

We as racers, track day junkies and open practise day attendees need to take serious heed at the direction this is heading, this obviously applies to cars as well as bikes.

The organisers of events are going to have to police the noise issue vehemently otherwise circuits are going to loose their resource consent. A meeting could be stopped mid flow on the word of a council appointed noise control officer!!!!

If Puke looses motor sport it also looses the horse racing (one subsidises the other), if they go that a massive lose to the community of Pukekohe!

Clearly the focus is on Pukekohe at the moment but it is spreading far and wide, it only takes one complainant to open this can of worms. This will happen to a track near you and sooner rather than later.
Traditionally race circuits have been built out in the country side away from neighbours that may complain for obvious reasons. The trouble is more and more people are moving out to the countryside some within ‘earshot’ of our circuits but don’t share our passion. It’s these people that make more noise than we ever can; the trouble is the law is on their side and they know it.

[sharky]

The reality of this is setting in and was realised last weekend at the Classic Festival held at Pukekohe.

Auckland city council were in attendance following a huge amount of pressure from the neighbours. In addition Pukekohe Park also carried out its own noise testing.

One third of the entries had problems.

120 were black flagged!!!

Any Machine over 100dBA was excluded from the meeting on the spot……37 had to pack up and go!!!!

Any machine over 96dBA had one opportunity to reduce the dBA of their machine……80 were over this threshold.

As an aside……..(on a different) day a train recorded 98 dBA

We as racers, track day junkies and open practise day attendees need to take serious heed at the direction this is heading, this obviously applies to cars as well as bikes.

The organisers of events are going to have to police the noise issue vehemently otherwise circuits are going to loose their resource consent. A meeting could be stopped mid flow on the word of a council appointed noise control officer!!!!

If Puke looses motor sport it also looses the horse racing (one subsidises the other), if they go that a massive lose to the community of Pukekohe!

Clearly the focus is on Pukekohe at the moment but it is spreading far and wide, it only takes one complainant to open this can of worms. This will happen to a track near you and sooner rather than later.
Traditionally race circuits have been built out in the country side away from neighbours that may complain for obvious reasons. The trouble is more and more people are moving out to the countryside some within ‘earshot’ of our circuits but don’t share our passion. It’s these people that make more noise than we ever can; the trouble is the law is on their side and they know it.

Bloody hell, was there anyone left to race!

How much further away from the city can we get????

At least I know I am OK - Greg told me to make more noise as my bike is too quiet.

[Voltaire]

They were monitoring on the weekend at Puke, they put a list up of the over 97 Db and said to sort it, there were even some over 100 Db. On the Sunday briefing one rider whose son went around the track picked up lots of wire wool and fibreglass, an assortment of bolts and even a muffler ( very dangerous).....mind you I passed a battery on Sunday
Puke is now in Auckland and there is real pressure to contain the noise, the Steward of the meet said that if it can be lowered to less than 95DB race days could be numbered.
They said you were going to get one chance to sort it then off the track....not sure if this happened.
My observation was noise does not equal power....
No point complaining ( and there was a lot of that) that is what you get when you move near a track, it won't wash with the Council.

[Paul in NZ]

Part of the problem being that lots of the people that now live there derive no gain from having the track there as they work in town etc so if it goes they don't care. Locals that sell things because of the track are few so its an issue.

Loosing maybe the best internationally recognised motorsport event in NZ is just crazy!

[OnCam]

Im more than sure at 95db the angry neighbours are still going to hear the bloody things, it is a level that wont block out by shutting the window, yes it must be annoying but the noise is still going to be there regardless.

