More *hoon Events :)* At Sandown.

[SKY031]

......aaaaaaaand i'm back

Speed related deaths are not what we are talking about...

We are talking about illegal drag racing

As you can see, those 2 links I provided are in relation to deaths on Melbourne streets, due to (your words, and the medias) "illegal drag racing".

This is where I begin to take issue with the media.

Drag racing is a sport.

An ACTUAL sport.

"Illegal drag racing" is a term the media has created in an attempt to further glorify what these idiots do.

The term "illegal drag racing" shouldn't even exist.

It's street racing, plain and simple.

Drag racing has nothing to do with anything, if someone fancies themselves to be a drag racer, they'll go to the track and willingly put their money where their mouth is.

Otherwise, they're not a drag racer, they're just a wanker.

..but let's move on from that, because that's just me being pedantic about the way that the media have to put their own spin on everything.

Do F1 drivers go to the streets? No because they have access to testing grounds and tracks which they can use at their disposal.

This is where the point seems to go too far over peoples heads.....

So what if they have access to testing grounds and tracks?

Why should they use them?

Why should they have to travel to get there, when there's public roads so much closer to their homes that they could be using?

As for the plane example, same thing.

You may see it as being a whole other issue, but is it really?

If you had a plane, and you wanted to loop the loop in front of all your mates, but you couldn't afford to hire a bus to transport everyone to eg; Bangalore, would you set them up with a BBQ in your backyard and tell them "wait here, i'll be back in 2 hours to show you what i can do" ?

I'm not trying to argue over anything, I'm just telling it how it is, and people are getting offended by the truth.

If people want to involve themselves in a sport, then I encourage them to do it, and to do it safely.

If people don't want to involve themselves in a sport, they shouldn't make an ass of themselves by pretending that they're a legend in said sport, when in fact they would never actually have the balls to participate at a competitive level.

If people feel so strongly about this, why isn't anyone actively doing anything?

"Let's email a local newspaper, that'll do lots"

The newspaper is not on the side of enthusiasts, because they now equate enthusiasts with hoons.

Is there anything stopping people from raising money via sponsors etc, buying a big block of land away from residential housing in the SE and buildling a purpose built drag track?

.....anything other than the knowledge that it simply wouldn't get used?

If any business thought for an instant, that there was a buck or two to be made, someone would have jumped on it already.

[Sarumatix]

I don't know if you blinker yourself on purpose, but most things I see labeled as "illegal drag racing" are far from that. In any case all of what you have to say is completely irrelevent to my point which you agreed with. And that is that adequate facilities to participate in an activity legally are sure to reduce (if not remove) a problem that was occuring illegally. Surely you can agree there is a problem with "illegal drag racing"and then surely that makes you wonder if perhaps more facilities are needed for people to enjoy this activity legally?

I don't contest that such things are not simple and probably a lot more expensive than say skate parks, but for me personally calder winton and philip island are all bloody miles away even for driving where as I can walk to a skate park and ride to a second. We have no skateboarding on the streets issues anymore. I'm not claiming the evidence is concrete or the solution easy, i'm just saying it doesn't take a genius to see the connection. Are you argueing for the sake of it now?

Edited February 6, 2007 by Sarumatix

[assyrian4evaa]

I don't know if you blinker yourself on purpose, but most things I see labeled as "illegal drag racing" are far from that. In any case all of what you have to say is completely irrelevent to my point which you agreed with. And that is that adequate facilities to participate in an activity legally are sure to reduce (if not remove) a problem that was occuring illegally. Surely you can agree there is a problem with "illegal drag racing"and then surely that makes you wonder if perhaps more facilities are needed for people to enjoy this activity legally?

