Armando Castagna article in SS.

[Mimmo 1,070]

Great article by Peter Schroeck too.

[Humphrey Appleby 13,938]

50 minutes ago, f-s-p said:

Thats one thing that could be done, stop the playing with FMN licenses. 

National licenses are an outdated concept anyway. High-time there was a single international licence for professional competitors. 

[f-s-p 832]

17 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

National licenses are an outdated concept anyway. High-time there was a single international licence for professional competitors. 

Dont really understand this.

As long as licences are used to control or grade riders in/to teams in any league, granting them to foreigners should not be allowed.

[Vince 9,454]

4 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said:

THERE have been times when the BSPA thought of breaking away from the FIM or, at the very least, been the body affiliated to the FIM rather than the ACU. But the FIM would never accept that. 

I would imagine a GP series run outside of FIM authorisation but paying well would gain much support and like the ACU here it has been proven time and again that they cannot revoke riders license for riding under a different authority.

However it might stumble at the paying well bit unless you get the right people involved to bring in sponsorship. just yesterday we heard that one of the many ACU alternatives, the MCF are shutting their doors after many years but to be fair they bought about a lot of change for the good in their time, especially for riders.

[Mr. Clemens 646]

8 hours ago, JohnHyam said:

What would happen if Britain left the FIM but other speedway-related member countries remained?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fédération_Internationale_de_Motocyclisme

 

 

They should all leave together and set up their own system. Where there's a will there's a way.

If the will is not there then things will continue as they are to their natural conclusion, whatever that may be.

 

 

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,735]

Now is the time for the uk to go it’s own way, take a step back, change the sport, appeal again to its working man’s audience again, stop trying to be something it isn’t, it’s apeal has always been its rawness it’s connection to its fans , change the engines, stop lining the pockets of the tuners, nothing is gained by the pursuit of speed in our sport, there was a quote in the polish section of the SS a couple of weeks ago where a guy said polish speedway has lost its soul and as much as I love polish speedway it’s true it has, the balance has tipped in favour of business, when we finally get through this covid crap, the world will have changed and if people think speedway will just pick up and carry on as normal then they are in for a shock, now is the time to change the sport for the better, I honestly believe poland won’t be far behind us 

Edited November 30, 2020 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Skidder1 7,632]

I confess that having read the article I questioned exactly why the FIM exists?? They allow all the different country federations to set their own rules and appear to have no teeth nor appetite for dispute resolution, preferring simply to 'point the finger' at countries getting their own house in order - whatever that means?!.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Skidder1

[Daniel Smith 5,645]

6 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Now is the time for the uk to go it’s own way, take a step back, change the sport, appeal again to its working man’s audience again, stop trying to be something it isn’t, it’s apeal has always been its rawness it’s connection to its fans , change the engines, stop lining the pockets of the tuners, nothing is gained by the pursuit of speed in our sport, there was a quote in the polish section of the SS a couple of weeks ago where a guy said polish speedway has lost its soul and as much as I love polish speedway it’s true it has, the balance has tipped in favour of business, when we finally get through this covid crap, the world will have changed and if people think speedway will just pick up and carry on as normal then they are in for a shock, now is the time to change the sport for the better, I honestly believe poland won’t be far behind us 

This is pretty much every sport that exists. It's now all about how much money can be made rather than the interests of sport as a whole. 

Speedway is no longer about rider's just having fun, it's a living, that in itself means searching for the best. Frames, engines, tuners, tyres, etc etc. Speedway is in such a position it can't now turn the clock back & reset. 

In the UK we're finding it hard enough to find rider availability hence doubling up & guest riders.

To go back & start from scratch I can see a single club surviving. 

With industry as it is up & down the UK there's not really a 'working mans' class as it once was anymore. There is no substantial jobs today that are down & dirty for little money. 

Predominantly if you have a full time job your comfortably in the 'then' middle class equivalent. 

Society today quite simply just don't want to spend a night out getting covered in dirt & dust, it's really just as simple as that. 

[PHILIPRISING 7,298]

6 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

I confess that having read the article I questioned exactly why the FIM exists?? They allow all the different country federations to set their own rules and appear to have no teeth nor appetite for dispute resolution, preferring simply to 'point the finger' at countries getting their own house in order - whatever that means?!.

PROBABLY because the FIM is the international governing body for all forms of motorcycle racing

[Ray Stadia 1,064]

7 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

This is pretty much every sport that exists. It's now all about how much money can be made rather than the interests of sport as a whole. 

Speedway is no longer about rider's just having fun, it's a living, that in itself means searching for the best. Frames, engines, tuners, tyres, etc etc. Speedway is in such a position it can't now turn the clock back & reset. 

In the UK we're finding it hard enough to find rider availability hence doubling up & guest riders.

To go back & start from scratch I can see a single club surviving. 

With industry as it is up & down the UK there's not really a 'working mans' class as it once was anymore. There is no substantial jobs today that are down & dirty for little money. 

Predominantly if you have a full time job your comfortably in the 'then' middle class equivalent. 

Society today quite simply just don't want to spend a night out getting covered in dirt & dust, it's really just as simple as that. 

I said year's ago, the survival of speedway in Britain, will be a 'track in a field' and maybe we aren't far away from that fact. You will still get people who want to support the sport, probably the same number of people who have been supporting it up until now. Also, league racing would need to go and have individual meetings instead. Perhaps, if it took off from that base, the sport could creep back into some decent stadiums.   

[f-s-p 832]

9 hours ago, Skidder1 said:

I confess that having read the article I questioned exactly why the FIM exists?? They allow all the different country federations to set their own rules and appear to have no teeth nor appetite for dispute resolution, preferring simply to 'point the finger' at countries getting their own house in order - whatever that means?!.

Which own rules?

[PolskiZuzel 329]

On 11/29/2020 at 10:54 AM, phillwhitewasmad said:

When I read the article I interpreted it as put your own house in order be firm with your national licensed riders and if they don't like it block them from riding elsewhere.

in fairness he's bang on with it however the likes of woffinden and Lambert will just revert to foreign licences and race under a different national flag.

That is exactly how I read (understood) this article.

[PolskiZuzel 329]

10 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

Speedway is no longer about rider's just having fun, it's a living, that in itself means searching for the best. Frames, engines, tuners, tyres, etc etc. Speedway is in such a position it can't now turn the clock back & reset. 

Tell me...when speedway was about riders just having fun ?

In my opinion speedway was always treated as a way of making living, and no rider was riding for just having fun., whether it was in Capitalist West or Communist East.

[ch958 2,393]

5 minutes ago, PolskiZuzel said:

Tell me...when speedway was about riders just having fun ?

In my opinion speedway was always treated as a way of making living, and no rider was riding for just having fun., whether it was in Capitalist West or Communist East.

I think you're wrong pz, once upon a time all but the elite had jobs as well as riding, riding was a paid hobby for most

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,735]

14 hours ago, PolskiZuzel said:

Tell me...when speedway was about riders just having fun ?

In my opinion speedway was always treated as a way of making living, and no rider was riding for just having fun., whether it was in Capitalist West or Communist East.

I did, it cost me a fortune over 20 years but I didn’t care, I just wanted to race speedway and being in a team was fantastic, I had some really crap deals financially like at Berwick but I didn’t care I loved every minute, to me there are things in life that money can’t buy and winning races for your team is one of them, I came into speedway with nothing, left with even less but those memories are worth a million 

Edited December 1, 2020 by THE DEAN MACHINE