[trustme]

Some of the bikes out there were pharkin load. Straight through pipes with a real crack to them. We were told we could moan & complain all we like but we either quieten the noisy bikes or park em from now on. People will adapt, we have no choice
Does seem to be some variation in recordings, Graeme Cole was muttering that one of Nicks bikes had been fine on Friday & Sat but was too loud on Sunday, as he said that is kind of hard to get your head around

[RobGassit]

If the Council is taking the noise readings and using only that information as evidence for enforcement, we should have our own tests taken at the same time and place to keep them honest. Sounds like they can provide any evidence they feel like, and I'll bet if their are variations, their methodology may well be flawed. Perhaps we need to stand up to this evidence and challenge it's accuracy before they use this thin end of a wedge to Phuck us all over. I'll bet we can match any of their expert opinions with counter opinions from equally qualified people. I'll also bet there are loopholes in their powers to stop competitors without right of appeal or due process.

[jellywrestler]

How much further away from the city can we get????

There's a Warehouse right over the fence, they don't build in the wop wops now do they?

[jellywrestler]

If the Council is taking the noise readings and using only that information as evidence for enforcement, we should have our own tests taken at the same time and place to keep them honest. Sounds like they can provide any evidence they feel like, and I'll bet if their are variations, their methodology may well be flawed. Perhaps we need to stand up to this evidence and challenge it's accuracy before they use this thin end of a wedge to Phuck us all over. I'll bet we can match any of their expert opinions with counter opinions from equally qualified people. I'll also bet there are loopholes in their powers to stop competitors without right of appeal or due process.

They did produce a calibration cert for their machine and had an MNZ rep with them who should've kept them honest.
see Gatch's post further up, turning up to a metropolitan racetrack with straight pipes is really going to make any noise police unlikely to offer any sort of leniency really and there were loads of bikes there much the same.
The Brooklands Can was developed in the 1920's cause in some places things were getting noisy, NINETY YEARS later some people still haven't got it in their heads that it's an issue it seems...

[Voltaire]

If the Council is taking the noise readings and using only that information as evidence for enforcement, we should have our own tests taken at the same time and place to keep them honest. Sounds like they can provide any evidence they feel like, and I'll bet if their are variations, their methodology may well be flawed. Perhaps we need to stand up to this evidence and challenge it's accuracy before they use this thin end of a wedge to Phuck us all over. I'll bet we can match any of their expert opinions with counter opinions from equally qualified people. I'll also bet there are loopholes in their powers to stop competitors without right of appeal or due process.

I suppose you could pay Noise Control Services to come out for a second opinion. We used them battling the Council for chillers that were over 55 DB at the boundary. It was mentioned that they had a calibration cert. It was also mentioned that it was hard to do bikes in a group or pairs...
The equipment can often be influenced by buildings but thats not an issue at a track. My bike passed and there is nothing inside the muffler apart from a flat disc with holes drilled in it.....my mate said it was very quiet as I passed the stands....
I'm sure it can be overcome...but there may be some power losses on the older bikes..

[RDjase]

If the Council is taking the noise readings and using only that information as evidence for enforcement, we should have our own tests taken at the same time and place to keep them honest. Sounds like they can provide any evidence they feel like, and I'll bet if their are variations, their methodology may well be flawed. Perhaps we need to stand up to this evidence and challenge it's accuracy before they use this thin end of a wedge to Phuck us all over. I'll bet we can match any of their expert opinions with counter opinions from equally qualified people. I'll also bet there are loopholes in their powers to stop competitors without right of appeal or due process.

http://www.stylesgroup.co.nz/

[gatch]

They did produce a calibration cert for their machine and had an MNZ rep with them who should've kept them honest.
see Gatch's post further up, turning up to a metropolitan racetrack with straight pipes is really going to make any noise police unlikely to offer any sort of leniency really and there were loads of bikes there much the same.
The Brooklands Can was developed in the 1920's cause in some places things were getting noisy, NINETY YEARS later some people still haven't got it in their heads that it's an issue it seems...

The odd part of it all is the inconsistency of it all. Friday morning practice told us we were ok. In the afternoon we were 3 dB over with no changes.

Saturday morning practice we were 2 dB over, again with no changes. After sticking half a chicken coup, a dozen pot scrubbers and tying it all up with about 5 meters of lockwire on each pipe, were 94.8dB.

And our bike with straight pipes was 92dB..

It was a bit ratshit to see so many people sitting out races, but they were unable to adapt.. Bugger.