Grachan 7,364 Posted June 8, 2004 Konnichi Wa! Just been over to Japan and while I was there I managed to see a couple of Autorace meetings (Japan's own unique brand of Speedway). For anyone interested in getting an idea of what these meetings are like, here is some video footage I took. Start of a race - check out the noise of those bikes! A lap of a race Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Steve Dixon Posted June 8, 2004 Good stuff, i remember Speedway Star having a article in the seventies about this racing, how the riders are kept away from the public because of the betting. and them handlebars!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted June 8, 2004 It's like the American flattrack(?). Thats run on huge tracks like that only with a layer of shale. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conkers 67 Posted June 26, 2004 Interesting stuff! I remember something about this is "Speedway Post" in 1969/70 - and was trying to convince my mate at school about Japanese speedway! Don't those bikes have the look of early speedway bikes (apart from the Handlebars of course!). Anymore Video of the Autorace meeting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,364 Posted June 27, 2004 I haven't really got anymore myself that's worth showing (unless, of course, you want to see my wife stuffing her face with noodles or my daughter jumping up and down on a window ledge), but you can see quite a few videos HERE, on the official website. Click on where it says MOVIE on the left hand side column. (If you don't have Japanese installed you won't be able to read it, but if you click 2 lines below where it says 'Regular' in red text then it will bring up the video menu). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted June 27, 2004 If you can get your hands on the film "On Any Sunday" with Steve McQueen, there is quite a bit of Japanese Speedway shown. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TonyE 822 Posted June 27, 2004 Dom Arigato Grachan San In three years of living in Japan I never did get to see a live meeting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,364 Posted June 27, 2004 (edited) Doitashimashi-te TonyE kun. It's the third time I've been there, and I finally managed to track it down. A very interesting experience. More like horse racing than speedway..... well, except there's no horses of course. (HOHO! - looks like the naughty word block doesn't take foreign words into account!!) Edited June 27, 2004 by Grachan Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conkers 67 Posted June 27, 2004 Despite the language barrier of the commentary, the clips I've downloaded are quite good. Perhaps Barry Briggs could get another couple of the riders over to the UK again as he did a few years ago? Thanks for the link, it is a great site. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted June 27, 2004 If you can get your hands on the film "On Any Sunday" with Steve McQueen, there is quite a bit of Japanese Speedway shown. Actually, it's american flat track they show. It usually on men and motors so kepe an eye out, worth watching. They showed a programme about the making of On any Sunday a few weeks back and had interviews with Ivan Mauger (I think). They also had ice speedway and showed lots of clips of all the other motor cycle disaplines they did not show in the final film. Would you beleive they lost the speedway footage so could not show you much of that!!! Again, it was on Men and Motors, so it's sure to be repeated, keep and eye it it's worth watching. On the Speedway on Men and Motors theme, Ouch! That had to hurt has had a few speedway crashes on there, last time I watched in there top 5 crashes of the season, 2nd place was a speedway crash. I have seen the episode with Frank Smarts Farewell twice now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfcrazy 0 Posted June 28, 2004 (edited) Thanks for that link Grachan, brings back vague memories of my trip to japan when i was about 7 years old. My dad being the motorcycle maniac that he is spent three days of our trip trying to find out where he could find some Japanese speedway...Worth it though, great fun. As you have already said, the noise of those things is scary but beautiful. they don't do things by halves in japan it has to be said, they don't do 'risky' over there, it's more of 'you will probably die'. Edited June 28, 2004 by wolfcrazy Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sjw ministerofport 1 Posted July 16, 2004 Thanks Grachan for the clips. Im almost sure that in my teens when at Coventry one night one of the then Japanese riders paid a visit and my mates and i met him, i seem to remember he had a mouth full of gold caps and fillings, i can't remember his name. The problem was he seemed to understand the black country lingo better than we could understand Japanese Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,364 Posted July 20, 2004 I don't know how old you are, SJW, but if that was around 1971?? time it could have been Jimmy Ogisu, who came over to ride in the Internationale. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Conkers 67 Posted July 20, 2004 Oddly enough, in Backtrack this month there is a Photo review of 1970 by Alf Weedon (Est 1948). In it is a photo of Jimmy Osigu in his Wills Internationale Race Jacket. So it must have been 1970 when he rode. Wonder what he is doing now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,364 Posted July 21, 2004 The oldest currently competitive rider in Japan is 64 years old, so you never know!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
