PUKEKOHE

[stubuchanan]

Don't talk to me about whinging Poms!!! The Roaring Season has turned into a whinge season!

If I have to pay rates to the wonderful new Auckland Council, I am more than happy to have some of it and of everybody else's go towards something I could actually get enjoyment out of. What they are spending is small change compared to what public money gets spent in Oz on motor racing - local, state, and national government. If some of the facilities are third world or worse, some of you guys who might know some of the local movers and shakers should make the state of affairs known to them - perhaps someone may be shamed into improving them. There's a few months to go.

As for not being able to see all of the track, that's a luxury very few tracks have anyway. You see the bit in front of you at Bathurst, or Spa or Monza, and with a bit of luck you might have a "big screen" somewhere as well.

Now, on a slightly different note: the first ever motor race meeting at Pukekohe was the 1963 NZ Grand Prix on Saturday, January 5 1963. By a quirk of the calendar, January 5 2013 also falls on a Saturday - is anybody planning any sort of celebration for the circuit's 50th Anniversary?

Just wondered.

Stu

[Yeah yeah na]

Don't talk to me about whinging Poms!!! The Roaring Season has turned into a whinge season!

If I have to pay rates to the wonderful new Auckland Council, I am more than happy to have some of it and of everybody else's go towards something I could actually get enjoyment out of. What they are spending is small change compared to what public money gets spent in Oz on motor racing - local, state, and national government. If some of the facilities are third world or worse, some of you guys who might know some of the local movers and shakers should make the state of affairs known to them - perhaps someone may be shamed into improving them. There's a few months to go.

As for not being able to see all of the track, that's a luxury very few tracks have anyway. You see the bit in front of you at Bathurst, or Spa or Monza, and with a bit of luck you might have a "big screen" somewhere as well.

Now, on a slightly different note: the first ever motor race meeting at Pukekohe was the 1963 NZ Grand Prix on Saturday, January 5 1963. By a quirk of the calendar, January 5 2013 also falls on a Saturday - is anybody planning any sort of celebration for the circuit's 50th Anniversary?

Just wondered.

Stu

Gee, it would be great to see cars/drivers from that first meeting.......someone's thinking ahead,good on ya!!!

[Shano]

Don't talk to me about whinging Poms!!! The Roaring Season has turned into a whinge season!

Stu

Happy to be considered that but the points I make about Pukekohe have remained the same for 15 years, V8 supercars or not.

I post on here in frustration at the opportunity lost and the fact that the modifications made to the circuit last time only served to make things worse for most of the punters. Example: The Ford signs on the hill that make it impossible to see the track from large parts of the hill stand. Another: The pit garage complex that was so badly made that within a few years the structure was rotten and considered dangerous. Still is. Now how effing dumb is that and how hard would it have been to do it properly so it's an amenity available for the many, many people who use Pukekohe for the rest of the year?

It's about money being poorly spent on facilities that don't benefit the spectators. Pukekohe is much more than the V8s and what is there for spectators is so run down and dilapidated that it needs a thorough upgrade. What we've got is a few new corners and corporate stands.

The people complaining about the current upgrade are the ones who remember the past and can see it repeating. Why has Auckland council's tourism arm not been able to supply ANY analysis of where the benefits come from. How then have they been able to make decisions (behind closed doors, remember) relating to the upgrade of facilities?

You know why? Because the money comes from the people of Auckland who get in their cars and drive out to the circuit after paying a truckload for tickets. Yes, it also comes from corporate sponsors and those who enjoy the corporate facilities - but the spend is skewed to just one of these audiences.

I have no problem with them spending the money but I'd prefer it was spent properly and for the benefit of ALL Puke users.

(BTW: Tony Cochrane, who is quoted in all this PR stuff, has resigned from V8 supercars and the council is now negotiating and communicating with a private company).


Have you ever spent three days sitting in the hill stand? Walked through ankle deep urine swamp to get to overflowing portaloos? Sat in the birdshit covered "main stand?"