Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Never been to Australia or New Zealand, but just got done watching MacTv the dirt and New Zealand, and man guys complain about ruts around here, that tracks was nothing but ruts. are the tracks always like that down there? it seems like everytime i see the show the cars are bouncing all over.

I have often wondered the same thing.  I love that TV show, but man o man, do something with those tracks.  I'll say this, those guys can motor around those tracks pretty damn good.  They know the set-ups for that type track.

Western Springs in Auckland NZ has been probably the worst culprit in past few seasons with developing car killing size ruts. The promotor had tried a couple of different mixes of clay to try and cure it but have now contracted out the track prep, the new contractor did a couple of meetings at the end of last season and the signs were promising so we are hoping for big improvements this year with them running the program for the entire season...... 

how many cars do they get a race there? if a track was like that around her consistantly there would be 2 cars that would show up. how many tracks does NZ have?

If toilets & whirlpools go clockwise down under, shouldn't they reverse the sprint car races????

Unfortunately The Dirt tv show only covers one track (Western Springs, NZ) and as GMAC has said, that place has been a car killing hole for two seasons. But its where the prize money, the international drivers/car owners, the tv coverage and the sponsors are so racers have to suck it up. If you think that sounds like a rough deal for drivers thats because it is!

That being said, The Springs has the best Midget and most of the best Sprintcar drivers in NZ. I think they might be one of the only tracks in the world still running a full field of top quality Midgets on a weekly basis. 

There are plenty of other tracks in NZ that have great track prep, the difference is most NZ tracks would be around about a 1/5 mile, very narrow and more suited to full contact stockcar racing. There would be about 5 Speedways good for open wheel racing, Western Springs, Baypark Speedway (1/4 Mile and the biggest/widest track in NZ), Kihikihi Speedway, Ruapuna Speedway and Cromwell Speedway. Baypark runs full field pill draw then inverted heat races, up to 24 cars on track for 2 heats and the main event. Youtube will have plenty of vids of each track.

All up there are around 25 genuine tracks and 10 backyard home built tracks, anywhere in NZ you are never more than an hour so away from a race track and in most cases a 2 hour drive could get you to 3 or 4 different tracks, pretty dense country of racing.

next summer we are thinking of making the trip over to either Aussie, or NZ which is better talent wise? which is the better racing? how many of those 35 tracks in NZ race sprints?

I assume you mean NZ and Aussie summer? Around Dec - Feb? The simple answer is Aussie will easily provide the better Sprintcar racing. I would suggest looking into the World Series Sprintcar Speedweek, takes place over Christmas/New years based in the states of South Australia and Victoria.

However, the crown jewel event in Aussie and in my opinion very close second to Knoxville globally, is the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic at Premier Speedway, which is 3 nights of racing on a super racey banked quarter mile bull ring. We went a couple years ago and there were 120 cars entered, 115 showed up, 99% 410s, 20 American drivers from all round the USA, Cali guys, Posse, Outlaws, Midwest, ASCS, true Outlaws, basically a whos who of Sprintcars. Last year the final big race took rubber, so after TK took the win he did some wild donuts and rolled the car so everyone forgot about the rubber down race! That was the first time ive seen that race take rubber in the main so dont count on it happening again.

The added bonus of going to The Classic is if you go two days earlier you can go to the Presidents Cup and Kings Challenge at reasonably nearby tracks, Avalon Raceway and Borderline Speedway. These are both the equivilant of the Capitani Classic at Knoxville as most of the Classic teams use it as a shakedown but still some great racing to watch, again on bull ring quarter miles.

There is nothing in NZ that can compare Sprintcar or Midget wise to that. But I will say if you are looking at taking in a variety of racing, NZ during that Xmas/New years time is very busy be it International Midgets at The Springs, Sprintcars at Baypark, plus a few of NZ's other big $$$ classes like Super Saloons (Late Models) and Superstocks (550hp, 3000lb, bumper cars) and the quality of the cars and racing is generally very good.

Bit off topic but . . .

Heres a few pics of one of the best Speedway facilities in the world. The red clay terracotta of Baypark.

The Saloon class, around 500hp, some very professional teams around despite intention to be a budget class. At least they look good.

The track struggles to fill the seats more than 1/4 full other than Fireworks nights, NZ Championships and Gimmick nights.

January this year was the first time the infield was dug up to create a world first, stadium based JetSprint track. The event was a huge success, upwards of 18000 people attended. The infield was filled in and the normal Speedway events resumed.

And you just have to love race tracks with a rugby pitch in the infield. . . .

www.manvelmotorsports.com

Hey nzsprint the classic last year was a bit of an anti-climax race the  feature race didnt take rubber they worked the track after the B mains & turned it into a tacky one lane freight train.  thats why it was such a boring race it was poor form by the track crew as the 2 B mains before the feature were the best races of the event slide job galore & the track was never going to take rubber. It did however rubber up in the a main on preliminary night 1 on the bottom.

This year in Oz i dont think world series will be as good as previous years most big names/teams arent doing it anymore as the cost of running is on the up & prizemoney down.  i think most teams are heading towards Sydney/parramatta or valvoline raceway to race the track championship as there prizemoney is on the up with a new promoter & owner some really big improvements at the track with a permenant big screen. The classic week in OZ is the best time for racing start at sydney for the Darley memorial race then travel south to avalon wednesday night, Mt Gambier thursday & classic friday ,saturday & sunday

Great thread. Thanks to all who posted. Enjoy anything sprint car related. Also we get to see JA often here in CA and, "The Dirt " has let us see that NZ, AUS got some great shows too.

Peace, Out.

from: central coast of cali.

Multipurpose stadiums are quite common in NZ, you should have seen the faces of the rugby fanatics when they saw their precious rugby field destroyed for the Jetboat track. Being able to host events in the racing offseason helps stadium owners during a time when a normal single purpose speedway track would have no income.

Western Springs Speedway during an ACDC concert in 2010.

Palmerston North Speedway during NZ's biggest speedway event of the season. The NZ Superstock Teams Champs. Also the home of the local Rugby team during the winter.

Hi Aussie, one lane of rubber or one lane of tacky, either way a shame for the fans and drivers. Perhaps the track crew were worried about rubber after the prelim night and over compensated the next night.

I didnt see the Darley was the weekend before Classic week but that makes for an epic Sprintcar trip.

So Valvoline Sydney Speedway for the Darley Memorial 16th and 17th Jan, then 21st Presidents Cup at Mount Gambier, 22nd Kings Challenge at Avalon then 23rd, 24th and 25th at The Classic.

The Darley will be huge just reading the tracks website, the possibility of a driver to take out $57,000 over two nights, that will draw all the big hitters. Similar style purse to the Fall Brawl that Wayne Johnson took out.

Great to hear Sydney is coming back to its former greatness, used to go to the 50k race often. With no disrespect intended, I think the race may have lost a bit of its marketability to the general public by not being promoted as 50k to win, but certainly a great tribute to Scott Darley.