We have lived in Templeton village for 18yrs, several kms from Ruapuna motor racing facility. Although often a nuisance we never felt compelled to complain or contemplate shifting. 2-3 yrs ago I gave up commuting to a weekday job in favour of running a small business from home with plenty of leisure time to enjoy outdoors, weather permitting. The true ideal "enviable lifestyle". That first summer was the summer from hell. I had already noticed real increases in noise levels and frequency from speedway.
The crunch was most weekdays were marred by 1 or 2 noisy cars circuiting for endless hrs inevitably forcing me indoors, uptight and agitated. Horrors, inside it was usually audible with windows shut, not pleasant on warm days. My disappointment and frustration could not be printed. A flyer from the caring, compassionate person behind this blog delivered the revelation that this council, incredibly without time for consultation, gave this noise making neighbour ridiculous rights to operate every day for longer hrs and much higher decibel levels.To impose this on residents/ratepayers left me gobsmacked. It was a feeling of shock, anger, disbelief and total betrayal. My wife subsequently had to move to working all weekends to avoid the onslaught she found unbearable.Alas, she often cops it in evenings beyond 11pm. Needless to say having to escape is common for me, once sitting in an empty section 8 kms away for 3 hrs to enjoy some peace. This last summers' terrible weather produced many quiet days but the 2 previous affected my health in various ways, most notably depression. The worst nightmare was the "endurance race" (aptly named) early 2006 which put me over the edge. I was like a raging bull, unapproachable and almost in a murderous frame of mind. Took me days to recover.The noise was simply diabolical, way beyond any acceptable level and often sounding like the track was only 200yds away. Remember, this is in the village. Imagine those poor souls within a km away.For this to be foisted on ratepayers is nothing short of criminal. Yet they call this "sport". My sporting activities sure don't interfere with any rights of others and are health promoting. To my mind it is not sport sitting in a fuel guzzling noise machine tearing around circuits interfering with the lifestyles and quality of life of residents up to 5kms out. Then there are the pollution, climate change/global warming issues. Squandering a finite, imported resource which will continue to rise in price. What about the long term hearing damage to the trackside fanatics? Is that why they want more, louder and longer? Sport???
Of course there are the macho attitudes and egos to feed.That blot on the landscape must undergo a drastic reduction of its noise and frequency rules otherwise it has to go way out or below ground level. It does not belong as motor racing and communities simply do not mix. Also its sited directly upwind from here of our most prevalant prevailing wind. Frankly, I don't give a toss about the $15 million revenue Ruapuna supposedly brings in. Of course the mighty dollar seems to come before people and the council will be smiling but only misery is brought here. Don't see any of those dollars out this way!!
It's scary the rise in popularity of this senseless activity. Every third person one hears of or talks to appears to have some petrolhead leanings or racing interest. This seems to come from a powerful car culture that gives the car God like status, plus it emanates from a society obsessed with noise and to hell with the rights of others. Selfish, wasteful, illogical. Complainants seeking peace and quiet are scorned, seen as having a problem, told to "get a life" or "shut up" or " stop whingeing or spoiling others fun". We will not accept being told to shift away by such people either. Why the hell should we? What is wrong with just being good responsible neighbours.
The crunch was most weekdays were marred by 1 or 2 noisy cars circuiting for endless hrs inevitably forcing me indoors, uptight and agitated. Horrors, inside it was usually audible with windows shut, not pleasant on warm days. My disappointment and frustration could not be printed. A flyer from the caring, compassionate person behind this blog delivered the revelation that this council, incredibly without time for consultation, gave this noise making neighbour ridiculous rights to operate every day for longer hrs and much higher decibel levels.To impose this on residents/ratepayers left me gobsmacked. It was a feeling of shock, anger, disbelief and total betrayal. My wife subsequently had to move to working all weekends to avoid the onslaught she found unbearable.Alas, she often cops it in evenings beyond 11pm. Needless to say having to escape is common for me, once sitting in an empty section 8 kms away for 3 hrs to enjoy some peace. This last summers' terrible weather produced many quiet days but the 2 previous affected my health in various ways, most notably depression. The worst nightmare was the "endurance race" (aptly named) early 2006 which put me over the edge. I was like a raging bull, unapproachable and almost in a murderous frame of mind. Took me days to recover.The noise was simply diabolical, way beyond any acceptable level and often sounding like the track was only 200yds away. Remember, this is in the village. Imagine those poor souls within a km away.For this to be foisted on ratepayers is nothing short of criminal. Yet they call this "sport". My sporting activities sure don't interfere with any rights of others and are health promoting. To my mind it is not sport sitting in a fuel guzzling noise machine tearing around circuits interfering with the lifestyles and quality of life of residents up to 5kms out. Then there are the pollution, climate change/global warming issues. Squandering a finite, imported resource which will continue to rise in price. What about the long term hearing damage to the trackside fanatics? Is that why they want more, louder and longer? Sport???
Of course there are the macho attitudes and egos to feed.That blot on the landscape must undergo a drastic reduction of its noise and frequency rules otherwise it has to go way out or below ground level. It does not belong as motor racing and communities simply do not mix. Also its sited directly upwind from here of our most prevalant prevailing wind. Frankly, I don't give a toss about the $15 million revenue Ruapuna supposedly brings in. Of course the mighty dollar seems to come before people and the council will be smiling but only misery is brought here. Don't see any of those dollars out this way!!
It's scary the rise in popularity of this senseless activity. Every third person one hears of or talks to appears to have some petrolhead leanings or racing interest. This seems to come from a powerful car culture that gives the car God like status, plus it emanates from a society obsessed with noise and to hell with the rights of others. Selfish, wasteful, illogical. Complainants seeking peace and quiet are scorned, seen as having a problem, told to "get a life" or "shut up" or " stop whingeing or spoiling others fun". We will not accept being told to shift away by such people either. Why the hell should we? What is wrong with just being good responsible neighbours.
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