PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) On 7/15/2018 at 12:34 AM, THE DEAN MACHINE said: The size of the track doesn’t make a difference and to a point neither does a patchy surface but a narrow track does make a lot of difference , tonight’s meeting in gustrow was as good as any meeting at belle vue and it’s a small track about the size of buxton and it was rough and bumpy but as always at this track it produced good racing as it is wide and has good width entry into the corners ,tracks are not the problem although width would help it’s the bikes that are the problem, there is nothing wrong with small tracks that isn’t speedways problem I DON'T speak to as many riders as I used to but in my recent experience it is virtually unanimous that the modern day speedway bike is a 'bitch' to ride on most British tracks, underlined that no one I know of doesn't relish racing at the NSS. Riders want to enjoy their racing and that certainly isn't possible at a high number of tracks in the UK. Edited July 16, 2018 by PHILIPRISING 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,260 Posted July 16, 2018 5 hours ago, Bryce said: This is a huge part of the problem. Just look at the situation with Friday night fixtures being removed. One promoter (and a MC member at that) seems happy to potentially force up to 3 clubs out of business just so he can have a better choice of guests. Do you mean Scunthorpe and Godfrey? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bryce 349 Posted July 16, 2018 That was the implication given to the crowd at Lakeside on Friday by Jon Cook. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SPEEDY69 1,260 Posted July 16, 2018 9 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said: I DON'T speak to as many riders as I used to but in my recent experience it is virtually rally unanimous that the modern day speedway bike is a 'bitch' to ride on most British tracks, underlined that no one I know of doesn't relish racing at the NSS. Riders want to enjoy their racing and that certainly isn't possible at a high number of tracks in the UK. At less than 300 metres, Gustrow provided some great action at the weekend. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THE DEAN MACHINE 4,750 Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said: I DON'T speak to as many riders as I used to but in my recent experience it is virtually rally unanimous that the modern day speedway bike is a 'bitch' to ride on most British tracks, underlined that no one I know of doesn't relish racing at the NSS. Riders want to enjoy their racing and that certainly isn't possible at a high number of tracks in the UK. Yes they are bitch but that tells you the bikes are at fault not the track the reality is we can’t make the tracks bigger so it’s the bikes that have to change, the riders and the tuners have dictated the engine direction because there is no controls in place, Warsaw ,Cardiff, horsens and gustrow are all small tracks and they seam to enjoy them, the problem is a lot of modern day riders learnt with the throttle only working one way, maybe it’s time to go back to speedway school, personally I preferred the tight technical tracks but I was riding engines that were fit for the purpose, i keep getting told it’s progress and engines have evolved, evolved into what ? Evolved into engines that need wide open spaces and no hint of rain, progress ???? We are going backwards Edited July 16, 2018 by THE DEAN MACHINE 4 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waytogo28 2,054 Posted July 16, 2018 1 hour ago, PHILIPRISING said: I DON'T speak to as many riders as I used to but in my recent experience it is virtually rally unanimous that the modern day speedway bike is a 'bitch' to ride on most British tracks, underlined that no one I know of doesn't relish racing at the NSS. Riders want to enjoy their racing and that certainly isn't possible at a high number of tracks in the UK. So mechanical restrictions are the only way forward, as many have said on here. Bikes de-tuned massively by whatever means ( will last longer too ) carburation, sleeving, electronics. Even simple 350's with no tuning permitted. The customer rightly or wrongly does not want to see tapes to flag "racing" or is it chasing. Promoters must sell what customers, old and new want to see or they must close down the tracks. Changing the tracks is beyond our resources but changing the existing bikes is not. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stoke Potter 242 Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, PHILIPRISING said: I DON'T speak to as many riders as I used to but in my recent experience it is virtually unanimous that the modern day speedway bike is a 'bitch' to ride on most British tracks, underlined that no one I know of doesn't relish racing at the NSS. Riders want to enjoy their racing and that certainly isn't possible at a high number of tracks in the UK. Thank you. It's the truth but some people won't see it. We are now agreed that the bikes are a bitch to ride around British tracks but not 'round BV. And that's somehow the fault of the bikes and not the tracks? Bikes/engines have evolved, British tracks, generally, have not. To make the situation worse, we still have people creating sub-optimal