I would too if someone decided to run a motor race down my street!



Maybe he did pipe up to the organisers, and going public to court is his last resort?

A breakthrough has been reached after a Hamilton couple went to court to stop a V8 car race they said made them feel like trapped animals.

Self-employed painter and decorator Paul Smart and partner Odette Haitana will now be given financial help to find somewhere else to live during the Hamilton 400.

They pressed ahead with their threat to stop the event with court action after V8 Supercar organisers reneged on a deal made with the previous organisers.

The couple's home borders the rack track of the Hamilton 400.

They were preparing to seek an injunction in the High Court at Hamilton after earlier pleadings for compensation fell flat.

In a statement issued last night, the couple's Hamilton lawyer Kate Hay said an agreement had been reached between the couple and race organisers.

Mr Smart and Mrs Haitana would be helped financially to find somewhere else to live during the event.

"V8 Supercar is paying a contribution towards the cost of alternative local accommodation. Mr Smart and Ms Haitana have withdrawn their application for an injunction. Their wider claim for compensation will continue through the normal court processes."

Mr Smart previously said unsuccessful legal action forced them to endure last year's event, which left them feeling like caged animals as they were locked in by a gate.

Both parties had agreed not to make any further comment.

V8 Supercars had previously slammed the Hamilton couple's attempt to stop this year's ITM 400 as "baseless and opportunistic".

Mr Smart previously claimed he had organised a deal with previous V8 promoters, Caleta Street Management, which gave him enough cash for him and his family to escape their house, on the corner of Mill and Tristram streets, to Australia for five days during the race.

That package - which included flights, accommodation and $5000 spending money - was estimated to be worth between $10,000 and $15,000.

But since taking over the race, Archer Capital had refused to honour the deal, instead offering six three-day passes, he said.

The High Court injunction was a last resort, after pleading with organisers for compensation, and an unsuccessful Disputes Tribunal action.

Would you try and stop the 1000 if you lived on the mountain?

Mt Panorama was designed and built as a race track, before any houses were built on it. If i moved to a property on the track, i know full well what i am getting myself into.

This is a bit off topic, but it's been proved before that that won't stop some retards from complaining anyway.

Yet again the V8's are on 7mate next week

In other news, the new NZ Super Tourers series is having a 500km race at Pukekohe 1 week after the gold coast race V8 races and they are hoping to attract a bunch of top drivers to partner the regulars, they've already got Scott Dixon confirmed and there is talk of Mark Winterbottom, Tony Kanaan & Dario Franchitti doing it, I know it probably doesn't sound massively impressive but for little old NZ it'll be quite awesome having some top names come here!

I think that is a Melbourne/South Australia thing.

Up here in NSW, all the AFL games are on 7mate, with the V8s on 7.

IN the 50th year of the annual endurance classic at Bathurst comes news that a range of rare and never-before released material from the Seven Sport Bathurst archives will hit the shelves.

Part of the new ‘Seven Sport’s Magic Moments of Motorsport’ series, a range of rare material will be released by Chevron Publishing on DVD featuring classic Bathurst vision from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

The first of these is due for release around August this year.

It features eight-hours worth of coverage of the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 at Bathurst and comes 35 years since the famous Ford 1-2 form finish of Allan Moffat and Colin Bond.

While it’s not quite the race in full (approximately an hour of vision no longer exists), it’s the first time this material has been released and includes pre-race build-up, vision from while the network was in commercial breaks and rarely-seen podium material.

Another release will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Peter Brock’s first Bathurst victory, with black and white highlights of the actual Sunday October 1, 1972 race day Channel Seven telecast to be released for the first time.

A bonus on this release will be a similar highlights package covering the 1973 race and the first race run to the 1000-kilometre length that the event has become world-famous for.

A third release will cover the 1969 and 1974 Bathurst releases (again, using race telecast highlights never-before-released).

The final volume in the first round of releases will cover the annual Hardies Heroes fight for pole position from Bathurst. This DVD will focus in on the Group C era from Hardies Heroes’ inception in 1978 through to 1984.

Hosted by current Seven motorsport host/commentator Aaron Noonan, the series will be on sale in time for Father’s Day, Bathurst in October and of course Christmas in December.

I'm surprised that all of this still exists. I'm particularly interested in the footage from 1969-1974, since there is not that much footage around from that era, and that especially applies to 1969 where there was no highlight reel produced by any of the manufacturers in the race, and the highlight reel that is usually shown was I believe from a newsreel and wasn't that long.

What I would be even more interested in seeing would be any more footage from 1960-1964, not so much because I'm interested in that era, it's just that there's so little footage available. I know that Channel 7 televised the 1963 race and Channel 9 televised the 1960 race, although I'd be surprised if it still exists, and there may have been some newsreel footage as well.