I don't contest that such things are not simple and probably a lot more expensive than say skate parks, but for me personally calder winton and philip island are all bloody miles away even for driving where as I can walk to a skate park and ride to a second. We have no skateboarding on the streets issues anymore. I'm not claiming the evidence is concrete or the solution easy, i'm just saying it doesn't take a genius to see the connection. Are you argueing for the sake of it now?

basically the government and media are saying that we have a problem (and we do) but they're not willing to invest in fixing it... so it wont just dissapear IT IS a problem and the government NEEDS to spend alot of time and money fixing it

[SKY031]

I don't know if you blinker yourself on purpose, but most things I see labeled as "illegal drag racing" are far from that.

I thought that was aimed at my post for a second, then I realised it couldn't be, because if it was, you obviously hadn't read what I had to say in relation to the term "illegal street drags".

[inark]

looks like it went over YOUR head K. You used a poor example of F1 drivers and pilots... all of which are governed more and have more access to their own playgrounds then everyone else and THAT IS THE POINT. Think of a better example and then state it because no matter what you say regarding those two is not going to work.

Like i said... F1 drivers and Pilots not only have plenty of space to do their own thing but they are governed by far stricter laws, testing and regulations that apart from extremist muslims and any other kind of terrorists your hardly going to see pilots causing major incidents and even if they did decide to show off its not like theres a whole lot of traffic or pedestrians in the air is there?

So lets move on from that little comparison.

And oh yes its as simple as buying a block of land and doing it away from houses... wtf? it costs around $20m dollars according to the government to build a track (im sure its exagerated but i doubt it would be much less to make a diff)... theres no point building a purely dedicated drag strip... why not revamp sandown, put 10m into creating a drag/drift circuit in it... something.

i hardly think raising that money through a bloody bake sale or fundraiser and a few crummy sponsors is going to do it... unless you want a 1000sqm drag strip to do nothing but 0-50kmh on.

Its not something to be looked at to save or make money, its to help stop the behaviour we are seeing on the streets... whether or not you think it would work or not is irrelevant.

The government should at least try and do something rather then sitting on their arse and creating more totalitarian laws to give the police the power to take peoples cars on a whim. That will stop it... riiight.

[SKY031]

Nothing has gone over my head, my comparisons aren't far fetched at all, if you can't see the correlation, don't cry about it, let's move on.

It's pretty funny to watch people jumping on the bandwagon of "it's the governments fault and they should do something", when this has nothing to do with the government.

Why would it?

How many public access race tracks are government owned?

I never said anything about the answer being simple, so please, don't be another one of these stooges who has to take everything I say out of context, and then twist my words into something totally different.

20 million dollars sounds like a bit of a stretch, but let's say that's an accurate figure. I'm quite obviously not talking about a bake sale here, I'm sure you're aware of that much at least.

When "Mr.Average Joe" wants to be pro-active and do something positive to try and get a project like this off the ground, Mr.Joe doesn't sit around on the net whinging that "it's not faaaaair".

Mr.Joe gets off his butt and does a bit of research, environmental impact studies, cost breakdowns, legal protection etc, and other relevant stuff like road toll info, social impact studies, and rough current costings per head of population to show how much money each individual is currently contributing to things such as TAC rehabilitation.

Mr.Joe then puts all the information together in a nice little package, and approaches corporate sponsors (with cakes and muffins, if that's what it takes) to tell them why they need to get in on the ground floor with their project.

..but this won't happen, because it's easier to complain about things than to actually do something.

As for "it's not about making money", of course it is.

No-one in their right mind is going to sponsor a project which isn't going to make money.

Nobody will sink their valuable funds into helping to provide a resource which is going to have ongoing out of pocket expenses.

...as for your comments re Sandown, it has been explained, many times, that it simply will not happen.

P.S,

I am not personally responsible for the fact that it won't happen at Sandown, so there's no point in showing anger towards me on the issue.

[Sarumatix]

Government roads yes? Government law enforcement? It's a social problem, it affects everyone.

I didn't read you post, if you look at the times I don't think your post was there when I typed mine so *shrug* .