tracks from new, why??? Are the riders really going to give their absolute best around a track they don't enjoy? More tracks like BV means more rider enjoyment. There are several potential positive side-effects of that. I'll let someone else list them... Every time the subject of BV as the best track gets raised, you always get people saying " well I saw decent racing at Plymouth, Redcar, X, Y, Z...", you even get people claiming they say see decent racing at Wolves! :-) Well, each to their own, but if you want the absolute best racing spectacle for the fan and, more importantly, the layman off the street, then you need the perception of speed combined with real racing and that's the secret of Belle Vue. I'm also convinced that's why Polish Speedway "wins" in terms of crowds. Open your eyes people... The future is NSS-shaped! ;-) Edited July 16, 2018 by Stoke Potter 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
topaz325 1,859 Posted July 16, 2018 Yes we all know that but we can’t have every meeting at Belle vue Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
New Science 1,059 Posted July 16, 2018 2 hours ago, waytogo28 said: So mechanical restrictions are the only way forward, as many have said on here. Bikes de-tuned massively by whatever means ( will last longer too ) carburation, sleeving, electronics. Even simple 350's with no tuning permitted. The customer rightly or wrongly does not want to see tapes to flag "racing" or is it chasing. Promoters must sell what customers, old and new want to see or they must close down the tracks. Changing the tracks is beyond our resources but changing the existing bikes is not. Surely all these things mentioned must be ratified by the F.I.M. So in reality you have no chance. As long as everything is ok in Poland there will be no change 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Midland Red 2,383 Posted July 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Stoke Potter said: Thank you. It's the truth but some people won't see it. We are now agreed that the bikes are a bitch to ride around British tracks but not 'round BV. And that's somehow the fault of the bikes and not the tracks? Bikes/engines have evolved, British tracks, generally, have not. To make the situation worse, we still have people creating sub-optimal tracks from new, why??? Are the riders really going to give their absolute best around a track they don't enjoy? More tracks like BV means more rider enjoyment. There are several potential positive side-effects of that. I'll let someone else list them... Every time the subject of BV as the best track gets raised, you always get people saying " well I saw decent racing at Plymouth, Redcar, X, Y, Z...", you even get people claiming they say see decent racing at Wolves! :-) Well, each to their own, but if you want the absolute best racing spectacle for the fan and, more importantly, the layman off the street, then you need the perception of speed combined with real racing and that's the secret of Belle Vue. I'm also convinced that's why Polish Speedway "wins" in terms of crowds. Open your eyes people... The future is NSS-shaped! ;-) So . . . your answer to our problems with UK Speedway is to build 16+ new tracks Get real 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stoke Potter 242 Posted July 16, 2018 2 minutes ago, Midland Red said: So . . . your answer to our problems with UK Speedway is to build 16+ new tracks Get real No, it probably needs to be closer to 40+ in the fullness of time. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waytogo28 2,054 Posted July 16, 2018 (edited) 40 minutes ago, Stoke Potter said: No, it probably needs to be closer to 40+ in the fullness of time. Do you think we can find the extra 250,000 new fans to fill these stadiums regularly? That's a tenfold increase on the support the sport now has in the UK. Or will the 100 supporters at each track pay a lot more to get in? Edited July 16, 2018 by waytogo28 additional point made Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buttons 370 Posted July 16, 2018 4 hours ago, SPEEDY69 said: At less than 300 metres, Gustrow provided some great action at the weekend. Absolutely, there was some great racing one of the best meetings on TV for a while. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
THE DEAN MACHINE 4,750 Posted July 16, 2018 Sometimes wow just about covers it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stoke Potter 242 Posted July 17, 2018 9 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said: Sometimes wow just about covers it From time to time I tend to throw in something for the a certain faction of the BSF to bite on. The likes of Tsunami, etc. rarely fail to have a good old chomp on it, looks like you've joined them. The fact is if you don't fix the tracks the sport will continue it's long slow death in this country. New engines won't fix the fundamental problem the sports faces and, if by some miracle, you got one introduced over here it would effectively end British participation at the top level of the sport. Incidentally, aside from "tea & biccies", I've still not seen Tsunami's solution to fix the sport in this country............................................ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites