Davet

Will be interesting if both teams try to lose in the playoffs!

Tell me about it! Mind you, the smell used to be accompanied by a smoke haze and you rarely see that today. Perhaps the engines are just "cleaner" now.

Yes, of course it does. My apologies. However, the smell is nowhere near as prominent as it used to be. Perhaps it's down to closer engine tolerances or synthetic oils?

If you think it's loud, dirty and smelly now, you clearly were not a fan in the '60s or '70s - that is before silencers were introduced and total loss oil systems meant each race was accompanied with the wonderful smell of burnt Castrol R. Yes, I know we can't go back to those times (before anybody tells me!) but I think you would be surprised as to how much the noise and the smell added to the experience at that time. Sanitisation of the sport has considerably reduced its appeal in my opinion.

Can't help thinking they would have been more accommodating if their play off place depended on it!

But it isn't loud, dirty or smelly any more is it? That's part of the problem in my opinion!

I'm not convinced that electric or hydrogen power are the future - other than in cities perhaps - as they are not environmentally clean, it's just that the pollution happens somewhere else. Power generation will normally entail the burning of fossil fuels or nuclear reaction, neither of which can be described as clean; hydrogen would be generated, I imagine by reforming hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide being an inevitable by product to be released to the atmosphere, so let's not kid ourselves that these technologies result in zero emissions!

When I first went to Speedway in the '60s it is fair to say that at that time most people went to experience the noise, the smell and the crashes rather than the quality of the racing (which is probably as good as it ever was tbh). I guess it attracted a similar crowd as stock cars, and for the same reason. Nobody would go to watch stocks for the quality of racing! The present day, sanitised sport has all but eliminated the noise and the smell, and much of the appeal has gone with it. The appearance of modern bikes is also boring and uninteresting compared to the old JAPs with their massive engines and tiny fuel tanks. I don't know what the answer is though - NIMBYism and regulation means the sound of 4 unsilenced machines will never return whilst H and S means that crashes result in a 20 to 30 minute delay in proceedings. The introduction of rev limiters has been suggested and this could, in a roundabout way be of benefit as it would lead engine manufacturers to develop machines which peak at lower revs rather than restrict existing motors before they peak. These motors in turn would be better suited to grippier tracks!