Clutchstart05

Sorry this is incorrect, Rob will NOT reveal the location of his intended track at Friday's quiz night. He will be updating fans on recent developments, but it will be good news. The location will not be announced until planning permission has been applied for so as not to forwarn the NIMBYS. If you are interested the Quiz Night is being held at the Nelson Inn at Topsham. Tapes up 7.30pm.

Jimmy made us really welcome when we came up for the Scottish dinner a few years back. He collected us from the airport, took us to the hotel, then on to the dinner. Next day he drove us to visit Cinders to Shale then back to the airport. He made it a memorable visit for us, and something we always remember with great pleasure. RIP Jimmy..

This is the first Cardiff GP I've missed. I may have saved £200 for tickets, travel etc, but shall be back in 2016. Can't endure the TV coverage again. Hope Sky take it back. Presentation very amateur in my view.

TonyofBrum BBC1 Spotlight South West used a little bit of your footage on their news programme this evening along with a piece on the Falcons' history and our efforts to get a new track. You can get it on I-player. Thank you for your nice comments. We are all looking forward to the DVD.

Now that the tills have all been officially checked the attendance was actually in excess of 700. You can imagine how pleased Rob and Alan are with that!!

Yes it would be good but sadly no chance of that. We are not wanted down there.

Nobody knew just how this meeting would go except that Rob Doran and Alan Spencer were taking a big risk just putting it on. But after a wet afternoon and worries over traffic chaos on the M5 it turned into a glorious evening, a 700 plus crowd, and plenty of fantastic racing. The Heathens put on a terrific show, but this was all about the Falcons' fans coming together after ten years and proving that there is still a big demand for speedway in Exeter. Thank you Cradley for showing us what can be achieved. The Falcons are coming back! Great pictures Ian.

It should indeed be a good night's racing. And the weather looks promising too!

Curious and curiouser.

Cyril came to Exeter as an unknown at the start of 1947. He stayed until midway through 1948 when he was recalled by New Cross by which time he was a star. A very short spell as a Falcon but he became a household name in Exeter and still is locally. Sixty years on he is remembered as one of the greatest Falcons. Tony

I think the racecourse is the only likely spot on Haldon, Wiseguy, although I too saw a report that suggested it might be elsewhere. Planning is always the biggest problem. When things were looking likely the county Council stepped in and advised us that not only would we need to fund new road access from the A38 but also a cycle track up Haldon Hill as Devon is a Green county. Its three lanes and very steep, and probably even more frightening going down again in the dark with trucks bombing passed. The entrance by the way is sufficient for 12,000 racegoers but not for 1,200 speedway fans. At Westpoint the locals were the problem. The showground management okayed the speedway but insisted on a public meeting. That was the most unpleasant two hours of my life, with the abuse beginning 15 minutes prior to start time. The showground had directors listening and immediately backed down in the face of the opposition. Prior to the meeting planning officers at East Devon district council told me 'Don't bother asking. you'll never get planning permission.' Since then the residents attempted to stop the building of the new rugby stadium because it was a blot on the landscape. Ironically one of the resident's complaints against speedway was the amount of traffic that would pass the village despite the special arrangements for County Show traffic. Once the rugby ground was built they discovered there was no parking, so the fans had to park at the show ground and taken by bus to the stadium!

Everyone wants the Falcons back, Wiseguy, but the problem is finding a site on which the authorities and the nimbys will allow us to build the track. Even after all this time I am confident that support from the fans would make it viable.

Glad you enjoyed it. Tony

Great pictures, Ian, as usual!

And don't forget Chris Julian used to drive from Cornwall every week to ride for Glasgow.

