Vince

The other day I heard a comedian say that 'nobody ever died of being offended' and I think in this day and age it is well worth remembering!

The ACU have tried many times over the years to threaten riders with licences being revoked if they compete with other organisations, it even went as far as court with the AMCA back in the 70's. It's always been bluff and bull and they aren't allowed to do it. Unless a rider has already entered to ride elsewhere there is nothing that can be done to penalise them.

I can't be bothered to look up the actual times but do remember when reading about the Mildenhall case thinking that the stock cars weren't helping the situation by continuing to make noise until the early hours, I was told at the time this was antagonising the neighbour deliberately because they hated him. If there is any truth in that then it is stupid beyond belief. No doubt that the new home owners should have been sent packing by the courts in the first case (and hopefully they would be under this new law) but nearly all motor sport venues should also recognise they do cause some degree of nuisance to some their neighbours and act responsibly by keeping it to acceptable hours.

We had this with a near weekly petition about a mx practice track. Once we proved that they had complained when there was nobody on site one week none of the names on that petition could ever be taken into account again (which was nearly everybody) and we were granted 364 days planning permission. Asking some of the locals in the village shop one day after all this if the noise was really an issue it was said that most didn't mind but the bloke who organised it all was such a pain in the arse that they all signed to shut him up! It is a landmark new law that will do a lot for motorsport in general with places like Mallory Park and Brands Hatch having major problems with complainants.

I agree on both counts but don't think the two types of marketing are compatible If you go to a Nitro Circus show there will be hundreds of young kids with their parents but the marketing is all about the thrills and spills which means it is still cool for the young adults. They do have the added advantage that the majority of the audience will do or have done a watered down version of what they do.

I don't think being family friendly is a problem but don't believe it's the way to market the sport these days. If you look at the crowds for the X games or other extreme sports events they are no longer male dominated. Lets face it when you were 16 would you and your friends have been more likely to want to watch a nice family sport or something mad, bad and dangerous? Me too, if it's got two wheels and is racing I'll watch it and have done since I was a toddler. Strangely I have had motorcycles pretty much continuously since 1971 yet don't have a road bike licence and am still not bothered about getting one. For me motorcycles are for racing, preferably off road although I currently think the best racing on offer is BSB.

Strange thing about motorcyclists and speedway. Seems that most who race enjoy the sport but the road riders show little interest. Think the racers perhaps appreciate the skill required more. Then again motorcycling is largely an solitary hobby that doesn't associate with team racing. Likewise the majority of speedway fans don't appear to have much interest in other forms of motorcycling

As soon as possible, there are 'extreme' sports out there that really don't deserve the tag but Speedway which does seems to avoid it. In my opinion they need to start telling everybody that they an just how often these lads get injured and how they are back riding long before they are fit. Make sure everybody knows just how tough this sport is and you might just get the youngsters coming to have a look, then let the riders act like they are tough and have a punch up now and again and they might stay!

That may possibly be true but far more likely is that a price of say £13 may result in a small increase that will then drop back to your hardcore support in a couple of months. Then in order to get income back to where you started from you put the price back to £17 only to find you have alienated some of them too. It doesn't seem likely to me that £13 instead of £17 entry will make much difference to many peoples attendance although continual small rises I think do bite. I believe that the price isn't the major issue, the value for money is. Even if you drop the price you have to increase the entertainment and improve the atmosphere to bring the crowd to a level that sees income improve.

I can't imagine any clubs can afford to try that!

When it comes to low average riders it will often be because they can bring in a foreign lad and he will become an asset while a British lad will already be signed to another club. They may well not have to pay a loan fee on a British youngster if he is unproven but they stand to gain nothing in the long term. They can bring in a youngster from abroad on a recommendation , pay whatever the current rate is that they have to towards his living costs, find him a place to live and use of a workshop and then he is worth giving time to develop in their team because if he does OK he will eventually make them some money. It makes much more sense to give him a good amount of time to learn the trade at his home track. Give a British lad who is somebody else's asset a team place and if he doesn't score in the first couple of meetings you can replace him with somebody else. The asset system while I can see why Promoters in general support it to my way of thinking is massively detrimental to the future of the sport in this country. Shame about Joe's retirement as he has the potential to be a good, long term servant to a club who the fans would like.

As I've said often before on here, I started going to Speedway in either 1966 or 67 and immediately fell in love with the sport. I was taken by my grandfather and was told at nearly every meeting by the people around me how much better it was in previous years. The racing I saw then and in the following couple of decades was mostly from the gate with a few good races at a really good meeting, a couple at a normal meeting and a handful of great races a season. Wembley World Finals were a great occasion but certainly not because of the racing (although apparently they were much better in the years before I went!). The main difference was being in full or near full stadiums so the atmosphere was better. In my opinion the racing today is the best it's ever been, the riders the most skilled and determined (although I do believe the top riders from any era would always be the best) and I don't see riders settling for position anywhere near as often as I used to. Quite often I think the tracks aren't prepared for good racing, especially in the GP's where the riders can handle the deeper dirt although even that is improving. There's not a lot wrong with the racing, the biggest problem is the perception of the sport from outside. It's just not seen as being a cool place to be, probably because it's really not. Us lot aren't the people to ask though, the questions need to be put to 14 to 20 year olds.

To be fair Speedway and Grasstrack sidecars are loved by many, it seems like they are more popular than solo's with spectators at Grasstrack........but I have never liked them much.

