The 1200m track at the north end of Oamaru is now a sand aggregate-based surface after the new blend was laid on the track last week, replacing the grit, which has been recycled and used in the float car park.
Samples were taken from the Forbury Park track to give contractors in Oamaru the chance to match the Dunedin surface, widely regarded as one of the best in the country, Oamaru Harness Racing Club president David Heffernan said.
''About a year ago, our older aggregate was starting to wear out,'' he said.
''What the drivers were complaining about was there was more grit on top than fines [dust] and that's what they were getting back in their faces.''
The club started investigating replacing the old surface and it was completed last week at a cost of $30,000 to $35,000, Heffernan said.
The Forbury Park surface was the ideal benchmark but hauling the required 520 tonnes of identical sand from Dunedin to Oamaru was out of the question.
''The reason we targeted a pit up here was that the saving in transport alone was thousands,'' he said.
''The crushing guys screened the Forbury sample right down - they were able to replicate out of the sand pit up here.''
The new aggregate was spread, using a fertiliser spreader, with a base of about 15mm across the track - the same as the base of sand at Addington.
Trials were held on the track yesterday, with another set of trials to be held next Wednesday.
Heffernan, who drove in two trials, said the early reports - despite wind picking up at times - were promising.
''The track surface was super, with no dust at all, even when it's getting groomed up.
''I was four horses back and I was getting no grit at all. It's very much like going on a beach.''
Heffernan said the laying of the new surface was completed at an ideal time, with the next meeting on the all-weather track six weeks away on January 8.
The next meeting at Oamaru is a grass track meeting on December 6.
The meeting traditionally holds an invited brothers driving series on the day.
This year's pairs of brothers are: David and Philip Butcher, Jay and Sailesh Abernethy, Clark and Ken Barron, Dexter and John Dunn, Gerard and Leo O'Reilly and Matthew and Nathan Williamson.
