Ray Stadia

What is a shame, is all the effort that happened to get speedway in Birmingham again and to get speedway into the Sittingbourne dog track, for it all to suddenly collapse. Add in the mix Eastbourne, a track owned by a speedway dynasty, one can only feel 'the end is nigh'!

I wonder why the inside kerb is being taken out? Surely it hasn't rotted?

I think I'm right in saying, Gary Havelock used Mobil 1, at some point. Trouble is, you are starving the fans of the perfume!

That's the problem with speedway, riders expecting to make a living. It needs to be an amateur sport, with the chance of some prize money as the 'icing on the cake'. And teams are skint now!

Very sad. Only ever saw him on TV and have some videos from 'The World of Sport' days, with Alan riding. RIP

I have never met the man, but a big name in the speedway world. Very sad. RIP

New developments usually have to have an element of social housing, so maybe that is where they are located?

Fortunately!

Another string to their bow?

A lot of thought has gone into your solution!

Or something on your door mat!

Or wire up the van to the mains, to give the thief a nice hefty belt!

Auto-racing doesn't solve the noise and non-electric issues. The bikes I have seen are twins, similar to a Triumph twin. Whether the Japanese will adopt electric bikes for this activity, possibly!

Maybe a tarmac type surface would be more forgiving?

With electric bikes, maybe there is an opportunity to have a temporary track, put into a football stadium, maybe with a non shale surface, but a surface that is rideable. When I say a temporary track, I mean a track that can be laid and removed in sections. I can hear the wags lining up to suggest a Scalextric track! It could be a serious thought?

In sheds or the back of the garage!

It took a little boy to say 'the emperor's wearing no clothes!'.

Formula E (battery racing cars) happened in London a couple of weekends ago. The track was part indoor and outdoor, using the ExCel centre. I watched a bit, but soon tired of it, but then, I can't watch formula one these days. Interestingly, Custom House is nearby, which was the home of West Ham Speedway.

The smell is from the castor oil, not much smell from methanol. However, many are using synthetic oil, so the smell is disappearing. Funnily enough, burger vans, smell a bit like burning castor oil!

One of the drawbacks of having all that sign writing on your van! A plain colour van would seem a safer option to me!

That seems to suggest that the promoters 'trouser' a nice little earner from speedway, when reality is, most, if not all, lose money. The biggest problems for speedway over a fair number of recent years, is crowd levels have gone down, while costs for promoters have gone up. That circle can't be squared. Maybe some promoters do lack charm and appear to have a 'take it or leave it' attitude, but if you are losing money, I think I might be a bit cheesed off! It's been said so many times, the riders are paid too much, which will be the promoters biggest overhead. Yes, the riders deserve to earn good money, as they are the ones on the track, but if the money isn't coming through the turnstiles, why should they bleed the promoters, the fans (with constantly increasing admission charges) and the sport dry! The riders need to get back to being semi professional. Yes, one bike strapped onto a bike rack, on the back of a Ford Focus!

RIP and condolences to friends and family. Was Archie the chap , who started the 'Archie Wilkinson cycle speedway' cycles?

Surely, owning one, just rubs salt in the wounds, unless you are planing to hit the Mallets over the head with it! (excuse the oxymoron!)

Sad thing is, that would be 'one out, one in'.

A name in speedway, that seems to have been around forever. RIP