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Cardiff 2019 Saturday September 21st

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Just now, dog said:

Really wasn't the most engaging for a newbie to watch on television. It just isn't a good track. Slightly too small, favours gaters and lane three is a total no-no. 

I've seen good racing at small tracks... I always wonder about the surface, it just doesn't seem to produce grip, I understand that the surface has been fine tuned over the years so as to stop it breaking up like it used to in the early years. Maybe it's time to look into a different tyre for the indoor track material... like F1 has different tyres for different tracks

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16 minutes ago, Crumpet77 said:

I had family and friends round Saturday evening, half way through the GP they were all asking 'do we have to watch this rubbish'. I was cooking, but was it that bad ?

Yes , it was { the racing }

I know its a temporary track , but its indoors so the weather cant affect the preparation before or during the meeting .

its not like they have to hold back on watering the track in case it rains ,  and maybe they could try a different shape or some banking , or even a different surface 

surely they have a blank canvass every year , so it cant be that hard to try some small changes

Its a shame, as the Track / Racing is the only thing that lets the event down

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2 hours ago, dog said:

Really wasn't the most engaging for a newbie to watch on television. It just isn't a good track. Slightly too small, favours gaters and lane three is a total no-no. 

It's not just Cardiff. Speedway generally comes across as crap on TV. Last weeks meeting at Poole being a prime example. You can never recreate the atmosphere of being in a Stadium, sitting on the sofa!

 

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3 hours ago, iainb said:

I've seen good racing at small tracks... I always wonder about the surface, it just doesn't seem to produce grip, I understand that the surface has been fine tuned over the years so as to stop it breaking up like it used to in the early years. Maybe it's time to look into a different tyre for the indoor track material... like F1 has different tyres for different tracks

Wolverhampton is a prime example of a small track than can produce decent racing. 

Out of interest, what happens to the track after the meeting? 

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1 hour ago, cityrebel said:

It's not just Cardiff. Speedway generally comes across as crap on TV. Last weeks meeting at Poole being a prime example. You can never recreate the atmosphere of being in a Stadium, sitting on the sofa!

 

British league speedway can seem crap on television, certainly. Empty stands or grass banks and dingy old floodlights not bright enough to illuminate a kitchen. Riders in kevlars that are a different colour to the rest of their team (sounds little, but it can be very confusing to kids and newbies) looks tinpot. This is all offset when you have good racing, but when it's a gater's track you're watching a procession and it adds to the overall malaise. 

SGP in Cardiff can get away with processional 'racing' due to the scale of the event and the names on show. Late season on an overcast evening in Peterborough doesn't have quite the same attraction. 

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On 9/22/2019 at 12:12 PM, BWitcher said:

Similar to the above:

If I had the choice, as a one off, of attending a meeting with a 40,000 crowd but poor racing, over one with 1000 there but reasonable racing it would be the first one.. every single time.

It's indisputable that is the case for tens of thousands of others too despite what a few claim on here.

Cardiff is more than just one speedway meeting for many. It's a weekend jammed full of meeting up with old friends, some who they see once a year.  It's the ultimate occasion for a speedway fan, a rare time a city is taken over by the sport and long may it continue to thrive as a beacon that there is still support for speedway in the UK.

 

Utterly pointless if the racing -which is what speedway is all about - is boring.  Cardiff should have been binned years ago. 

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I can only conclude that most people on this forum were too young to be watching speedway in the 60's, 70's or 80's.

I know some will disagree but speedway is no different now to what it always has been, and generally, overall may be actually better than it used to be.

Great racing, not great racing, that's how it has always been.

 

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2 hours ago, dog said:

Out of interest, what happens to the track after the meeting? 

Someone told me on Saturday that the biggest single cost of putting on the Cardiff GP is the storage cost of the shale. They keep it year on year if it's true.

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39 minutes ago, False dawn said:

Someone told me on Saturday that the biggest single cost of putting on the Cardiff GP is the storage cost of the shale. They keep it year on year if it's true.

Thanks. Is it even possible to produce a decent racing track when it's made afresh each year? 

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2 minutes ago, dog said:

Thanks. Is it even possible to produce a decent racing track when it's made afresh each year? 

It was said (earlier in his thread?) that they might try more banking on the turns. That would be welcome as a means to better quality racing. But it won't be easy to achieve. A physical / construction challenge. Plus the fact it may rule out the lowest level spectator areas on the turns at least. 

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2 hours ago, Rocket87 said:

Utterly pointless if the racing -which is what speedway is all about - is boring.  Cardiff should have been binned years ago. 

You could say the same about the F.A cup final. There have been some boring ones over the years and some classics but it's all about the occasion nobody's ever said they should scrap the F.A cup after a boring final.

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2 hours ago, keepturningleft said:

I can only conclude that most people on this forum were too young to be watching speedway in the 60's, 70's or 80's.

I know some will disagree but speedway is no different now to what it always has been, and generally, overall may be actually better than it used to be.

Great racing, not great racing, that's how it has always been.

 

I tend to agree. I think my first meeting was 1972 and I attended all through the rest of the 70's.

My dad always used to write notes against each heat in his programme and the word  procession appeared quite a lot.

Yes crowds and atmosphere were better but I don't think the racing was. Much like Cardiff the the atmosphere made the difference.

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1 hour ago, AFCB Wildcat said:

You could say the same about the F.A cup final. There have been some boring ones over the years and some classics but it's all about the occasion nobody's ever said they should scrap the F.A cup after a boring final.

Yes but can alter the track to make it a better spectacle can’t you understand this !!!

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17 minutes ago, Shrimmy said:

Yes but can alter the track to make it a better spectacle can’t you understand this !!!

So it's really that simple is it?? 

If it is why don't they simply do that then?

I've only just got home after a great weekend and am watching it again on TV now and it really isn't as bad as people are making out.

 

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people have to remember that the 1981 World Final, which many people call the best ever, only really had good races when Penhall was involved

Edited by stevehone
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