Sidecars a perfectly good motorcycle ruined I don't think mixing other sports with Speedway would be such a good thing as mostly Speedway fans aren't very interested in motorcycles. I would guess far more follow the other local teams in Football, Rugby, Ice Hockey etc than watch other motorcycle racing. We have done short track demo's at Speedway meetings at Rye House which have been received well but there have only been a couple of races and being demo's there has been a lot of passing and contact The one thing which I think would fit in really well at Speedway would be to run a cycle speedway meeting on the infield with the races between the main meetings races. Another local team to support which would cost very little to run (if the infield is available). Another option would be to get some young kids on motorcycles doing Trials demonstrations or perhaps the local kids grass trackers getting a couple of outings a year. None of it is going to attract much in the way of new spectators though, even the cycle speedway fans tend to go to Speedway anyway. Stock cars and Greyhounds would not be an option because of the fence for stocks and the shale getting on the greyhound track.

This video gives some idea of the effort put into making the AMA Supercross a well publicised and superb spectacle. The social media coverage is excellent, the events are well publicised locally and held in Football stadiums with top notch facilities. The racing is great (a must watch on the PC every Sunday morning for me). The stars of the sport become rich and famous as sportsmen. It is supported by factory efforts from the main manufacturers backed up by some huge sponsorship deals and teams. Vast sums of money are invested in these events. They run around 18 meetings a year between January and May throughout the US. They do absolutely everything that I have seen suggested needs doing for Speedway. The live crowds are dropping, currently they are still big enough to be sustainable but it's becoming a real concern. I think the majority of live sports are losing spectators in an age when you can watch just about anything on your phone, PC or TV at little or no cost. Don't know the answers but Speedway has been around a lot longer than Supercross and it seems to have found a level now.

I'd have read 'rules changing every other week' as just a saying rather than taking it literally, either way it really can't be worth making such a bloody fuss about!!

He must have been knackered at the end of that I'm one of those who never fills out a programme and generally isn't interested in the stats. Then again I much prefer individual Speedway meetings so I'm aware I'm very much in the minority. I can see that for quite a few making the statistics easily available would improve the experience so it is a relatively cheap thing that might help gain or at least retain a few spectators. The lack of a big scoreboard at tracks is crazy in my view (but that might be because I can't be bothered to fill in a programme so don't know the score half the time given the state of many tracks PA systems.)

1. Times have changed and live sport in general struggles for attendances. There is much more competition for peoples time and the majority of it can be had without leaving the house. 2. Speedway made a dogs dinner of their TV coverage and failed to use the income wisely. Many sports have survived decreasing crowds by using TV coverage to bring in sponsorship but Speedway generally hasn't bought in a lot of good sponsors. 3. The facilities at some tracks are appalling. 4. Not enough local riders or teams that retain riders for consecutive seasons. 5. The fans talk the sport down and want home wins when good racing is what will attract new spectators. Very much an underrated factor in my opinion, not only the fans but some promotions as well tell everybody that Speedway is a struggling, dying sport. 6. There are too many meetings in a too long season. Double edged sword as need the meetings to cover the track rent in most cases but even football is generally a bi-weekly event for most fans. Effectively doubles the cost for many supporters or leads to them picking the best meetings and not being bothered if they miss a few when the weather is dodgy. The season used to be Good Friday until the world final in mid September. Much better chance of decent weather and less weather ruined meetings.

Little bit off topic but we quite often see the success of darts compared to the demise of Speedway. Just how many people pay to watch darts each year? It enjoys big crowds at a relatively small number of it's top events but it is completely different to trying to get crowds to an outdoor sports meeting every week. I can fully understand what RMC has to say and have seen the success of cultivating a local journalist on one hand and the failure to cultivate his successor on another. Difficult to see a way to bring professional media people into promoting Speedway though as the funding just isn't available and they alone can't guarantee enough success to change that. I think Speedway in the UK has almost found its level, perhaps crowd levels will drop a little further but then it will just have to find other ways to fund the sport in the long term while there might be the odd burst of popularity to remind the oldies of how wonderful it used to be.

Agree with everything......except whiter shade of pale is bloody awful in any place

To be honest I hadn't given that a thought, years since I went to the library. Thanks Neil, I'll give it a try.

Anybody know where I can get a copy of Lens autobiography As luck would have it?

Don't suppose you want to sell it to me at sensible money?

Thanks but I have no plans to pay £50 for it, was hoping it might still be available new at a sensible price somewhere.

Depends on your definition of semi pro I guess but the majority of the riders you see as pro's would like to take away more in one night than they could in a month in a factory, in fact many would be happy to end up with what they could earn in a factory full stop. Relatively the money on offer in decades back was a lot higher than it is now, only a couple of months ago I was talking to an ex top line rider who when he started could earn more from a second half than he could in a week as an apprentice when he first started out. Now these kids travel miles for that second half and consider themselves lucky to get a ride, absolutely no chance of payment. NL riders in the main pay to ride, the exceptions are nowhere near making an entire living out of the sport. In fact very few make what could be considered a decent annual wage out of the sport as a whole and unlike most motor sports you can't just pop along on a Sunday and choose whether to ride or not depending on the weather and track conditions. The world has changed and the days when jobs that fitted in around Speedway were easily available are far behind us as are bosses who will accept the inevitable injuries. Fixed nights may well help in some respects but there just aren't jobs available to these lads where they finish at 5 to make home matches even if they ride very locally let alone companies that will let you take all your holidays in single or half days plus a few at short notice.