Is Speedway Too Expensive Now ?

[Brummie Kev 519]

speedway has long been regarded as a family sport but frankly it isnt. A family of four would be looking at £50 - £60 per week which they wouldnt pay. How many families of four do you see on the terraces? Speedway is a sport for single fellas or married couples who have been attending for years and stayed in the habit. Maybe you get the odd father and son combo but certainly very few families. More should be done to attract these people, every 2 adults attending should be allowed to bring their 2 kids in free. Look after the future

 

Said somthing similar in another thread on the forum, but I cant believe most Speedway clubs charge admission for young kids. For a 6 year old kid, they could be charged as much as £7 at one PL track!!!, with others charging upto that. So is Speedway really a family sport, I think some promotions need to wake up tbh, no kid upto say 12 years old, should be charged in my opinion. In these tough times, its even harder for famililes and these kids are the future fans of the sport.

[mrmiddlesbrough 76]

As a fan of both sports for well over 40 years I don't think it's that expensive.

I used to have a season ticket at Middlesbrough football club right up untill mclaren was throwing bore draws up week after week and even though boro were in Europe at the time I stopped going when the bears came back into speedway.

As humans were always going to complain about any money output especially when your teams not doing so well but I do think speedway promotors could do a bit more before during and after the meetings to add a bit more atmosphere and entertainment especially at Redcar as we don't even have start tarts anymore.

I was always impressed with mildenhalls announcer as he wandered around interviewing riders and fans to keep people entertained,

In the Cleveland park days we had star of the night after the meeting but these days your lucky to see the odd reserve going round the track when the meetings finished, we have had the odd meeting were the old boys go around with their old jap jawa and weskakes or the odd rally car giving us a demonstration around the track but I think promotors need to do things like this on a weekly basis to keep fans entertained as it not only would bring more revenue into the bar/food stalls with fans staying longer it would give us better value for money.

[jenga 2,998]

i think speedway prices in the pl should be 20 quid entry,3.50 a programme.then it will become a rich mans sport and all the middle , lower class will not be ab;e to afford a family sport. maybe they could go to polo or something..

[pablo133 49]

prices for the riders need to be looked at for machinery tuning etc - if a ban on tuning was in place it would save on expensive engine repairs, also the price of spares is ridiculous - i heard a new rear mudguard is £170 absolute joke no wonder the sport is in trouble with prices like that when you can get a mudguard for a motocross bike for less that £20

[jenga 2,998]

maybe riders should go back to the good old days and start making fibreglass mud guards etc. steve watson made a few , i think.

[Jimbob 2]

Well in my opinion the only way to make speedway cheaper for the spectator is to make it cheaper to participate in. Then the cost outlay reduces for all involved and the savings can be passed onto us, the spectators. The Sheffield promoters tried this with their Honda engines trial but it never caught on.

 

I watch many forms of motorcycle racing and have to admit speedway is possibly the worst VFM. I club race at Mallory Park etc costs less to get in and you have a full day of racing to watch. OK this is club racing but even BSB is only £30 a ticket or less if you buy advance tickets. I don't know how many Premier League Speedway riders actually make a profit from racing but I do know that club level road racers spend a fortune on racing and even national level riders have to pay for their ride.

 

having said that I'll still keep watching speedway, just less often than I used to

Edited October 2, 2012 by Jimbob

[spanner47 336]

But surely speedway basically is a summer sport with hopefully good weather for May,June,July,August and September. Thats 5 months when we should not get cold evenings and more or less 5 out of 7 months when speedway is held. And to rush through meetings in 75 - 90 minutes with only 15 races and then sent home is not good enough in my book.

It's very rare to have a meeting over in 75mins in the Summer Months. It's pretty obvious most promoters couldn't afford the outlay of extra heats. To try and keep everyone happy (sounds impossible in our sport), why not go back to 13 heats, and have a 2nd half. The riders would get paid half price for the extra rides in the 2nd half. That way the promoters would still be paying out roughly the same, the riders would still be earning roughly the same, and those that want a longer evening out would get it.

[falkirkbandit 89]

I wouldn't say speedway is expensive, for me...its the price of fuel that makes it difficult to get down to Berwick regularily anymore. Three years ago, i put £20 diesel in the tank, and that got me down and back no problem....£40 for the trip including admission, chippy and proggy. Now i'm at least £30 for petrol (different car), plus i already put £30 petrol in the car every week just to get to work, as i work out of town.

 

I'm a Falkirk fan too, and thats £18 to get in to watch Scottish 1st Division football....now that to me is too expensive!

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,801]

i think the way forward engine wise is to get GM/JRM or some other manufacturer to make a kit that comprises of a piston , conrod ,set of valves and springs and big end pin , these are the bits which break , get them to make them for long last reliability rather than speed meaning a bit more metal on them and a bit heavier, they are passed by the SCB as being all the same , once suplied they can not be machined or drilled or played with in anyway and must be used as they come like the silencer is , this way the riders all have standard engines as such , the riders can still use different cams and flywheels and compression ratios , the tuners can only change bearings rings and timing ,with the parts being a bit heavier and bulkier you will also cut the revs down a bit , not a great deal but some at least therefore helping reliability , all this depends on the manufactures making a kit that is a resonable price ,say £300-£400 per kit , all riders will be changing rods and pistons anyway so its not an extra expence and the kits will fit into the GM/JRM cases they have now , the SCB/BSPA should be onto these manufacturers now to see if it can be achieved ,as i see it if this was brought in all engines would be nearly the same(standard) but a lot cheaper more reliable so the riders pay less out , returning to 2 valve or uprights or using a new honda or other engine would cost the riders a fortune to change their engines ,this achieves the same result but with a reduced outlay on what they would be paying for next seasons

parts

[greyhoundp 990]

Always glad to read your input on cost cutting for the riders Deanno, and of course these cost cuttings need to be implemented, alongside other measures, to have salaries rather than points money, to help get promoters expences fixed, and bring in reductions in admission, and a host of other things do-able, now is the time they need to be done, before its to late. I hate to think how many promotions have lost money this season, and we all know were it not for SKY money, hardly any EL Team would exist, this to me is foundations built on sand.

Edited October 4, 2012 by greyhoundp

[Fromafar 10,491]

Is there a standard rate of points money in the Promoters guidelines,or is there a minimum rate written down anywhere.

[davidncohen 18]

In terms of racing minutes (start of race to end) then I think stock car racing is far, far better value than speedway.