FAST GATER

I remember talking to him a Wolves in 76 and he said I drive the trucks because this could all be over tomorrow for me and you need food on the table

Funnily enough that was the rule of thumb in the past in fact there were only a hand full of full time riders in the top league Mauger ,Briggs and co , second strings and reserves were semi pro in that league as well.Saving holidays and riding for team that best fit their day jobs which I am sure could be done today plus if we had more wkend teams that would assist with this issue and maybe more fans .

Lets be honest here JD is head and shoulders above anyone in the PL (making hay while the sun shines) but IMO most riders would have less leverage on pay with lower racing costs .What you have to take in account that if you had a standard engine not requiring an ace tuner the riders would be able to take a pay cut and still make a living be it as a semi pro.

I agree with much of what you say my idea of baseline test was to show that a significant amount of changes to engines over the last 20 odd years has increased cost and little else ,if that was proved we maybe able to address the costs to riders .

What to do with existing motors ( which will be useless if their is no sport left)should not stop change maybe an exchange system for new standard engines ,if an alternative was found then perhaps a scrapage scheme or alike .If the Poles stay as they are they may take them and say the GP riders ,what must not happen is the riders stopping this with their obsession for more power and speed . It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas that's why I say use riders who are newly retired etc they have an open informed mind hopefully .

There little we can do with the tracks most of which do date back to the 60's /70's so the only alternative is do something with the engines this is more than possible with the right input.I would set up a body of newly retired riders or one's who are nearing the end of their careers( they would be much more open minded ) and get to experiment with for example 2 valve uprights ( just as a baseline to start from) or alike. Take them to every track in the country and test them out under friendly but competitive conditions ,this could be done now behind closed doors and take advantage of the lockdown .

No what needs to happen is to look back then and see if we can make it happen today , no one is advocating a league of regression merely hitting the reset button

There are probably hundreds holding workshop doors open I think more original 2 valve Jawa were produced than any other s/way engine ,knowing the eastern block they probably still have all the tooling etc .

I have never been able to get my head round the fact that a complete novice at s/way can have exactly the same machinery as the world champ, pockets allowing of course . British Touring Cars was dead in the water it stood back thought about it and implemented changes that have brought the sport alive again ,lesson to learn for s/way IMO.

I think this is pobably the best and only time it will be considered by those who should be looking after the future of the sport ,not just s/way but IMO in everyday life things will never be quite the same again

In a lot of cases riders have kit in several countries already and have the engines built/ tuned accordingly ,many will say this is a step back( having simple easy to maintain engines) but that's not to say it is wrong .

IMO Britian could go on it's own with regard to machinery ,it is one of the main elements that could be changed and would have a great effect on costs within the sport.We have to accept that for the short term the sport will to all intents and purpose be semi pro to survive ,a half decent rider should be able to adapt to riding diffent engines( at grasstracks rider have 250/350/and 500 cc bikes) in the case of say Polish riders wishing to race in this country .Just like the smaller tracks we have here they may just see it as expanding they experience and ability to make them better riders .

Come on chaps lets debate the subject you both have valid points please

Good points really think weekend racing would make a difference just the influence of the GP's to deal with .

Still say make the bikes more suited to the tracks / user friendly as MR Bishop did in his comp ,we got out of the sport because of the costs and would consider coming back if it was run along strict engine control.