Yes he did, and of course it was tried once. The complete lack of run off at the end of the reversed back straight caught a few out, in fact through the fence into the paddock. Today it would be through the shopping centre. The old loop and the reverse run onto pit straight were pretty good, but again the corner at the top of the hill going into the reversed esses was also a bit short on run off and a bit off camber.
I watched Puke being built and went to every meeting run there from its opening until 1970 when I missed a few when I was oversesas, and then from 1971 to 1980 when I went overseas for 16 years. Looking at photos taken through the mid eighties and early ninties on here, I can't get over how run down the place became. Still a bit rough today, and that bridge has ruined spectating, but I have seen some awesome racing there over the years. Hampton Downs is great, I just hope it improves with age, I am sure it will.