Stoke Potter

The Sky money should've been invested in the tracks or infrastructure without doubt. Or, shock horror, kept in a central investment fund which then could be used to purchase tracks when they become available. Fancy buying Brandon Mr BSPA? Yes, don't mind if I do. Pie in the sky, of course!

Plenty of debate on other threads about what makes a decent track. Lets have a survey. Can your local track be improved? For the moment lets (conveniently) overlook the financial aspect of doing any track work, as the point is to find out how many could physically fit a Belle Vue type circuit within the confines of the stadia. So minimum 300m with sweeping bends and plenty of width. I could answer for a few but I'll leave that to the locals of the particular track as they are likely to know better. So I'll start with my local circuit: Stoke: yes a BV track could easily be fitted in. Next...

BV is a diamond in a mound of crap. One track cannot reverse the decades of damage in this country, that's why you need more of them. When you get a critical mass of decent tracks with real speedway then you can market the real product. And BV on their proper race night would get crowds as good as Wolves or better. I never said tracks were the only problem, they are just the major problem.

If only you could show them how good the product can be by getting it on the tele! Ah yes, it is on the tele but the product's still crap................

We are in a minority I'm afraid. When I started banging on here about almost all tracks being fundamentally flawed, I was met with probably 95%+ ridicule. Now that's down to about 75% so there's been some realisation just nowhere near enough yet. Keep at it mate! It seems that Mr Rising is on side these days as well so we're getting there slowly. The ridicule doesn't bother me in the slightest, I will still keep at it. The fact is if people don't recognise it then the sport will die in this country.

But not the tracks it seems... i.e. The MAIN problem!

Surely the thread will get back on topic when there finally is word from the BSPA? Set your alarm clock for December then!

If the team argument were correct then the marketing would work to some extent but it doesn't so, yes, you are quite correct.

Don't agree. But how does your solution get the fans back then?

I've heard it all now! With an attitude like that you should be a promoter Felton old boy. Ask anyone who doesn't actually go and, if they've actually heard of the sport at all, they will all say first out of the start wins! Nowhere is that more true than the UK. The product is broken, you turn up, pay for 15 heats of racing and if you're lucky get 2 races and 13 processions! That's the major reason nobody goes, it's exactly why marketing drives at tracks don't work. People turn up for cheap or free admission and then the following week it's back to normal. Why? Because you're marketing a product nobody wants to watch.

Sorry, they wouldn't be able to afford me! ;-) But if only someone in ACU House would recognise the fact that the tracks are a fundamental problem, then we might get somewhere... I would take issue with that and actually say that most of them rarely, if ever, have been able to attract truly decent crowd levels on a consistent ,repeatable, basis. I well remember complaints about crowd levels back in the 80's... Wasn't it the Dugard family who have stated relatively recently that they have effectively been subsidising the Speedway at Eastbourne for something in excess of 30 years??

From time to time I tend to throw in something for the a certain faction of the BSF to bite on. The likes of Tsunami, etc. rarely fail to have a good old chomp on it, looks like you've joined them. The fact is if you don't fix the tracks the sport will continue it's long slow death in this country. New engines won't fix the fundamental problem the sports faces and, if by some miracle, you got one introduced over here it would effectively end British participation at the top level of the sport. Incidentally, aside from "tea & biccies", I've still not seen Tsunami's solution to fix the sport in this country............................................

No, it probably needs to be closer to 40+ in the fullness of time.

Thank you. It's the truth but some people won't see it. We are now agreed that the bikes are a bitch to ride around British tracks but not 'round BV. And that's somehow the fault of the bikes and not the tracks? Bikes/engines have evolved, British tracks, generally, have not. To make the situation worse, we still have people creating sub-optimal tracks from new, why??? Are the riders really going to give their absolute best around a track they don't enjoy? More tracks like BV means more rider enjoyment. There are several potential positive side-effects of that. I'll let someone else list them... Every time the subject of BV as the best track gets raised, you always get people saying " well I saw decent racing at Plymouth, Redcar, X, Y, Z...", you even get people claiming they say see decent racing at Wolves! :-) Well, each to their own, but if you want the absolute best racing spectacle for the fan and, more importantly, the layman off the street, then you need the perception of speed combined with real racing and that's the secret of Belle Vue. I'm also convinced that's why Polish Speedway "wins" in terms of crowds. Open your eyes people... The future is NSS-shaped! ;-)

OK, I can see sense in that. So why did they evolve to be so high revving in the first place? If someone turned up with a lower revving machine they would still collect points if only by virtue of the fact they stay in control for more of the race.

The point is you are far less likely to be locking the bike up on a bigger track and that's when it can take off from under you. On a wider track you also have more time to react before being in the fence. I agree that almost all tracks need work on the surface though.

It should be about making the sport the best it can be which means more tracks in this country like Belle Vue so, sorry Dean, the tracks are generally too small. Add to that that they are also too narrow, usually the wrong shape and poorly prepared and you have a fundamental problem. Modern day bikes do not respond well around tight narrow circuits with patchy surfaces. And before anybody says, yes I know I'm disagreeing with an ex-rider but anyone who says the tracks are not a major part of the problem in this country needs to analyse the sport instead of just watching it and I'll continue to bang the drum about crap tracks at any and every opportunity.

No announcement probably means no agreement, they are still squabbling about something or other! Can the routes of the present day crisis be traced back to the time the RAC ceased having any control/interest in the sport?

I've been saying much the same for ages, any speedway track in a greyhound stadium should be looking at alternatives locations already. The "experts" will tell you it's extremely difficult to find alternate sites, all the more reason why you should be doing it now! They should also change the rules on sizes for new tracks to make sure a Leicester cannot happen again but they won't and the "experts" will tell you why... The rules on track sizes should be geared to producing more Belle Vue's. It costs nothing to change the rules, no excuse not to.

Is the General Council different to the Management Committee? Is the GC the full BSPA? Where can you go to see an Organisation Chart showing how the sports' authorities are structured?

Interesting comments from Doyle in the interview prior to the GP. When asked about getting a warning from/moving jumping at the start, he basically said it was something that had originated in the UK because "it's practically impossible to pass on most British tracks". There you have it, straight from the World Champ, Britsh tracks are crap. Fix 'em!

You get Speedway like that at Wolves, Lakeside, etc, etc. Just ask the people that go these places. Nothing wrong with the tracks in this country, that's absolutely nothing to do with the reason no one goes. No reason to change any of them at all..!

Another borefest from that utterly dire track...

It's all over FB and has been in the Star I believe. There are fairly advanced plans to bring back a Yorkshire Dukes team to an, as yet, unpublicised location in West Yorkshire.

In the unlikely event it was actually asked (and of TW) it won't have been answered... Defeat from the jaws of victory.