Is the end nigh?

[old bob at herne bay 828]

Let’s step back a moment and look at the carbon footprint of a speedway meeting.

Track prep using very old diesel tractors for hours on end during the day of the meeting

14 riders all turning up in very large diesel 2vans, having travelled hundreds of miles. Some riders flown in from Europe.  

14 methanol burning bikes each running for say 10 minutes per meeting. 
 

Seems to me the bikes are the last things to worry about if you want to achieve net zero carbon. 

 

[Petecc 352]

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

For a lot of speedway fans though this all sounds like it is from the WEF woke handbook. They can only be more horrified if Chris Harris turns up for pre season press meeting in a frock and wanting to be called Christine 

Let's get to the important point here, what kind of frock?

[Daniel Smith 5,666]

3 hours ago, iris123 said:

Think it is better to have electric speedway, than no speedway at all

Quite honestly, as long as the racing is close i couldn't care less what is powering the bikes

You only have to watch Formula E, eTouring & Extreme E to realise none is better than some. 

It's all a really tough watch. 

Might as well set up a league for biddy buggy racing around a coffee table. 

Electric Speedway will be an absolutely horrendous spectator sport

[arnieg 3,644]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Let’s step back a moment and look at the carbon footprint of a speedway meeting.

Track prep using very old diesel tractors for hours on end during the day of the meeting

14 riders all turning up in very large diesel 2vans, having travelled hundreds of miles. Some riders flown in from Europe.  

14 methanol burning bikes each running for say 10 minutes per meeting. 
 

Seems to me the bikes are the last things to worry about if you want to achieve net zero carbon. 

 

With pretty much any spectator sport fans travelling to attend must be the largest contribution to the carbon footprint.

So good to see the environmentally conscious BSPL doing all they can to reduce attendances.

[40-38 308]

58 minutes ago, arnieg said:

With pretty much any spectator sport fans travelling to attend must be the largest contribution to the carbon footprint.

So good to see the environmentally conscious BSPL doing all they can to reduce attendances.

They've been ahead of the curve for years 

[martinmauger 584]

2 hours ago, Daniel Smith said:

You only have to watch Formula E, eTouring & Extreme E to realise none is better than some. 

It's all a really tough watch. 

Might as well set up a league for biddy buggy racing around a coffee table. 

Electric Speedway will be an absolutely horrendous spectator sport

Speaking as I find (which some don't like) the first time I watched Fomula E racing I was genuinely interested in so many aspects like performance, quality of the actual racing, range and charge speeds of the cars, etc.  I almost fell off the settee laughing when at the pit stops when drivers simply lept out of their cars with a flat battery & jumped into a 2nd car, I literally couldn't believe it.  On this basis each driver of Formula 1 car, Touring car, F1 stock car etc would use 2 or 3 cars each per race and speedway riders 5 or 6 bikes each per meeting.  Though a potential 'E speedway bike' could probably do one meeting on a single charge.  Back on subject re; carbon footprint I beleive as speedway bikes run on methanol and use castor-based oil, which is no longer dumped on the track, the actual engines are pretty clean running i.e much les carbon emissions than engines running on unleaded petrol & certainly less than diesel-engined vans, for example.  Someone more knowledgable & inforned than me (not necessarily difficult) could confirm this or otherwise....

Edited November 29, 2022 by martinmauger
spelling, 2 or more x

[chunky 6,097]

6 hours ago, JCookie said:

I'm not old enough to have followed speedway back in the 70/80s, so I don't know what it was like back then to compare, but it's still broadly the same sport as now.

Then quit complaining...

I am old enough to have followed it in the 1960's, and I can assure you that:

01 - It doesn't sound the same.
02 - It doesn't smell the same.
03 - The engines aren't the same.
04 - The gleaming chrome machinery isn't the same.
05 - The clothing and protective gear isn't the same.
06 - Track locations aren't the same.
07 - Stadiums aren't the same.
08 - Track surfaces aren't the same.
09 - Track preparation isn't the same.
10 - Racing formats aren't the same.
11 - Riders' loyalty isn't the same.
12 - The team aspect isn't the same.
13 - Team riding isn't the same.
14 - Crowds aren't the same.
15 - The atmosphere isn't the same
16 - Promotion isn't the same.
17 - Press coverage isn't the same.
18 - Opportunities for riders aren't the same.
19 - People's awareness and knowledge of the sport isn't the same.
20 - The world isn't the same.

But...

21 - The racing is just the same, so items 1-20 aren't important!

[iainb 5,020]

If it was about the speedway engine, which it isn't,  there's absolutely no reason to go electric, just like in other motorsports, the carbon footprint of the actual race itself is barely worth registering in the grand scheme of things, the only reason other motorsports have gone/ are going electric is to attract the motor industry money... which speedway has never had to worry about.

We are never going to live in a world without oil, we just need to source alternatives for the mass users to enable the rest of the planet to use oil where practicable 

[martinmauger 584]

Thiss ^^. Should add re viewing my first Formula E race: at pit stops I was genuinely interested (at first) and expected to see some kind of fast charge or power cell change, not drivers simply leaping out of one car and jumping into another, still can't believe it.  EVs don't really work, range & charge times are a joke, charger output is so varied & unreliable & the cells die, very expensively, after few years use & speaking personally I can't park my car within 100yds of any potential charge point.  EVs are likely for our children's children (of whom I have none) or maybe their children, and prob won't improve until or unless someone like Elon Musk gets seriously interested and comes up with a breakthrough but much improved on his current Tesla EVs, which also don't really work.  Speedway & motorsport in general is probably 'safe' from emission worries for the time being....

Edited November 29, 2022 by martinmauger
usual spelling, sigh

[old bob at herne bay 828]

Chunky suggests :-

But...

21 - The racing is just the same, so items 1-20 aren't important!

 

I don't think so.  21st century speedway on laydown engined rev rockets with tyres that barely last 4 laps. Get out of the gate  - head down and hang on and fill your boots. 

[old bob at herne bay 828]

The  Electric bikes TT on the Isle of man was a dead flop as far as spectating was concerned. Strange whooshing noise as the bikes came past ...... with the ones with the biggest battery just about coasting over the finish line at Glencrutchery Road after just one lap.

Electric speedway  - NO THANKS .

 

[iris123 20,993]

16 hours ago, Petecc said:

Let's get to the important point here, what kind of frock?

From what I heard Chris is having trouble finding the right set up 

Edited November 29, 2022 by iris123

[Petecc 352]

6 minutes ago, iris123 said:

From what I heard Chris is having trouble with his set up, and can’t make his mind up 

I have no problem with chris wearing a frock, I was just wondering if he was going for a plain or floral pattern.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv 10,706]

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

From what I heard Chris is having trouble finding the right set up 

Gaffer tape instead of a zip.....

[enotian 562]

1 hour ago, Petecc said:

I have no problem with chris wearing a frock, I was just wondering if he was going for a plain or floral pattern.

depends on who he's guesting for