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Does anyone remember when Nitro was legal for use in British League Speedway?

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Was it ever legal ? Can remember in mid seventies riders putting a syringe of the stuff in, also think a great character of that era jack Millen got killed in a car crash which burst into flames rumoured to be caused by nitro.

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I seem to remember reading that nitro was used by some riders and Ivan Mauger mentioned it in one of his books. It wasn't actually common practice but not banned as such until the early seventies (?). Vladimir Gordeev was stripped of his fourth placing in the 1971 World Final for using the stuff and sunsequently banned for a year.

Edited by steve roberts

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Read that a clue nitro, nitromethane, was being used would be 'runny eyes' as apparently the fumes made people's eyes water & stream....

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I thought it was banned years ago.

Don't the riders nowadays have the fuel supplied by the track running the meeting ?

I remember plenty of rumours about  one prolific tuner of the late 80s onwards  where if you used his engine you had to use his fuel. May have all been led by jealousy of the speed by other riders

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On 9/12/2020 at 12:20 AM, Neila said:

Was it ever legal ? Can remember in mid seventies riders putting a syringe of the stuff in, also think a great character of that era jack Millen got killed in a car crash which burst into flames rumoured to be caused by nitro.

didnt he rear end a truck and the fuel was supposed to be inside the car in the personal quarters .  not sure , but i think it was a fuel tanker involved .. ? ? ? 

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I once worked at a track where the starting marshal came up to the box after a few after match junior races to complain about one of the kids using nitro. He claimed you could tell because his exhaust stank of pig manure. 

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21 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

I remember riders fuel being tested at a meeting at Wimbledon in the mid 1970's. 

You know, that rings a bell...

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Seem to remember Gary Middleton accusing Ivan Mauger of using nitro at the 1972 (?) Wills Internationale but later withdrew the claim. Not sure when it was actually banned form domestic competition however.

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58 minutes ago, Fromafar said:

Quasimodo;)

It was just a hunch...

  • Haha 1

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4 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

Scraping the barrel now!

You mean my bell jokes are losing their ap-peal? And I was going like the clappers!

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28 minutes ago, chunky said:

You mean my bell jokes are losing their ap-peal? And I was going like the clappers!

There might be a vacancy for you soon, at the BSPA!

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