Newcastle Diamonds 2021

[martinmauger 584]

It's surprising how with a basic 'track in a field with fence around it + a few Portacabins set-up' the costs can quickly multiply.  As a matter of interest THJ, how much would you estimate the two stands on the Scunny home straight would have cost to build ?  A builder mate reckoned in the region of £15k or so for the two, which seems a bit cheap to me.....

[ch958 2,393]

i think Gypsies Green is in too posh an area, City Stadium in Heaton surrounded by housing. Would have thought the most obvious place would be the ex dog track at Cambois

[mikebv 10,238]

Stock cars at Odsal came back in no small part to a good many "volumteers" who gave their time and their technical skills (and materials), to assist the promoter in setting up the track...

A great many of whom were stox enthusiasts who wanted to play a part in getting an iconic stox venue back up and running...

I am sure amongst the followers of Newcastle Speedway there will also be several "skilled" technicians who may be able to give up some time and resources to help build and power any "grass roots" venture which would at least keep the Diamonds in existence at some level..

Buxton was a good example whereby a "very basic" Speedway delivered something for many years that was far greater than the sum of its parts, and I would be very surprised if it "cost the earth"...

An "entry level" stadium with basic facilities, but with a (very important), decent shaped track, might be doable maybe?

[Normski 1,315]

4 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Stock cars at Odsal came back in no small part to a good many "volumteers" who gave their time and their technical skills (and materials), to assist the promoter in setting up the track...

A great many of whom were stox enthusiasts who wanted to play a part in getting an iconic stox venue back up and running...

I am sure amongst the followers of Newcastle Speedway there will also be several "skilled" technicians who may be able to give up some time and resources to help build and power any "grass roots" venture which would at least keep the Diamonds in existence at some level..

Buxton was a good example whereby a "very basic" Speedway delivered something for many years that was far greater than the sum of its parts, and I would be very surprised if it "cost the earth"...

An "entry level" stadium with basic facilities, but with a (very important), decent shaped track, might be doable maybe?

We were lucky when we went to Berrington Lough as we acquired some stands, as did our local rugby club from Stannington equestrian centre which i think was closing down. So that was a good start to building the stadium

[Fortythirtyeight 838]

6 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Stock cars at Odsal came back in no small part to a good many "volumteers" who gave their time and their technical skills (and materials), to assist the promoter in setting up the track...

A great many of whom were stox enthusiasts who wanted to play a part in getting an iconic stox venue back up and running...

I am sure amongst the followers of Newcastle Speedway there will also be several "skilled" technicians who may be able to give up some time and resources to help build and power any "grass roots" venture which would at least keep the Diamonds in existence at some level..

Buxton was a good example whereby a "very basic" Speedway delivered something for many years that was far greater than the sum of its parts, and I would be very surprised if it "cost the earth"...

An "entry level" stadium with basic facilities, but with a (very important), decent shaped track, might be doable maybe?

But first you need a piece of land that you can actually run speedway on with council permission and that my friend is the major stumbling block.

[Normski 1,315]

1 minute ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

But first you need a piece of land that you can actually run speedway on with council permission and that my friend is the major stumbling block.

Berwick were offered land at a farm just up from the Grove pub. But our council who were all probably in their 70's refused it

[Fortythirtyeight 838]

6 minutes ago, Normski said:

Berwick were offered land at a farm just up from the Grove pub. But our council who were all probably in their 70's refused it

My point exactly.

[TotallyHonestJohn 3,078]

1 hour ago, martinmauger said:

It's surprising how with a basic 'track in a field with fence around it + a few Portacabins set-up' the costs can quickly multiply.  As a matter of interest THJ, how much would you estimate the two stands on the Scunny home straight would have cost to build ?  A builder mate reckoned in the region of £15k or so for the two, which seems a bit cheap to me.....

Not sure in the day and to be fair I can't think what they look like now or there make up and size... However if they have structural steel work in them the cost for this has gone through the roof over the last 2 to 3 years not only for the materials but the installation costs for labour (steel erectors!!! Scaffolders on steroids)... also concrete prices have started to turn silly as well... That's the thing you have to think basic and permanent structures cost and the difference between a 15K structure (which I would say you pal probably has right as are these not Breeze Block and wiggly tin) and a 360 digger forming a grass bank is about 13.5k cheaper which could be spent on something else... but no business person in their right mind would invest 150k into something losing money...

39 minutes ago, ch958 said:

i think Gypsies Green is in too posh an area, City Stadium in Heaton surrounded by housing. Would have thought the most obvious place would be the ex dog track at Cambois

As an educated guess Rob will be out of Brough by the end of the year and the landlords wont be too keen to re-let the site and as stated who will pump 150k into a new site on a venture that is losing money... think we just need to enjoy our last three meetings and hope people turn out...

