Or should that be "is there an answer?"
Firstly let me apologize to Nigel Watts for hi-jacking his thread.
I have read with interest the comments on Nigel's threat bought about by my question as to what happened to the second day at the weekends Hampton Downs meeting. We in the northern part of the North Island are blessed with the three major race venues the are easily accessible for those who live in an area bounded by Taupo in the south and Auckland in the north with these tracks that we can drive to and from in the same day thus negating the need for accommodation etc. But that's not the main issue here. It's what we get to see when we get to the venue of our choice where the problem lies. I am old enough to remember the great club meetings held at Pukekohe on the club circuit with up to 30 quick fire races held in a day, and ok some of the fields weren't huge but the circuit was small enough that boring races ( if there was one) were over quickly and as soon as one race finished the next group was out before the previous competitors had made their way down the back straight to the pit area.
When the V8 supercars were racing at Pukekohe before they went to Hamilton I went to a meeting that was held before the V8 event and found what to me was a major issue. I have been to Pukekohe many times and watched racing from all different parts of the circuit but I now found that if I sat on the hill I couldn't see down the straight and if I sat in the stands I couldn't see the top of the hill because someone had put a bridge across the track obscuring my view. My answer to the problem was to stay at home and watch it on TV.
The issue today as I see it, is small fields on long tracks. I like Hampton Downs as a spectator track where one can get close to the action and see much of the track from a variety of vantage points, particually if the racing is on the "national" circuit. But to have two meetings on the same weekend is really a nonsense. It may well have been that each meeting had different groups or classes racing but there are some of us that would have gone to at least one day of each meeting.
I watched most of the NZ verses Pakistan cricket T20 game yesterday and wondered where the crowd was. Not to many years ago the venue would have been full but not any more and this seems to be the same for many major sporting fixtures in NZ. The tennis is different, once a year, good competitors and it's the place to be seen. Is this an answer?
Has the lack of TV coverage of NZ motorsport meant that a large number of potential spectators do not get a preview of what can be seen live if they get the opportunity to go and physically watch. I will be interested to see how many go to the Hamilton sevens although it seems to be as much a drinking contest as a football tournament.
To those of you who compete (and those of us who don't, or no longer do, thank you for your dedication) has the cost of competing making you think carefully about which events and how many you choose to do? As has been said many times before there are hundreds of good race cars parked away in garages all over the country not doing what they should be doing.
Allan Cameron