Silvia Club of NSW

I just read in the sunday paper (yes i know im a bit late) that oran park is being built out by housing developers.

It's just another track being shut down, right when we could use more of them (and im sure the police would agree) to get the "hoons" off the streets and give the rest of us a place to have fun.

My hope is that another track will be built to replace it sooner rather than later, though i doubt it will ever give us the same feeling as driving OP did.

-kyle

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R31 the dislexics S13

there will be new tracks built, and there are other options already.

How many of the people complaining that it's "keeping speeding on the streets" have ever used oran park, or any of the other tracks for that matter?

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

did you cut and paste that from one of Brenton's posts?

I'm surprised you're not upset about it,with the track being the only place people should drive their cars,the loss of one of the whole 3 available tracks anywhere near Sydney would cut your driving time down considerably I would think.

I'm VERY disappointed that Oran is closing and I've only driven there a couple of times.

What are these other options btw? is there somewhere other than wakefield and eastern creek that the track zealots have been keeping to themselves?

if there's a replacement in the works,where is it and what's the layout going to be? you'd be one of the ones to ask after all.


Justin...

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STI - Made in Texas,not Japan.

v8's have been signed to run in 08 there so it'll be around for a bit yet but it is my favourite track for drift

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brett | reaper

Not at all. Of course I'm disappointed that Oran Park is closing, but Oran Park is the track I've been on least - not because I don't like it, but because I always seem to end up at Wakefield or Eastern Creek due to timing, and the people who run most of the events choosing those tracks.

With Wakefield and Eastern Creek within easy reach of Sydney, it's one of the easier places in the world to live and get on a race track.

I've never said that the track is the only place to drive, but realistically it's the only place where you can really explore a car's limits without greatly endangering yourself and others - or risking your licence, and a lot of money.
I'll always enjoy a good fang down a mountain road, but the amount of "driving" you can do on a track is orders of magnitude higher, and to me it's a lot more rewarding.

What I find dumb though is that people who have never bothered to go to the track before will use the closing of Oran Park as an excuse for "hooning" on the street.
Three tracks in easy reach of one city is pretty good, and losing one is obviously a pity, but not the end of the world.

From what I've heard, the old owners of Wakefield and Oran Park are planning on building an Oran Park replacement, somewhere between the current locations of WP and OP.
Whether or not it happens is another story, but to be worthwhile it's going to depend on the demand - which means people making an effort to use what's already there.


This whole thing reminds me of when I was in high school, and the school was trying to get funding for a hall.
Because they were all obsessed with the school's lack of a hall, they never made proper use of the one they already had - which was referred to as the gym, and spent most of its time empty, as proof that we needed a "proper" hall to be able to do anything.
If people don't use the tracks we have now, how is closing one of them going to improve the "hoon" situation?

There is an attitude problem, and the simple fact is that the worst offenders on the street are some of the people least interested in getting on the track, so don't try to use a track closing as proof that "the government isn't providing an alternative to speeding on the streets".
The track is closing because the owners will make a lot of money from the land - which may work out better for motorsport enthusiasts in the long run.

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

i think the biggest deterrent is the cost at the moment, it aint cheap driving on the track. why pay a few hundred when i can 'hoon' it on the streets for free is the attitude i think.

the question is, if more people did attend the track, would the prices reduce because of increased revenue/attendance or go up because of its popularity.

edit: made a mistake

A day at Wakefield is $90 once you have a Wakefield licence ($50 for a year), and you can hoon all the way there and back to add to the fun!

The point is though, that if people are not going to pay the cost of a track day to go for a fang, then the closing of a track is hardly going to have any impact on those people - but they'll still use it as something to complain about.


There are a lot of activities that cost a bit to do. Cars are something that are a basic necessity for transport, as well as a hobby.
It's fairly logical that you can't enjoy them in the same way on the road for free as you can on the track at a cost.

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

$90 is good for me, but i dont think ive ever seen that price anywhere.

http://forum.silviansw.com/viewtopic.php?t=28165

$160 for ~hr + licencing fee. thats almost double what you quoted, i sure as hell would make more of an effort to get out to a track at $90, and probably more frequently (then the single time ive been out on one )

only good place to practice drifting is at OP. eastern creek dont allow initial drift to organise drift-prac days there anymore so the only option is OP.
i hope the new track they build has a lil ebisu style driftland.
this shall help drifters hit the track instead of the streets.
i've always wanted to go out the track at OP but never got around to doing so.

i agree with mokompri's comments as well,
track day prices @ WP ive seen are never $90. with that price ill be hitting the track more often i reckon.

Wakefield "No speed limit days" are $90. They're generally week days since weekends are booked for race meetings, but they're generally on at least once a week and you can just turn up and run.
Various people have posted Wakefield days in the forums heaps of times, and all the "official" SilviaNSW track days we had in the past were Wakefield open days. Back then it was $40 licence / $80 track day though!

They don't have timing or anything, but hey either does old pac.
They will drag you out of the mud if you get stuck though, so that's a bit of a bonus.


http://wakefieldpark.com.au/index.php?o ... &Itemid=42

Calendar: http://wakefieldpark.com.au/index.php?o ... &Itemid=44

Having checked the web site, the price has gone up to $100, but it's still a good deal.
Basically any day there's nothing booked is an open day, but it can pay to call and check the day before heading down.

Here's the most recently posted open day people attended:
http://forum.silviansw.com/viewtopic.php?t=27477

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

Oran Park is staying around till the end of 08, there is a 4 day carnival planned as the blow out bash with most forms of motorsport being covered.

The V8 supercars will need another track built to fill out their season, however I'm sure we would all like to see a more purpose built course for drifting included.

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R31 the dislexics S13

when oran finnally does close itll be a massive blow to the drift scene,

sure we have eastern reek and wakfield, but its well known that ardc doesnt think too highly of drifters (quite evident with the ridiculous and dangerous tyre stacks at DA), and wakfield is a long way away.

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formerly 3AM

I hate Oran Park, and not just because I spun out drifting the esses and destroyed my CF front lip.

That said, I'm also quite annoyed that they're closing it. I love Eastern Creek and all, but variety is the spice of life. I would love to see another race track around Sydney with modern design in mind.

Especially one not run by the ARDC, that couldn't seem to give a toss about supporting grassroots motorsport. Yeah they still let established clubs run supersprints, but they rarely ever do a "regular" track day and they don't seem to have much tolerance for drifters.

The last skidpan day I went to, run by Aaron McGill, got moved to Oran Park's skidpan because ARDC didn't want to let McGill on theirs. Its a driver training day, for fuck's sake!

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