Pukekohe race track

**suzuki21** · 29th December 2006, 13:33

What happened was terrible, I dont like anyone from our sport getting injured/killed but....................
1. How many off you that dont want to race at Pukekohe have - or will be racing at Paeroa? This track is a disaster waiting to happen.
2. Every track will be dangerous no matter how it has been designed.
3. Is it a problem of people riding outside their ability? Too much hp Too soon?
4. Manfield had a death recently, shall they get rid off the front straight because thats where he crashed?
5. Chris Daws died on the Manfield front straight in the early 90's, all straights should be banned?????????
6. A friend of mine still has back injuries from sitting on the start line, lets ban starts.
7. I found Taupo way more dangerous than puke.
8. I love pukekoe, I find it exciting, and if all corners were banked, flat, with runoff etc, its just going to make the corner way faster - vicious circle.
9. The only thing I dont like about it is the amount of Aucklanders there.

**cowpoos** · 29th December 2006, 13:39

I agree that taupo has the ponteinual to be a very dangerous track for bikes..

time will tell if we are right...but I hope we arn't

**Shipwreck** · 29th December 2006, 19:30

I have to agree that all tracks have some element of danger in them. Some more than others, especially Puke for me. I'm another on the long list who has binned it coming up over the hill. I was more fortunate than most being able to walk away with only a few scraps and bruises.

Last time out I wasn’t so lucky. I messed up bad and went down hard at the end of the main strait (new track).It was later in Taupo hospital nursing my broken bones when it occurred to me that it could it could have been worse. I was lucky enough to stop on the grass but my bike slid over the grass an back on to the track. My worry is if you’re coming off the strait and into the chicane a little hot and go wide onto the grass and back on to the track. I can see a potential for getting T- Boned by someone coming back on or a bike sliding back on track and taking someone out.

I guess in the end all we can do is to try our best make our tracks as safe as we can, be wary of the existing danger areas on the track, and apply some kind of risk management when racing.

**Cleve** · 30th December 2006, 15:13

Originally Posted by suzuki21

What happened was terrible, I dont like anyone from our sport getting injured/killed but....................
1. How many off you that dont want to race at Pukekohe have - or will be racing at Paeroa? This track is a disaster waiting to happen.
2. Every track will be dangerous no matter how it has been designed.
3. Is it a problem of people riding outside their ability? Too much hp Too soon?
4. Manfield had a death recently, shall they get rid off the front straight because thats where he crashed?
5. Chris Daws died on the Manfield front straight in the early 90's, all straights should be banned?????????
6. A friend of mine still has back injuries from sitting on the start line, lets ban starts.
7. I found Taupo way more dangerous than puke.
8. I love pukekoe, I find it exciting, and if all corners were banked, flat, with runoff etc, its just going to make the corner way faster - vicious circle.
9. The only thing I dont like about it is the amount of Aucklanders there.

OK, some of your points are good but sometimes you are just being silly.
No one is saying that starts and back straights should be banned. What I and many other racers are saying is that Puke (and by the way please spare me the anti Auckland wank- it is so boring) is unnecessarily dangerous. When Kato hit the wall and died at Suzuka the MotoGP boys stopped racing there...When Ayrton Senna hit a wall and died they moved the wall and changed the track safety. That is basically all that is required at that spot. There is a bank that you can move for not too much cost and hassle and that would make a big difference. People wouldn't go faster around that corner (well maybe not much anyway). Most are pretty much at their limit in speed and lean angle. The WHOLE point is not that motor bike racing is dangerous and we should just get on with it but that certain parts of Puke (and last time I looked the thread was Pukekohe and not Taupo or Manfield - but we can talk track safety improvements there as well if you want) and in particular one corner, has a tragic history of numerous bad crashes as a result of high speed PLUS no runoff.

**k14** · 30th December 2006, 15:22

Yep cleve, thats exactly right. I can't see how people can say some of these things. Heck, half of them don't even race.

I can sympathise if they are worried about loosing their only local track to have a bit of a fang at a trackday once every couple of months but for us racers its a totally different scenario to take into account.

Some of us have put tens of thousands of dollars into racing for the ultimate goal of becoming national champion (and maybe going further). So when there is a nationals meet at puke we are more than compelled to race at the event cause even though we are not comfortable with it, not all of the people we are racing against do and so we are left with no option but to race.

It has already been proven countless times that the level of safety is far from ideal and in this age where safety is put above all things I can't belive nothing is being done to remedy it.

**k14** · 30th December 2006, 15:25

Originally Posted by suzuki21

What happened was terrible, I dont like anyone from our sport getting injured/killed but....................
1. How many off you that dont want to race at Pukekohe have - or will be racing at Paeroa? This track is a disaster waiting to happen.

In regards to that question, the big difference is that Paeroa is totally down to the person. There is no national championship that hinges on racing at Paeroa, it is totally down to the rider whether he/she races there. Whereas if you read my previous post you will see the explanation why you are compelled to race at puke.

**Cleve** · 2nd January 2007, 08:05

This report below is of interest. It is regards to Indianoplis in the USA having a round of the MotoGP.

<< The problem with the IMS Formula One layout is the right-hand final corner onto the front straight. With the track running clockwise, the F-1 cars face a wall on their left as they speed toward the finish line. Since this is unacceptable for motorcycles, FIM safety boss Claude Danis was tasked to find a solution...>>

Hmm sounds like Puke...