British Grand Prix 2012

[bellevueace 912]

If getting column inches in the media is dependant on the sucsess of a sport on the international stage as Philip points out with the express example given our pathetic football teams performances for the past 40+ years there should be no mention of football at all

[Wackie 938]

I found that people had made the obvious choice to sit in the cheaper seats (sign of the times unfortunately! ) and the prices they charge for the home straight on all tiers and the back straight on lower tiers is ridiculous and maybe a more fairer pricing system would work. Why would you pay £90 to sit on 1st bend top tier when you can pay £29/37 on back straight and have the same view???

We bought tickets on the friday in Cardiff and only "available" spots were back straight top tier £37 or over by 1st bend top tier £90!! but there were plenty of empty seats in other areas when we got inside on the night.

 

I wonder how many complementary tickets IMG issue then, cos we brought tickets off a tout outside which were for the upper tier in middle of 3rd/4th bend and marked "Complementary". Paid £15 each (cheaper than an EL meeting!!) and speaking to the people around us they'd all done the same. We chose 3rd/4th bend, but had the choice of upper tier seats pretty much anywhere around the stadium! Moved down to the middle tier 3rd bend after 6 heats cos there were plenty of empty seats down there too, and you felt closer to the racing.

 

 

 

W

[full-throttle 182]

not been for a few years, but watched on TV and enjoyed the event. Might make an appearancce next year. As for tickets, last time I attended got a £59 ticket for £30 and had a great view from the lower teir.

[emerald tyke 49]

I wonder how many complementary tickets IMG issue then, cos we brought tickets off a tout outside which were for the upper tier in middle of 3rd/4th bend and marked "Complementary". Paid £15 each (cheaper than an EL meeting!!) and speaking to the people around us they'd all done the same. We chose 3rd/4th bend, but had the choice of upper tier seats pretty much anywhere around the stadium! Moved down to the middle tier 3rd bend after 6 heats cos there were plenty of empty seats down there too, and you felt closer to the racing.

 

 

 

W

I wonder how many complementary tickets IMG issue then, cos we brought tickets off a tout outside which were for the upper tier in middle of 3rd/4th bend and marked "Complementary". Paid £15 each (cheaper than an EL meeting!!) and speaking to the people around us they'd all done the same. We chose 3rd/4th bend, but had the choice of upper tier seats pretty much anywhere around the stadium! Moved down to the middle tier 3rd bend after 6 heats cos there were plenty of empty seats down there too, and you felt closer to the racing.

 

 

 

W

 

Don't the stewards ever ask for your tickets as proof of seat area when you are going into the different area? maybe IMG do give out lots of complementary seats so a fair minority or maybe majority are Freebies!!

 

I'm tempted to try this next year but then again if we all keep trying to not pay our fair share the event will not be there anymore. Wonder did the date of this years Gp affect the crowd or are less people inclined/cant afford to go??

Edited August 27, 2012 by emerald tyke

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

If getting column inches in the media is dependant on the sucsess of a sport on the international stage as Philip points out with the express example given our pathetic football teams performances for the past 40+ years there should be no mention of football at all

 

SADLY that doesn't apply to soccer ... and I say that as a football fan too.

[mickthemuppet 976]

I said months ago that the attendance for Cardiff would be down . What do you expect . Every single GP this season has been down on the previous season. The gates at Ullevi and Italian GP's were truly terrible. People have only so much money to spend and coming after the Olympics a little less .Then there was the problem of Cardiff with the cricket in competition and the hotel prices going through the roof.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

Don't the stewards ever ask for your tickets as proof of seat area when you are going into the different area? maybe IMG do give out lots of complementary seats so a fair minority or maybe majority are Freebies!!

 

I'm tempted to try this next year but then again if we all keep trying to not pay our fair share the event will not be there anymore. Wonder did the date of this years Gp affect the crowd or are less people inclined/cant afford to go??

 

WE will never know for sure but personally think it did. However, there was no choice given that the stadium had to be "shut down" for several weeks before, during and after the Olympics.

 

But also the affects of the recession, people losing their jobs, no genuine British contenders, lack of Polish riders (undoubtedly fewer Polish fans than in 2011), people going on holiday after the Olympics must have played a part too.

 

But let's also keep this in perspective. I very much doubt that 38,000 people attend British speedway in any given week. Lower crowds across the board in the UK will also affect the Cardiff attendance, just as it does the circulation of Speedway Star. Our sales are down this year but I don't see that as a reflection on the quality of the magazine. If 20,000 more people attended speedway in the UK each week and our sales didn't go up I would be worried. We cannot separate one from the other and nor can BSI when it comes to the British GP.

 

I also think that a few people have got blase about Cardiff and forget what the British GP was like at Bradford and Coventry. It is now a major sporting event on a scale comparable with FA Cup Finals, cricket test matches, etc. And for those who still don't understand the necessity of a roof at a stadium for an event of this magnitude I despair having got drenched just walking outside the Millennium on both Friday and Saturday but not having a care in the world about the track or the meeting going ahead.

[ShadowCaptain 57]

I said months ago that the attendance for Cardiff would be down . What do you expect . Every single GP this season has been down on the previous season. The gates at Ullevi and Italian GP's were truly terrible. People have only so much money to spend and coming after the Olympics a little less .Then there was the problem of Cardiff with the cricket in competition and the hotel prices going through the roof.

 

And the decision, enforced by the Olympic activity at the stadium, to hold a speedway meeting during the football season!

