martinmauger

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 ....

James Beaton Snr very much enjoyed his speedway and did a great deal keeping his team in business, often accompanied sons Bobby & Jim when they rode at Hull. RIP....

I have a mate who says exactly the same about road bikes converted into trikes ....

Same here. Bit like at Cardiff: great occasion, met fans from pretty much every other club, sat next to some Poole fans, enjoyed the day out. Only when watching the racing again (at Wembley though Cardiff ain't always stellar) on TV then on vid & DVD did I realise not all of it was as memorable as I thought at the time. Still least I saw a World Final live, though I forgot my blooming camera....

This ^^, nuff said....

Nope was Craven Park, only ever missed two home meets but it was ony 'shirt sleeve' weather on just two occasions. I'm talking about the main stand where spectators still enjoy the full benefits of any sea breeze, accompanied by mist wafting in off the River Humber. Mind, it was tad warmer at ground level or in the back straight stand; stadium was built 90 degrees the wrong way round. I'm told Buxton is unoffiicially the coldest track in the UK, though I've seen amateur heats run in between blizzards at Scunny....

S'right. Apart from the Penhall v Olsen & Knudsen heats, the drama of Carter, Gundersen & especially Jessup EFs, nothing much happened. Last World FInal At Wembley, that's it....

Jumping in with my 2p's worth: one is, one can be and one is equal to. I'll readers to decide which is which . All The Best for 2018 ....

My family's 'record' for stuff sent by air mail to relatives in Florida, USA is 4 days. A friend of ours entered a compettion via a stamped envelope: comp address with 1st class stamp on the front, answer and her address on the back. It was posted through her front door the next day....

Credit where it's due, mine dated 30 December 2017 arrived at 11am today (28th), plenty in WH Smiths & ASDA too. Post is still catching up in this area after the entire country shut down over 2 days for some reason (!), I'm still owed stuff ordered mid-December.......

I wasn't knocking bangers / stock cars BTW, I realise there are different classes i.e. 'demolition derby'-type events v different classes of racing with different rules & regs. I meant folk wanting to see crashes and smashes are virtually guarranteed this action, wheras with speedway there is not guarrantee of the quality of racing, though personally I'd enjoy watching one rider going round a slick track on his own. Been meaning to check the stox out, a pal went to Scunny once, forget why I coudn't make it last minute, but he said "it was difficult to follow at times, but boy was it entertaining and the big Chevy V8's (?) were brilliant, the sound of those big engines was awesome"....

You'd think. " in the middle of the night,dig some holes, preferably about 5x5 mitre and about 2/3 ft deep. Cover with netting then put leaves and cut grass over them. Next day sit back and watch the fun ". You have no idea how much I'd love to do that, but I'd setttle for lobbing the odd stick through a front wheel . All that said, mention to folk an out of town speedway track to remove such yoofs from public areas and they say "what a good idea, there MUST be land somewhere". You'd think that too....