Whoops. I think I pressed the wrong key. Anyway the phone number for the library is 01392-252783. The beauty of using the library is that they have some great technology so as well as displays of old photo prints we also had five computer screens showing over 200 Exeter speedway slides on a loop plus the Re Run End of an Era DVD running all day. Several people wanted to buy it so hopefully Steve G has had plenty of orders. It was indeed a most enjoyable day and as always I am very grateful to Rob Doran who brought along a car load of memorabilia from his museum as well as one of Scott Autrey's bikes. An amazing amount of historic material was brought along by visitors, the most impressive being five tiny photos which we had never seen before of, we think, a pre first meeting practice session at the County Ground in 1929. Hopefully we will be able to show them on 9 March. Thanks for all the interest Tony L

After a very busy week I have just seen this thread. We had a fantastic day with over 500 visitors squeezing into what is a very small library. We even got coverage on the Westcountry ITV news. Its a shame that we had to stage in on a Wednesday but that is the only day the library is closed. we appreciate that workers were unable to attend. However Lee Rawlings, the library manager, who did great job in setting up the event, has asked us back to celebrate the 86th anniversary of the first Exeter meeting in 1929. This will be an illustrated talk on Monday 9th March starting at 7.00pm. Due to the size of the library numbers are strictly limited so tickets should be obtained direct from the St Thomas Library. Lee reports that half the tickets have already gone, but we will run a repeat event if there is enough demand which suspect there might be.

Are you sure about that, starshooter? David Short wasn't co-promoter at Exeter until 2005. He persuaded the rugby club to sanction a final season which attracted decent crowds. Everyone realised it was the final season so no need for Short to use scare tactics. I don't remember any. The late Colin Hill certainly didn't except on occasions to wind the rugby club up. His crowds were always good. As to giving Plymouth a fair crack of the whip they lost a packet last year thanks to less than break even crowds, and as we have seen attendances have been poor so far this season. There seems to have been a pattern of new tracks opening to big crowds, Newport, St Austell and Isle of Wight for example, and then seeing the fans dwindle away. Sadly Plymouth has a long history of promoters pulling out after just one or two seasons due to lack of spectators. I sincerely hope the current promotion get the kind of support they deserve. Its a great little track with wonderful racing, and I would hate to see it go.

I don't think 'Broadside' ever went into production. At the time a couple from Bradford, John and Barbara Baker, had a successful little business producing hand painted toy speedway using riders produced by Britains Ltd. When the Britains models went out of production they bought the casts. They told me that they had been approached to produce all the riders for the new game even to the extent of articulating the rider's limbs so that it turned with the bike. I would love to have purchased a set but the price was way out of my reach. The Bakers also created a set of rules for table top racing using dice, and even launched a postal British League. The Bakers game was different to Subbuteo speedway as racing took place on a marked out track whereas with Subbuteo the riders had to be flicked around the track.

I'm sure you are right. They certainly believed all those people who posted last winter saying that the SBA crowd would increase by 300 a week if Bowden left..

Have any of these guys actually signed a contract yet? if so will they suddenly disappear if someone better comes along??

I have just checked the Exeter archive. I'm sure it is Matthew Cross. He only rode in one race, Heat 21. It was an additional race, and the names are hand written in the programme. He is listed as M. Cross and finished second. I don't think he appeared at the County Ground again that season.

I haven't been a regular at the SBA in recent seasons. You can probably understand why. Went on Friday to give the new management a chance, and wow, what an improvement all round. Obviously a great deal of work has been undertaken, and the whole place is now much more of a stadium. We were really impressed by the new back straight stand, and being so close to the track it must rate as among the best, if not the best, view in British speedway. Watching Ty Procter battling with Doyle and Morris in heat 13 was breathtaking. What also struck me was seeing the promoters out in the crowd during the meeting talking to the fans. Not something you see at many tracks. There are still a few tweaks that need to be done. The PA could be a bit clearer. No fault of Graham Hambly. He is always good, but couldn't really hear the the centre green guy. A few more lights would also be useful around the back for we oldies, but these are minor niggles which I sure will be sorted out by the management who can't be expected to get everything done immediately. Well done to all concerned.