Honestly it's pie in the sky if anyone thinks that there is a long list of suitors queing up to buy this franchise...

The parrot is deceased it's a dead parrot...

Regards

THJ 

[Lefty 1,257]

I heard a Makem suggested that sports designated land at NE1 4ST is currently not being used. 

[StevePark 2,780]

1 hour ago, ch958 said:

i think Gypsies Green is in too posh an area, City Stadium in Heaton surrounded by housing. Would have thought the most obvious place would be the ex dog track at Cambois

Cambois was looked at years ago. I can't remember why it was rejected, or by who.  Tsunami may be able to tell us more.

[mikebv 10,238]

1 hour ago, Lefty said:

I heard a Makem suggested that sports designated land at NE1 4ST is currently not being used. 

I believe a black and white carpet has been stolen out of their trophy room..

Only thing in there worth nicking seemingly. ..  

 

[martinmauger 584]

Thanks THJ.  New track nutshell: even having £9m burning a hole in one's pocket (we wish!) is almost the easy bit, so many hoops & hurdles to jump, most folk that wouldn't believe....

[Terrace Grumbler 337]

2 hours ago, StevePark said:

Cambois was looked at years ago. I can't remember why it was rejected, or by who.  Tsunami may be able to tell us more.

I haven't been to Cambois for years but as I recall one of the problems would be that there is nowhere on the site  for the supporters to watch from, except for a few round the track itself.

Also there may have been an issue with disturbing a toad habitat.

City stadium would be brilliant: it was half built for a Newcastle Commonwealth Games bid which failed. However it is surrounded by housing and I would think planning would be very problematic.

 

[scampispeedway 67]

For information, the land that the City Stadium now occupies was planned for housing but originally it was a wide Ouseburn valley and so the Council took the chance

for more access from the Heaton area to the Town centre and they started by creating a strengthened concrete culvert so that the flow of OuseBurn river was not impeded

down to the River Tyne and the valley was filled with tons of household rubbish.

However after a few years the ground was found to be totally unstable as it settled and because of pockets of methane gas coming from the decomposition of the

organic material which ignited by itself and was visible on a evening as small flickering flames, the original idea was abandoned and left as a green field area.  

Edited September 6, 2021 by scampispeedway

[Wee Eck 703]

10 hours ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

Honestly

Not sure what your background is but I am guessing you don't have much site experience

If a  pits area is constructed the same as Redcar it would be less than £10k in breeze block with a wriggly tin roof and for £30k Werneck Cabins could sell you a small village worth of refurbished cabins including Office; Food; Ablutions and Welfare; and a 200KVA generator to run said small village £10k for that and the red diesel to run a meeting less than 50Lts @ .50p per litre so £25:00 for the juice and who says the Hire Of Portable Mobile Toilets is expensive? you can hire them for £22 quid a week or buy your own for £375 quid. As for running in mains it depends where you are bringing it in from as we have just had a 3 phase supply connected into a shop on the West Road in Newcastle and it was £3.5k however I know of a site in Workington where they have been quoted £60k to move a supply approximately 20 metres so if its less than the cost of a generator you would do it and forget the Genny, then water and foul services can run from £1.8K to £30K depending on the length of the run and if you are on a brown field site you are standing on a massive soak-away so drainage shouldn't be a consideration. Site and track lighting could be installed for under £10k and mounted on bent scaffolding poles set in Postcrete. Everything is doable on a budget.

Duns has cost between £60 and £70k to date so as unlikely as you think £150k seems; rest assured; it could be done and how Professional do you want an oval dirt track to be as I never said it would be the next NSS it would be very basic however as stated it would be a starting point and it would be functional. Also I have no doubt like at Duns and Northside and when Derwent Park was finished off in the late 40's early 50's there would be an awful lot of support from various sources and volunteers would supplement on the less technical tasks. Plus food wagons can be towed to site and even Guinness have a chilled trailer that serves beer!!! Finally you are right it is all moot to be fair but again we are talking about putting this in somewhere near civilisation not Langton Lees, in Duns on the outskirts of nowhere (as good as that little venue is and could be another Redcar)

Where there is a will there is a way... if we had said in 1939 it was too hard and couldn't be done we would all be speaking German now!!!!

Regards
THJ

 

Honestly or otherwise

My “site experience” is irrelevant. I was telling you what Redcar cost, which, despite your assertion, did not include a permanent stand. 
My figures are based on actual rather than theoretical and are more than borne out if your estimate of the cost of getting the 126 metre training track at Duns, which seems to lack any services, is correct.