Anyway, I think your attitude of this shouldn't be discussed here because the only way to solve it annoys me because this is a general forum for car enthusiast in Victoria and this is an issue which affects car enthusiasts in Victoria. Sure we don't mod our cars or drive our cars on these forums, but this is a place where we come to talk about what we do. We all know it's not as simple as bang some road down and let the games begin, but why be mr frumpy pants about the concept?

I don't see why a few million into some big sound barriers much like what is around the freeway couldn't fix the problem and I doubt they would inturpt the neighbours views? Where there is a will there is a way, why stop yourself before you even get started?

[inark]

lol i finally found the paper to have a read... mine was slightly edited... i guess it was a little too long to fit

altho one bit i wrote wrong and came out sounding bad haha should have proof read it before i sent it... probably should have done it from home instead of at work rushing.

[STATUS]

hahaha just saw this thread; here was my response.

Travis Parnaby,

I read with great interest your front page article “Racing against crime”. Having immersed myself in the car scene for over twenty years, with many visits back in the day to some of these “illegal” gatherings in Dandenong and Avalon I can assure you that a regular legal event would make all the difference, but the suggested bi annual events will do nothing. It is great to have the Easter Nats once a year but if one is to believe that a once or bi yearly event is enough to blow off steam they are sadly mistaken. The only way to make a substantial impact is to have either fortnightly or weekly meets after hours, which coincided with average Joes pay pack (thus, Fri.). This brings me to what I believe will be the biggest issue, will sandowns surrounding residents prefer a/h noise or street drags? These same people who complain about the illegal hoons will soon have to decide whether noise or safety is the bigger evil.

Having tried to hold legal drift racing events at Sandown with zero success I eagerly await the response to regular legal drag events. We campaign a drift car (previously covered in the journal) in the national series and have seen the need for an eastern based Motorsport park for many years as many cannot afford the same luxury as us (the budget to travel to race legally). We find that the major hurdle to holding a legal event at Sandown is actually the same people who complain about their safety will then complain about the noise coming from Sandown.... a lose lose situation.

I believe the real issues lie with the greater Dandenong council, its chief executives and whether they can decide which is more beneficial as a whole, listening to complaints of residents (who bought property near a raceway, their choice) or the calls regarding the more recent and disturbing events at Noble Park concerning overall public safety.

I by no means condone the behaviour of these people at the noble park riots as it was deplorable behaviour but, we must remember that there were more than just the media has labelled “hoons” present. Many of those present from eye witness reports did not even make the legal driving age little own a car. It was just an excuse to hang out and cause trouble. By moving these congregations to a controlled environment like Sandown i am sure we can eliminate repeat occurrences.

I must also add that I find it amusing that one of your readers took the time to write in and blame “immature’ hoons for this trouble and mention that it is car accessory and workshop owners fault that they behave like they do and that no matter where you move them too the riots will soon follow, this is utter rubbish. Ever since the second mass produced car was produced back in the early 1900’s both males and females have wanted to pair up to compete, it is human nature. No matter the state no matter the country people have ALWAYS taken it upon themselves to race illegally or legally. The recent Hoon legislation is proof of this, no matter the restrictions the racing will always prevail. Most of these guys do the work I their own garages, much like the way it was done 40-50 years ago. The amount of stories I have heard from generations of friends, family and complete strangers that used to cruise and race the boulevards of Geelong and Melbourne way back in the early 50’s would fill countless scrap books and the famous names now in positions of power would stun many, so wakeup this is not a new problem it is only now a matter of urgency because of numbers (there are more cars and more people due to population growth). This population growth has not been considered when providing adequate facilities to keep them under control, I cannot for the life of me remember a riot at any of the Calder off street meets or any major motoring event in any state I have attended or sponsored.

Regards

Trent Hewitson

Concerned Noble Park resident.

[email protected]

www.driftcat.com

Edited February 8, 2007 by URAS