Document 2
WESTERN SPRINGS SPEEDWAY HISTORY
The site where the Western Springs Speedway exists today was originally a polluted waste land contaminated by the council abattoirs at which is now West View Road. Associated industries like tallow works, tanneries, fell-mongeries, used the streams at Motions Creek to carry the waste away. To make matters worse it was the site used as the night soil deposit area.
A substantial amount of the housing along the side of Old Mill Road which neighbours the Speedway and the houses in West View Road, were built by council for abattoir and council workers and abattoir caretakers. ( The properties affected by speedway.) These houses existed prior to the development of Western Springs Speedway.
About 1926 Messrs J. C. Kay and R. Roycroft recognised that the Western Springs waste land could be converted to an international standard venue for speedway. They travelled abroad on a fact finding mission and put a proposal plan to residents and council for development and construction of the stadium.
Work commenced in 1927. Volunteers, residents, relief workers and council all in a joint effort had the speedway completed in November 1929 and the first speedway meeting was held on the 30th November 1929. Western Springs Speedway was purpose built for Speedway. It was acclaimed as the finest quarter mile Speedway Stadium ever made and still holds that reputation today.
Verbatim, I quote the opening statement published 30th November 1929.
The public of Auckland should have a civic pride in their new possession. The establishment of such a fine sports ground on the Western Springs Speedway (no doubt many would prefer the term “stadium”, but as a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, we prefer to call it the “Speedway” and the reason for doing so is the fact that the City’s greatest asset in the property will be the fact that “Speedway” exists as a body corporate in Auckland. Dirt track racing, or broadsiding, whichever term may be preferred has come to stay, if experience in other lands is any criterion. Auckland is not one whit behind other places in its admiration and support of a good, clean, healthy sport and so it is safe to say that broadsiding has come to stay.
The stadium was utilized for motorbikes, cycling and rugby.
In 1935 midget cars were introduced to New Zealand. This was an international event with visiting drivers from USA and Australia. The inaugural midget meeting was held at Western Springs in December 1935.
Midget racing was instantly popular with the Auckland and New Zealand public, providing a harmonious mixture of speedway motor bikes and Midget Cars, a popularity which has never diminished.
Speedway continued up till the WW2 years 1940-1945 and resumed with various promoters including George Smith, The public Relations Department of the Auckland City Council, Harry Thompson and Harley Arthur who promoted speedway at the Springs from 1963 to 1972. This was without doubt the loudest period of speedway at Western Springs. Previous rules required exhaust pipes, (and that is what they were) big banging large diameter pipes which had to extend to a distance beyond the rear axel of the car. Subsequent rulings allowed exhaust pipes to be within the confines of the side bumper bars fitted along the side of the car between the front and rear wheels. This resulted in exhaust pipes being pieces of steel tube direct from the exhaust port of the engine and less than a foot long (no silencing at all). These engines were extremely noisy. My own car was one of the quieter ones measured at 110 dBA when tested. The rotary engines and some two stroke engines were so noisy they made you vibrate when they went past. Please take particular note. Harley Arthur promoted speedway for nine years. All of his meetings run to completion. At least one meeting ended after midnight. He did not receive one complaint from council, residents or other. Not one complaint in nine years. It was Harley himself who recognized that speedway was uncomfortably loud for patrons and sought to introduce noise limits through the Speedway Control Board. A noise level of 97 dBA was introduced by Harley, the same noise level recognized as a maximum comfortable level for people with normal hearing when inside a movie theatre. Harley introduced, but never implemented that restriction having lost the tender to promote speedway to George Tervit, Garry Roberts and Tony Leader. Through George Tervit, a promoters association was established with Australian and New Zealand delegates. International standards were sought so the noise levels would conform to a recognized standard.
History. Page 2.
The rules from the International Secretary on Noise was established at 95dBA, the same level for trains and other moving machinery. This rule was implemented and written into the Speedway Control Board Rules and that is where it should have remained. A good example of noise reduction was when I started my race car (with short exhaust pipes as described above) for tuning outside my factory. Neighbouring businesses protested that they could not hear to use the phone. After silencing my car to conform to the under 95dBA requirement, I could start the same race car without complaint. This is a true testimony that the cars were at their noisiest up until 1973.
The average number of meetings run per season was 18 with the minimum at 8 when the council made a botch of running speedway and a maximum 24 being the most in a season. Speedway continued with the only noise monitoring being done by the Speedway Control Board. Speedway continued without problems until in 1994 a neighbouring resident, Ruth Bookman took on a campaign to have speedway closed. This was some 60 years after speedway started and at a time when noise levels for speedway had been reduced for a number of years. Ruth Bookman now resides on a rural lifestyle block south of Auckland where she breeds horses and is an activist objector to rural activities like farming, leaving behind the devastation she caused to speedway. In those days Ruth Bookman was a sole objector who was successful over the council, local residents and Auckland citizens. She soon after that abandoned the area.
The rules that were then implemented for speedway 85dBA and 10-30 curfew should never have been passed. They were not related to the historic use of to a standard for event stadiums and they were never adhered to, in fact they could not be achieved despite the claims of Willie Kay who cannot get his speedway to comply to the rules set down in Tauranga which used the Auckland rules as a template. His damaging comments come from a peevish attitude because he lost the tender for Western Springs Speedway. Through his comments he has shot himself in the foot and contributed to causing the stadium owner in Tauranga huge expense in an effort to contain speedway noise within the stadium which has resulted in patrons being subjected to endure contained, un-dissipated noise
The Western Springs Stadium is an Events Stadium and this year will have a 78 year historic use.
The council of the day should have taken the historic use of the stadium into account as councils in rural areas do. If rural councils take the same attitude to life style block owners as the Auckland City Council did to Speedway, then most of the farms around New Zealand would have to close.
This is where the problems about Speedway at Western Springs occurred. It all comes down to a set of unachievable rules. Mrs. Bookman moved away and Speedway continued to operate un-opposed or regulated until ten years later, when in May 2004 the Springs Stadium Residents Association was incorporated. WSSRA
It is ironic that this was done outside of the speedway season which had finished two months earlier.
Therefore the motives behind the move to close speedway are to be questioned as are the financial affairs of the WSSRA having received funds from the Labour government totalling in excess of $60,000-00 and the WSSRA made approaches to the Auckland City Council and the Western Bays Community Board for more funds. It has been stated that the Western Bays Community Board did give funds to the protesters. The protesters made lavish unfounded claims of green house gas emission, pollution of the creek running through the Zoo and other claims found to be false. The Zoo authorities are adamant that speedway does not affect the Zoo in any way and the methanol fuel used in Speedway cars is recognized as environmentally friendly. The history need no further be established because for the purpose of our submission the content herein will serve the points of reference we make with each part to be voted upon by council. | 
