FAST GATER

I remember talking to him a Wolves in 76 and he said I drive the trucks because this could all be over tomorrow for me and you need food on the table

Funnily enough that was the rule of thumb in the past in fact there were only a hand full of full time riders in the top league Mauger ,Briggs and co , second strings and reserves were semi pro in that league as well.Saving holidays and riding for team that best fit their day jobs which I am sure could be done today plus if we had more wkend teams that would assist with this issue and maybe more fans .

Lets be honest here JD is head and shoulders above anyone in the PL (making hay while the sun shines) but IMO most riders would have less leverage on pay with lower racing costs .What you have to take in account that if you had a standard engine not requiring an ace tuner the riders would be able to take a pay cut and still make a living be it as a semi pro.

I agree with much of what you say my idea of baseline test was to show that a significant amount of changes to engines over the last 20 odd years has increased cost and little else ,if that was proved we maybe able to address the costs to riders .

What to do with existing motors ( which will be useless if their is no sport left)should not stop change maybe an exchange system for new standard engines ,if an alternative was found then perhaps a scrapage scheme or alike .If the Poles stay as they are they may take them and say the GP riders ,what must not happen is the riders stopping this with their obsession for more power and speed . It would be like turkeys voting for Christmas that's why I say use riders who are newly retired etc they have an open informed mind hopefully .

There little we can do with the tracks most of which do date back to the 60's /70's so the only alternative is do something with the engines this is more than possible with the right input.I would set up a body of newly retired riders or one's who are nearing the end of their careers( they would be much more open minded ) and get to experiment with for example 2 valve uprights ( just as a baseline to start from) or alike. Take them to every track in the country and test them out under friendly but competitive conditions ,this could be done now behind closed doors and take advantage of the lockdown .

No what needs to happen is to look back then and see if we can make it happen today , no one is advocating a league of regression merely hitting the reset button

There are probably hundreds holding workshop doors open I think more original 2 valve Jawa were produced than any other s/way engine ,knowing the eastern block they probably still have all the tooling etc .

I have never been able to get my head round the fact that a complete novice at s/way can have exactly the same machinery as the world champ, pockets allowing of course . British Touring Cars was dead in the water it stood back thought about it and implemented changes that have brought the sport alive again ,lesson to learn for s/way IMO.

I think this is pobably the best and only time it will be considered by those who should be looking after the future of the sport ,not just s/way but IMO in everyday life things will never be quite the same again

In a lot of cases riders have kit in several countries already and have the engines built/ tuned accordingly ,many will say this is a step back( having simple easy to maintain engines) but that's not to say it is wrong .

IMO Britian could go on it's own with regard to machinery ,it is one of the main elements that could be changed and would have a great effect on costs within the sport.We have to accept that for the short term the sport will to all intents and purpose be semi pro to survive ,a half decent rider should be able to adapt to riding diffent engines( at grasstracks rider have 250/350/and 500 cc bikes) in the case of say Polish riders wishing to race in this country .Just like the smaller tracks we have here they may just see it as expanding they experience and ability to make them better riders .

Come on chaps lets debate the subject you both have valid points please

Good points really think weekend racing would make a difference just the influence of the GP's to deal with .

Still say make the bikes more suited to the tracks / user friendly as MR Bishop did in his comp ,we got out of the sport because of the costs and would consider coming back if it was run along strict engine control.

Spot on excellent post we need riders to show more skill not speed .

IMO powerful laydowns should be for the GPS ,I am saying we should have less powerful unified engines in the league ,easier to change the engines than try to build new tracks .I have watch some old racing have seen some good /excellent and boring bit like the racing today really ,the olny difference is a few seconds faster and a shed load of cost today .

I still think we can work with the tracks we have ,one of the great things about the UK is the smaller tracks in the past riders come here to "hone" their skills, I loved the big open spaces of Crewe but riders then had to negociate the likes of Crayford .The sport needs to address costs and it will be easier to adapt what we have than start from scratch ,we don't have the goodwill other counties seem to enjoy for the creation of new tracks .In fact we are often battling to save what we have how long and how much did the NSS cost ,IMO it will probably be that last new stand alone track ever built in this country .

I think that you have to accept with all due respect that overall the standard of riders in the vid were not of the highest order,one of the finest forms of racing is go karts because this brings the driver skills to the fore .You have to use skill rather than raw power to gain advantage and those engines in better hands would make great racing because it is more about setup .You would often see this at grasstrack meetings where it was ( I can say this first hand) much easier to race a 500cc than a 250cc and this is where true skill and ability float to the top not the biggest budget .

Maybe have solos first and s/cars as second half attraction perhaps .

Becoming at least short term semi pro one league and long term second feeder league something like the late 60's early 70's ( Gulf league and NL) with fixed costs for points /start money.Riders can boost their income through their own sponsorship deals but some form of engine/ mod control ,maybe club engines with their own running gear .

I have had flu twice in my life I spent at least a week in bed both times and it was about 2wks after that before I was a 100% fit again ,on both occasions I was under 30 yrs old .

Would agree 100% .

Am I the only one who misses the tape touching the starts seemed so much more of a lottery in those days ,nothing like seeing one of the top dogs heading back to the pits after breaking the tapes . I know all the arguements for the rules today but IMO overall the cream always floats to the top and the best riders will win most of the time ,they can either gate or not .

Wonder how the GP's would manage if they were asked to run on Monday or Thursday instead of monopolising weekends at the peak of the season , UK could run on Friday / Saturday and Poland still on Sundays .