Dangerous Machines Or Dangerous Tracks.

[Daniel Smith 5,666]

What I say is that the majority of life / career ending accidents tend to happen outside of British Speedway yet Brirish Speedway gets thw biggest flack from riders.

Some tracks here could do with being smoother but they're no more dangerous than anywhere else.

In fact, our safety records are way better than Polish tracks.

The thing is, they pay bigger bucks so that stops riders bleating about them.

Money over safety with riders imo

[Stoke Potter 242]

UK tracks are generally too narrow and poorly prepared. The one notable exception being Belle Vue.

You won't stop technology on the bikes so you have to fix the tracks.

The added bonus if you do so is you get tracks where the riders can actually race and you improve the product.

[foamfence 2,917]

UK tracks are generally too narrow and poorly prepared. The one notable exception being Belle Vue.

You won't stop technology on the bikes so you have to fix the tracks.

The added bonus if you do so is you get tracks where the riders can actually race and you improve the product.

So where are you going to site these tracks and the get the finance to buy the land and develop it? Most current tracks are in rented and shared arenas with little or no scope for alteration. You certainly could standardise machinery, you don't have to follow the herd.

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,755]

The modern bike roughly travels at the same speed as the bikes in the 80s ,however the speed of the back wheel has increased by around 2000 revs and that 2000 revs has a lot to answer for in terms of cost and safety

[Star Lady 5,400]

The modern bike roughly travels at the same speed as the bikes in the 80s ,however the speed of the back wheel has increased by around 2000 revs and that 2000 revs has a lot to answer for in terms of cost and safety

Not sure I understand that but the question remains has the extra 2000 revs improved the sport as a spectacle or simply fuelled the egos of the riders 2000 times

[THE DEAN MACHINE 4,755]

Not sure I understand that but the question remains has the extra 2000 revs improved the sport as a spectacle or simply fuelled the egos of the riders 2000 times

no it hasn't improved the sport but it certainly has increased the unpredictable nature of the bike and rocketed the cost Edited August 13, 2017 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[The White Knight 9,039]

I have said it before on here, Untuned Sealed motors from the factory it will stop a lot of silly money being spent and silly power coming out of a fragile motor, Yes as people have said progress things get faster, but Now in BSB they are running basically stock motors, WSB is looking to go the same, Moto GP, have put in restrictions year on year, I cant take about 4 wheel racing as I don't have a clue, Safety has got better because of air fences but then we have gone Backwards in a way with Nylon Suits, Kevlars, not good enough for todays racing not much protection, look at the damage to Crumpies arm, etc,

The White Knight, on 12 Aug 2017 - 3:47 PM, said:

Is there or is there far more media coverage so we know, In the 60s/ 70s /80s I could not tell you who was riding in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy Poland etc let alone tell you if anyone got hurt.

 

Are riders doing to many meetings in to many countries getting Fatigue and making mistakes, the whole speedway world is different now to then can you compare.

You may have a point here regarding different Countries - but as for media coverage it is virtually none existant these days, sadly. There was loads more media coverage in the 60's/70's.

 

I still believe my statement about more injuries these days to be true though. It has to be said that I cannot prove it - but that is my honest belief.

Edited August 13, 2017 by The White Knight

[Buttons 370]

There have been moans and groans for ages about riders coming off and state of tracks etc, the trouble is the tracks are the same as they were in the 60's (well most of them) but the bikes are not.

 

Surely when this started to happen why didn't the powers that be do something about it ie, tell riders in two or three years the bikes were going to change, to give riders a chance to organise everything.

[foamfence 2,917]

Yoou may have a point here regarding different Countries - but as for media coverage it is virtually none existant these days, sadly. There was loads more media coverage in the 60's/70's.

 

I still believe my statement about more injuries these days to be true though. It has to be said that I cannot prove it - but that is my honest belief.

It used to be quite common for a team to do a full season with the same seven riders, fans could often reel off any other teams 1-7, these days that seems to be becoming a rarity.

[stevehone 3,430]

 

 

I still believe my statement about more injuries these days to be true though. It has to be said that I cannot prove it - but that is my honest belief.

 

riders used to ride once maybe twice per week back then, now most riders are doing much more than that.

percentages are bound to be higher

[iris123 20,996]

Good point Steve.Said it a number of times here.What we have is fewer riders riding more meetings.Anders Michanek said in Backtrack about a decade ago that in his day there were far more Swedish riders.I'd be fairly confident in sayingat the same time there were far more British riders. Certainly Scottish riders.....

Think someone went to all the trouble of looking at the stats,and they showed there weren't more injuries anyway,because practically every start of the season we had a thread asking why there were more injuries........

[waiheke1 4,295]

You may have a point here regarding different Countries - but as for media coverage it is virtually none existant these days, sadly. There was loads more media coverage in the 60's/70's.

 

I still believe my statement about more injuries these days to be true though. It has to be said that I cannot prove it - but that is my honest belief.

It depends what you consider media. If we are talking print or free to air coverage, certainly far less.

But the amount of meetings you can watch has increased exponentially, each week there are minimum a dozen meetings you can watch online. Results of any meeting are available online, and there is more information available online than was ever published on the media. So id say people's are far more aware of injuries etc than in prior years.

as Iris has mentioned I'm pretty sure someone has done the analysis and concluded that injuries are no more prevalent now than historically.

So I think it's z perception thing, not a reality

[SCB 0]

What I say is that the majority of life / career ending accidents tend to happen outside of British Speedway yet Brirish Speedway gets thw biggest flack from riders.

Some tracks here could do with being smoother but they're no more dangerous than anywhere else.

In fact, our safety records are way better than Polish tracks.

The thing is, they pay bigger bucks so that stops riders bleating about them.

Money over safety with riders imo

I was saying this to my dad the other day. We have more meeting in this country ban anywhere else but seem to have less injuries. Meanwhile Poland have a lot of injuries for so few meetings.

 

Yet Poland slag off our tracks.

[The Master 88 10]

The White Knight, on 13 Aug 2017 - 12:44 PM, said:

You may have a point here regarding different Countries - but as for media coverage it is virtually none existant these days, sadly. There was loads more media coverage in the 60's/70's.

I still believe my statement about more injuries these days to be true though. It has to be said that I cannot prove it - but that is my honest belief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was referring to the likes Of this forum, Internet in general, Live streaming, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Back then you had to read the Speedway Mail Speedway Star & Express or maybe The MCN, and none of them really covered overseas unless a Brit was involved

Edited August 13, 2017 by The Master 88

[Theboss 727]

 

It's a different type of skill. It tests split second reactions and the expensive skill of the tuner.

 

I prefer the other type of skill based purely on riding ability but each to their own.

Bobby ott was very good at the type of skill you are on about