 

Cardiff has become the kind of event you would recommend to a friend, who would probably love the excitement and the noise and the razzmatazz, but has become commonplace for the 10-year veteran. The formula is successful, but has hardly changed inside the stadium since the first meeting. No surprise, perhaps, that some supporters are becoming jaded.

 

The draw was unkind to the meeting. The better riders met each other in early races (heat 2...), so the best of the racing came early in the meeting, with later races tending to feature two contenders, and two whose chances had gone. Perhaps a tweak might be to get rid of the random draw, and 'seed' the draw so that the leaders in the standings before the meeting are scheduled to meet in heat 20, the next four in heat 19, and so on.

 

I am greatly in favour of extra entertainment in the arena, but using a dance troupe forty yards from the crowd might require some explanation. Rather than music, perhaps the entertainment should feature something else from the sporting arena. The requirement to have so much in place on the centre green before the meeting (fireworks, etc) precludes, for example, an artificial BMX track. but the motorcycle stunt riders that performed in a previous meeting were phenomenal.

 

Outside, Cardiff remains Cardiff, and it is a pity that there is no other covered stadium available that could or would host the meeting. Speedway fans can be raucous, but are generally well-behaved. Walking round Cardiff, with bottles being thrown, stones being thrown, and fights occurring, none of which included speedway fans, was more than disconcerting, and personal safety could well be a factor in determining whether to return.

[Mark 1,497]

Live Golf from New York or not, it's totally indicative of the lack of regard Sky has for speedway.

 

There's always ways of sliding back the beginning of the next programme, especially sport and in particular American sport where it happens all the time.

 

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky but it remains a minority sport in the UK based on crowd numbers. Maybe we should just be greatful it's on Sky so we can all watch every GP and live league matches each week.

[george.m 3,063]

With all the discontent amongst some forum members about pre-match entertainment, size of crowd, quality of racing, price of tickets, etc is it not about time BSI seriously considered moving the British GP to Slough?

[Humphrey Appleby 13,938]

I'm tempted to try this next year but then again if we all keep trying to not pay our fair share the event will not be there anymore.

 

I think it would be better to ask how complimentary tickets are getting into the hands of touts and being sold at knock down prices.

 

Perhaps they actually are complementary tickets though - given out to make the crowd look bigger..

[Mark 1,497]

With all the discontent amongst some forum members about pre-match entertainment, size of crowd, quality of racing, price of tickets, etc is it not about time BSI seriously considered moving the British GP to Slough?

 

Good post. I'm surprised that some members make the effort to go to Cardiff as there is so much to dislike or moan about. Maybe they would be happier with no British GP and no Sky coverage.

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

I think it would be better to ask how complimentary tickets are getting into the hands of touts and being sold at knock down prices.

 

Perhaps they actually are complementary tickets though - given out to make the crowd look bigger..

 

EVER the cynic

[Humphrey Appleby 13,938]

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky

 

I'd be quite surprised if that were still the case. I think football, cricket, rugby league, rugby union and F1 will have better viewing figures these days, and certainly the last figures I saw for speedway had seen a significant decrease from a few years ago. That's not even taking into account the likes of darts.

 

Of course, it's difficult to compare like-with-like when it comes to viewing figures for particular sports, but I doubt speedway would even be in the top five nowadays.

[keef 105]

I might be wrong but speedway is the 2nd or 3rd highest viewed sport on Sky but it remains a minority sport in the UK based on crowd numbers. Maybe we should just be greatful it's on Sky so we can all watch every GP and live league matches each week.

 

Although the figures issued say less than 30% of homes subscribe to Sky Sports channels, so 70% cant watch it(unless they go to the pub like myself).

 

[quote name='PHILIPRISING' timestamp='1346064570' post='216891

 

Interest in speedway began to wane when Denmark kept winning everything. One night I called the Express Sports Desk before filling a report and was asked "who won?" I replied "Denmark" and was greeted with "not those bloody Danes again. When are England going to win something.

 

BIT of both really. British speedway really doesn't warrant any national newspaper coverage these days in my opinion. The lack of a British World Champion or British success in the SWC doesn't help either but national newspapers are now notoriously dis-interesrted in most motorsport, especially the two-wheeled variety.

 

Ironically, there are now far more pages devoted to sport than there were 20 plus years ago when the likes of Dave Lanning, Peter Oakes and I afforded some space oif most days of the week. And, as mentioned earlier, the News of the World were brilliant when Havvy won despite have a full programme iof soccer that same day.

 

Much of it now is down to the mentality of those in charge. Sports Editors used to have a wide-ranging interest in all sports and that influenced their decision making. I took over as speedway correspondent for the Daily Express when they were involved in the Spring Classic. The then SE, Ken Lawrence, liked and enjoyed speedway but more importantly he saw it as a genuine sport which was worthy of equal billing when the occasion demanded. But in those days the likes of Bruce Penhall were household names despite not being British.

 

When John Davis won the Spring Classic Wimbledon I had to do a running report of 29 paragraphs followed at the end by a complete re-write. The report was on the back page of all editions of the Daily Express the following morning.

 

Interest in speedway began to wane when Denmark kept winning everything. One night I called the Express Sports Desk before filling a report and was asked "who won?" I replied "Denmark" and was greeted with "not those bloody Danes again. When are England going to win something."

 

Would it ever change? Don't honestly know but a British winner in front of 40,000 people at Cardiff would push a few buttons. But that ain't going to happen any time soon!

 

 

 

SORRY but it seems like it!

 

 

Definitely, the English were top dogs in the 70s, until the Danes and Yanks tookover in the 80s. British speedway started going downhill in mid-80s and hasn't really recovered.