Wakefield has just cancelled all track days til September. Will it survive?

[PranK]

This sucks; https://www.speedcafe.com/2022/07/14/court-decision-delivers-hammer-blow-to-wakefield-park-future/

They'll likely be more expensive now also and who knows what the future holds. 

Just got new camber plates and semis and was hoping to go down in the next few weeks.

 

[GTSBoy]

They either have to religiously stick below the dB limits or just sell the track to developers and give up.

Having said that, there is noise about a great deal of grumbling wrt the rather savage effect this has had on all the related businesses in Goulburn. The hotels, etc. Apparently pretty chopped their businesses down in one fell swoop. Apparently there might be some NIMBYs told to pull their heads in by council.

Defo a wait and see for the moment.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Clearly the cows, sheep, bin chickens, wild flowers are really upset about the noise.

Council, or whoever they are, aren't very smart. Goulburn's livelihood is dependent on track racers such as myself. We would go down there for a weekend, eat/drink hire accommodation buy things at the local shops/Supercheap etc.

Not very smart for their economy, good on them for standing up for their rights. Good on ya Gary and Karen. 

 

[PranK]

Yeah absolutely. They copped it hard when the Goulburn bypass was built and this gives them another opportunity to attract business. 

Sound must travel quite well around there because there really is not much around it. 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

They will so realise how much of a dumb decision it was.. and by then it would have been too late.

Not long ago when we were down there, my friends and I were approached by the "GSK" aka Goulburn Sick Kients (no joke)... bogans on bicycles with mullets. Anyhow, asked me to rev the car, I gave them a good dose of dose & anti-lag... they loved it. I suppose that noise must have travelled from Wakefield Park all the way into town.

I apologise in advance from 4 years ago.

 

[Duncan]

Well, this is worth a read to get the facts from both sides https://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/7820901/appalling-outcome-wakefield-hits-out-at-court-ruling/

Wakefield put in a DA to expand, at which point it was noted they had been breaching noise limits for years. Council came to a best compromise they could under state noise rules which Wakie didn't agree to. So Wakie took council to the Land and Environment court, won the case, but got tighter restrictions than council offered.....so basically, tactical mistake after tactical mistake from the track, they just keep digging their hole deeper.

Its bad news for us, half the reason we moved to this part of the world was because the track is nearby.  On the other hand, its so quiet out here we can hear noise from 10klm away so I'm not surprised there are residents around who are not happy.

Bottom line, motorsport is a bad neighbour and the best thing it can do to be accepted is get quieter, fast. It's not such a big deal to have a muffled race car, and in 10 years time 90% of cars will be electric anyway....just time for them to move into the future.

[PranK]

I wonder if there is noise absorbing materials they could build into the straight wall or something... Surely there are methods for dropping the db's.

 

[The Bogan]

Sound waves are like shock waves, they will just "climb over" any wall you throw up

Mufflers, Db restrictions and no external gates are the way of the future if you want to keep it under control 

Local council doesn't care about the pittance of funds that come into the are from track days, opening up blocks that they can get a yearly rate from is more beneficial to them

The only saving grace would be that the land in close proximity be only opened as commercial, but that will not happen

Local commercial businesses are struggling in Goulburn and Braidwood, so there is no point in opening up more, halfway between there and nowhere

Unless you open up a exhaust shop inside the track maybe......nope

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Motorsports just sucks in NSW in general, there SFA tracks around. I remember Oran Park skid pan days were great, $80 ~ $100 the entire day per car. 

Sure Eastern Creek is a motorsport park, but it's not affordable for most young enthusiasts. 

Now Wakefield with their 4x event per month limit will just mean hiring the track would be even more expensive.

At this rate, getting a motion simulator seems like a better investment.

[WalkyHR31]

Its a bummer but a great track. I have been going there since it opened and love it, Currently run a HR31 Skyline with 2 mufflers due to receiving a nice letter from the EPA 2 years ago (noise complaint!). Still get the lovely RB sound inside and out but well under 95 db.

Not necessary to have open exhausts or screamers. if we want to keep going there for great fun then this is a small price to pay.