customhouseregular

Me too...an invaluable service and greatly appreciated

Not so much of the old

Thank the Lord I saw most of my speedway in the 60's

Thanks for that severnsider

I was interested to see the Etihad track will be 346m. in length as I would have expected the stadium layout to be very similar to the Millenium. I assume this is due to Melbourne having more retractable seats than Cardiff. Racing should be better on the bigger track...375 yards equivalent so could be a better experience than Cardiff, so long as 40,000+ turn up and make enough noise. For me at least Cardiff would be better with a 375 yard track.

I put Tai and Peter as no.1 as I believe Tai has it in him to match the best and Peter I believe would have gone on to greatness had fate not intervened. However, with the history and rivalry between Briggs and Fundin it would have been an inspired pairing.

Nobody there to see it

That's why i said ish1 Norbold

ish! I'm sure it could be done if the will is there

The lack of a roof never stopped Wembley though Philip .

Well spotted. I was too intent on the names to notice the error but i'm sure Joe knew it was 4 .

Interesting concept Joe but I'm intrigued as to how you decided your pairings. I would have put Fundin with Briggs, Hancock with Penhall, Mauger with Moore, Nielsen with Gundersen, Crump with Young, Woffinden with Craven, Pedersen with Olsen and kept Williams with Rickardsson. My top 3... Tai and Peter Hans and Eric Ivan and Ronnie However, using your pairings I would go... Mauger/Woffinden Craven/Hancock Penhall/Moore

Apparently the redeveloped stadium will have 21,000 retractable seats which can be removed to enable the laying of an Athletics track. Presumably then a Speedway track could also be laid without affecting the pitch. Any thoughts?.

According to the BBC website today the Olympic Stadium as well as being West Ham's new home will also stage Motor Sport events. Has anyone heard any rumours?

I'm embarrassed to admit it Norbold but time has diminished my memories. It has taken your book to bring it all back. Between 1964 and 1969 I was probably getting to 3 meetings a week and even the really great meetings have become lost to me. at Wimbledon I usually stood overlooking the second bend. By the way, my 87 year old Mum who was born in Poplar really enjoyed pie 'n' mash and prefabs.

3 cheers for us old-timers

2016 will be the 80th. Anniversary of the World Championship, although of course it has not been contested continuously for all that time. Would it not be a wonderful time for a showpiece meeting at Wembley (the spiritual home of the World Championship)?. I would love to see a commemorative meeting featuring every rider still competing at that time who had medalled come the end of the GP series (particularly Emil). With concerted marketing and promotion the National Press would promote it and ITV would screen it. There would be a substantial prize for the winner and a massive crowd of true speedway fans would fill Wembley. As my dear old and sadly departed Nan would say..."Now tell us the one about the three bears".

My post was ever so slightly tongue in cheek WK .

It's the one man Norman Jacobs Appreciation Society here again to say how much I enjoyed reading the above-named tome, particularly the chapters on the 1946 Wembley v West Ham London Cup Final and the 1965 Wimbledon v West Ham Knock-out Cup 1/4 Final ( ). I was at Wimbledon for the 1965 meeting but 1946 was a little early for me, though I did attend meetings in 1947 as an embryo ( ).

I believe that in the mid 1980's there were serious moves to get the 1988 World final staged at Wembley. As I understand it negotiations were at an advanced stage and the proposed staging was looking a distinct possibility. However, for some reason discussions broke down and as we all know the Final never returned to Wembley. Do Norman, Philip or any other historian know the reason why negotiations broke down, and if any further attempts were made to stage Wembley Finals post-1988?.

On the other hand the organisers might just put on a fabulous weekend to show people that this year's fiasco was a one-off.

.

If anyone attending any of the finals would care to pm me I am happy to pay for programmes...many thanks.

Conversely, check out the Ice finals for late 60's/early 70's to see the familiar names.