Noise is getting the better of us!

[Kickaha]

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.

Was there a change in the weather or level of cloud cover?

[Mental Trousers]

Was there a change in the weather or level of cloud cover?

Weather conditions can have quite a major affect on sound levels.

For instance wind causes refraction of sound waves so that people downwind will have sound bent down towards them, meaning they hear it louder than they normally would. While people upwind hear less noise because the sound waves are bent upwards by the wind gradient.

Similar thing with hot days - refraction due to the heat gradients causes sound to bend upwards, away from listeners. So hot afternoons are quieter but evening (when the gradient reverses) are louder.

Humidity as well.

Thing is, the further away you are the greater the affect so sound measurement near the track shouldn't be affected by weather conditions unless the change is very significant.

Having an independent crowd sitting beside the Council's guy taking their own measurements sounds like a good idea to me.

[Voltaire]

I suppose I could ring up Neil Savory at Noise Control Services and ask how much to come to do it. Maybe the 'test' day would be a good time. The problem is that as you say its that there are so many external variables like cloud, temp, wind etc.
Maybe the Council might like to attend and give certs out for a pass.....yeah right...then the onus would be on them.

[gatch]

Was there a change in the weather or level of cloud cover?

Not so significant for me too notice. It was cloudy and humid all weekend.

[RobGassit]

I agree some of the bikes are really loud, and there are lot's of easy ways to quieten them without power loss. A simple tailpipe bend away from the test or towards the ground would be the most basic. But Graham Harris or Mr Mckintosh would have half a dozen easy fixes. What I don't like is the sledgehammer way it's been handled and the lack of consistency.If they want to play hard ball, then we should at least keep them honest. No reading is valid with 2 bikes being read at the same time for instance. Sending people home who have waited all year for this event and who passed sound checks on friday is not the Kiwi way! If we let this slide,,what's next?

[p.dath]

I can't help but feel this is the end of anything serious happening at Pukekohe. It's a shame we missed the proposed plan change last march, otherwise we could have made a lot of submissions opposing it.

Anyway, this is the original proposal that was adopted:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/E...nchange32.aspx
And this is the overall district plan that it was incorporated into:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/E...trictplan.aspx

I don't like the change at all. It's not just the noise, but they have gone so far as to put limits on the types of racing. For example, the drifters are only allowed to race a maximum of 6 times a year. Weather you support the noise limit or not - should the council really be starting to create regulations saying what kind of racing is allowed? No.


I can't help but feel someone from the Counties horse racing club has made it onto one of the local council boards and put this forward.

[p.dath]

How do you measure the 95db figure? I know from the UK, it varies i.e decibel meter must be 15 meters from the bike and the reading is taken at 6k rpm or something along those lines to determine a pass or a fail. Would be good to know!

Reading the regulations, it says the sound is to be measured 30m from the track at a right angle to it.

[Billy]

I agree some of the bikes are really loud, and there are lot's of easy ways to quieten them without power loss. A simple tailpipe bend away from the test or towards the ground would be the most basic. But Graham Harris or Mr Mckintosh would have half a dozen easy fixes. What I don't like is the sledgehammer way it's been handled and the lack of consistency.If they want to play hard ball, then we should at least keep them honest. No reading is valid with 2 bikes being read at the same time for instance. Sending people home who have waited all year for this event and who passed sound checks on friday is not the Kiwi way! If we let this slide,,what's next?

Problem is,If you try to play hardball with them,Then they'll do what they did to manfeild back in the early nineties,Station an officer at the gate and the minute he gets a reading over 85db then they have the power to shut the meeting down

[jellywrestler]

For example, the drifters are only allowed to race a maximum of 6 times a year. Weather you support the noise limit or not - should the council really be starting to create regulations saying what kind of racing is allowed? (

really? the problem with drift cars is they make two types of noise, engine noise and tyre noise chuck in the crowd yeehaaing as as soon as a pubescent teen sees smoke they've got to yelp and screech then you've got another noise to contend with that's quite different to other race vechiles
Worse than this though is the smoke that drifts from the track, who wants to go shopping and come out to a heavy pall of rubber smoke?

[Grumph]

Problem is,If you try to play hardball with them,Then they'll do what they did to manfeild back in the early nineties,Station an officer at the gate and the minute he gets a reading over 85db then they have the power to shut the meeting down

True - and it happened at Levels a few years back when the locals started getting stroppy. Only time I've ever seen a track PA taken off because it was too loud at the boundary....
Timaru is slowly fighting back to where it was pre restrictions - mainly thanks to the strong lobbying of the Timaru business association who saw a massive drop in accomodation profits.
Obviously this isn't going to happen at puke as the local business community seems to be changing to a dormitory suburb of Akl.

From down here in the south I got the impression that this was one of the reasons Hampton Downs went ahead....the motorsports community could see the Franklin racing club pulling the pin on Puke in the near future....true ?

[budda]

Every MNZ member Club was issued an approved Noise Meter SEVERAL YEARS ago, for all the above reasons ....... suggest all racers ask their own Club to not only bring the meter to the next meeting, but USE the thing - odds are the reading will not be identical to the Councils, but will still give a good indication as to whether the bike is close enough to the limit to warrant a bit of attention in the attenuation department. Forewarned IS fore-armed ..............
Your average used lawnmower runs pretty close to the limit, my EX would be black-flagged if/WHEN she arced up too !!!!!!!!!!

[p.dath]

really? the problem with drift cars is they make two types of noise, engine noise and tyre noise chuck in the crowd yeehaaing as as soon as a pubescent teen sees smoke they've got to yelp and screech then you've got another noise to contend with that's quite different to other race vechiles
Worse than this though is the smoke that drifts from the track, who wants to go shopping and come out to a heavy pall of rubber smoke?

There aren't any shops around the track to go shopping at ... That's the whole point, the track isn't near anything.

[p.dath]

I just had an interesting idea.

I was just reading the RMA guide that says what powers the coucils have to make enforcements:
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/...y/enforcement/

It says:

Under the RMA, regional and district councils have to monitor activities, and respond to complaints about those activities that people feel are negatively affecting the environment.

According to the RMA act, the envinroment is:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/p...html#DLM230272

environment includes—
(a) ecosystems and their constituent parts, including people and communities; and
(b) all natural and physical resources; and
(c) amenity values; and
(d) the social, economic, aesthetic, and cultural conditions which affect the matters stated in paragraphs (a) to (c) or which are affected by those matters

amenity values means those natural or physical qualities and characteristics of an area that contribute to people's appreciation of its pleasantness, aesthetic coherence, and cultural and recreational attributes

Then I had an interesting 180 degree idea. What about if I made a complaint about the residents use of their properties around the track, in the same way that they made a complaint about the use of the track?

I feel the residents are negatively affecting the racing environment (specifically part (b) of the definition above) at the track by failing to take adequate consideration of the environment they were moving into when they purchased their properties, and then disturbed and interfered with that existing environment by bringing pressure on the council to change the existing environment to suit their needs without consideration for those already enjoying that existing environmental.

The council would then have a duty to monitor weather the racing environment was indeed being interfered with by the local residents. I think a request to protect the said environment (aka the track) could reasonably be considered for inclusion in the district plan.

[jellywrestler]

my EX would be black-flagged if/WHEN she arced up too !!!!!!!!!!

From what everyones' told me it would've been Black Flag Flyspray wouldn't it Budda?

[jellywrestler]

There aren't any shops around the track to go shopping at ... That's the whole point, the track isn't near anything.

maybe you should go there one day, they're just metres away down Wrightson way, don't think they're removable or inflatable





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