martinmauger

Happens from time to time was same in Hull last week, mine arrived Friday other copies were delivered on Saturday....

Oh yes, and the rest. Also don't agree with everything Len says but he does, and always has, promoted his tracks and gets people in watching and talking about them. Dunno about his online presence but he writes regular-ish letters to the 'Star ....

"Brrr, who says the season starts too early ?" ....

Saw that, think it was from April last year, not been able to find link again in order to show to others, but he actually got up to 68MPH just before peeling off into the turns. Impressive. Not taking into account track surface, before seeing the link if asked about the top speeds of speedway in UK I'd have replied "about 70MPH on a big, 'roundish' track like, say, Belle Vue, Peterbrough or Sheffield" if conditions were right. So while King's Lynn is a medium-sized track, albeit reknown for being grippy, what are riders reaching at the likes Belle Vue, Peterbrough or Sheffield; 70-75MPH ? Guess that touches on the 'speedway is too fast' argument'....

Seen it a good few times and also have it on DVD, but still watched it again tonite....

I remember it well, bunking off from school early and zooming home (as fast as I could pedal) to catch it, often getting into detention the next day but it was worth it. Hope more of it becomes available....

Going to speedway has helped me forget about for a short while and deal with many a tough time during my life. Sometimes it seems you just keep getting kicked and you gotta find your own way to deal with it. But, life goes on....

Ivan had an exeptional year in 1979 personally, but don't get me started on the league ^^, ....

Maybe, but races often continued with a rider laid on the track in those days . Kennett & Olsen were effectivley 'ganging up' on Ivan from behind and were going to get by sooner or later and, no, he never blamed Kennett for his fall. Whilst on the deck, conveniently near the pit gate, Ivan began planning for his 1979 assault on the title. Incedentally, I read somehere that Olsen had a 'special' JAWA prepared for that 1978 Final and the engine blew up in the next meeting....

Yeah, reckon hydrogen cells could be one excellent solution....

Yeah, Ivan's bike was slowing the entire race, the engine was gradually seizing up, though he did well to block the track for as long as he did. The following Ole Olsen & Gordon Kennett went past either side going into turn 3, by this time Ivan's bike had pretty much stopped, Olsen went outside but Kennett clipped him whilst going past in the inside, causing him to fall. I wasn't there unfortunately but saw the highlights on TV soon after the meet had ended....

The power characteristics will be interesting though, less of a throttle or voltage controller - more of an on / off switch. I 'like', in one sense, the Formula E series: when it comes to pit stops they simply change cars. Electric vehicles may, just may, be the future but there is still a very long way to go. It would take 3 days and many re-charges to get from Hull to, say, Scotland or Cornwall by electric vehicle. No thanks....

Point taken, assuming Swindon's new staduim - with speedway track - is built. Wonder why they didn't decide to just re-build and modify the existing stadium in the first place....

STOP PRESS, though admittedly of limited relevance, 135 house to built next to Craven Park. The current residents, some rare spieces of newts, will apparenetly be transferred to nearby ponds. Poor newts....

Happens in Hull too, problems which prevent the building projects like shops are somehow quickly and easily solved when it comes to housing. And some of the existing traffic nightmare bottlenecks / 'snaking carparks' where new house building is taking place have to be seen to be believed....

Disagree, speedway in the UK has its issues but think it will continue for a good few more years yet....

Adding my 2p's worth the Speedway Museum is defo worth a visit. Been a few years since I last went but seem to recall admission to the Paradise Wildlife Park was £16-ish or so with free entry to the speedway bit included, so £10 is a bit of a saving. We took in all the zoo but spent 75% of our timr in the speedway museum....

Pretty sure that Sweeney episode was from 1976, the year it didn't rain for a good few weeks, or months even. Seem to recall reading the likes of Ivan & Olsen stuck with open face helmets was due to their lighter weight than full-face lids, there was much less chance of a neck / wiplash injury in the event of a bad crash. Big Alan Grahame also stuck with his open face lid til full-face helmets became compulsory in 2000 or so...

I was usually allowed to watch The Sweeney before going to bed, was on Monday nites at 9pm so school the next day. My eyes popped out of my head at the title sequence of that episode, pretty sure the 2 riders were Trevor Geer (blue & white leathers) & Paul Gachet, both White City riders of course. Think it was filmed on the day Ivan Mauger got his MBE at Buck House, he turned up at the track still in top hat and tails and got to meet one of his heroes John Shaw.....

Forgot about that track, an absolute beaut....

Looking at the stadium drawing, assuming it's to scale, the bends could do to be a tad wider at the apex. Unless it's gonna be mega-wide over the full lap, like Scunny, Somerset & prob Glasgow....

As many said, a tad dear for families, else nail hit on head. Put on more races, juniors, anything, after main 15ht match....

Interesting views but at the same time so sad, the place just stood there, quiet & empty. Some good memories, Brandon was one of the first away trips I was allowed got 'alone' to via supporters club coach, somehow forgot to mention to the folks that I wouldn't be back in Hull til 3am-ish. As a matter of interest does anyone know who owns the house / building outside the stadium on turn 3 ?....

Tis true. Used to be an off-road than an avid road biker (done a bit of moto-x & speedway too!) and there used to be the Memba Rally, for full BMF members only, camping Friday to Sunday, at a concrete / tarmac stock car track near to the Showground. Peterbrough usually had a proper meet on the Friday but I never, ever got any takers among fellow bikers to join me. A few would watch the demonstraions on the Sunday BMF Rally for campers, non-campers & general public (I think) but that would be about it. Years before that I worked in a motorcycle franchsie, only speedway fan of course, and most of the staff watched road racing. Including some form of production class for mostly standard road bikes, pretty much just lights removed, drain plugs safety wired and racing numbers added. Now until 125cc, 160cc & 250cc, etc engines were fitted over the last few years, mostly a 'speedway bike has been a speedway bike' that is one dominent 500cc engine mark with a few challengers. So, simple to follow then, only riders results count, few give a stuff about engines, tyres, etc. My fellow colleagues would say that 'speedway is too expensive, too complicated to follow, too many rules, no passing' yet happliy pay not much less than speedway entry to watch road racing at converted aifields (usual viewing one bend and maybe one straight), no real facilities to speak of. And would gleefully pay a heck of a lot more than an FIM speedway event at Silverstone, for example, to stand 1/4 mile away from one bend and listen to the riders disappear for a minute or so and wonder what was hapenning (usually nothing). Then talk about how they stood and camped maybe in the rain and the Yamahas beat the Hondas or whatever, I would tell them I saw it on TV and had a much better view of the entire circuit & race than they did. Though I appreciate I missed out on the atmosphere. Yet when I told them I thought road racing was much more complicated, like what did different coloured numbers mean, Production, F1, F2, National, International, Supersport, etc, classes mean, and that riders queued up behind the leader for lap after lap waiting for a fall, EF or mistake to pass around the inside only, they looked at me like I had 2 heads. So yeah, like with Touring Cars, many fans identify as much, if not more with the well-known brands of vehicles as with the competitors....

Inelasticity of demand: a phrase I've personnally used since my own college days. But don't some F1 races have problems selling tickets, seem to reacall at least one where part of the circuit seems deserted. Don't recall which tracks, possibly one or two of the far Eastern ones. Please don't resort to econometrics, trying to keep discussions relatively light and uncomplicated ....