Speedway Star

[JamesHarris]

19 hours ago, RoundTheBoards said:

Back in the day we didn't have GPs

Back in the day they would have a current photo of the world final winner, but that was one week in September.   What about the other 51 weeks?   And which "GP or event of that week" photo were you expecting for the last week of November?

What a pathetic response. We've had Grand Prix's for the last 30 years. Prior the 1995 yes we had the World Final and yes the cover reflected that. The World Final preview edition was always good. The front covers always reflected the news and events of the week. Fair enough there is not much action in the close season but just accept that the current format is dull and uninspiring. 

[bigcatdiary]

On 11/28/2025 at 3:23 PM, Tim Templeton said:

I understand that it may be Royal Mail that needs approaching, not the Post Office.   The Post Office and Royal Mail are both independent privatised separate businesses.  I complained about postal services to the PO, and they told me to go to RM!

Royal Mail do make it difficult to make a complaint but freepost via customer services gets a pretty quick reply, but it’s clear that the problem is sorting offices who are clearly holding post back and just sending it out on certain days.

My local postman is very helpful and says if it comes out for delivery to them it all gets done that day, which just supports the view that some of it just gets held back, we get very little post Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Thursdays we get loads and then it’s back to very little if anything Fridays and Saturdays.

My star generally arrives on Thursdays but occasionally it’s later and I have even had it Mondays, which again from where it’s printed and posted (20 miles away) isn’t terribly brilliant on a first class postage.

Like a lot of others I have considered the internet version but I do prefer a hard copy and the difference in price isn’t much help, editorial tell me it’s expensive for the internet version as well.

[Fromafar]

21 hours ago, JamesHarris said:

Does anyone still buy the Speedway Star? It's outdated and irrelevant in todays media. I have a cheeky look in Tesco every now and then and put it back on the shelf. It's front cover is uninspiring. Back in the day the cover reflected the GP or event of that week and was a kind of collectors item. Since they just use a stock photo now of whoever the interview is that week it had become boring and doesn't catch the eye.  

Good for you.Who cares if you don’t want to purchase it.

[secsy1]

With a dwindling and ageing supporter base, what does the Speedway Star offer to entice the younger generation to purchase it?

The same goes basically to most speedway teams, what do they offer to entice the next generation of fans? 

[mikebv]

I think the Speedway Star has actually improved its  output in the past 12 months or so...

Given the internet makes many stories "old news" for a once a week magazine, they have increased features and interviews with not just riders and promoters but others within the sport...

It also often brings detail to what gets said on here, eg a rider riding for a certain team, they will have the reasons behind the move. .

Well worth £3.60 a week for a hard copy. .

[old bob at herne bay]

Long time since I retired from speedway  and taking a sub to the Speedway Star.  Randomly used to pick up the odd copy in WH Smith Canterbury. 

Is the magazine no longer stocked by what used to be W H Smith  now known as T G I Friday or something ?? Failed to find a copy in  the few local branches down this way in East Kent. 

[Neila]

30 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Long time since I retired from speedway  and taking a sub to the Speedway Star.  Randomly used to pick up the odd copy in WH Smith Canterbury. 

Is the magazine no longer stocked by what used to be W H Smith  now known as T G I Friday or something ?? Failed to find a copy in  the few local branches down this way in East Kent. 

Think at one time WH Smith were wanting a lot of money to stock the magazine, don't know if it still applies now, but up in worky, speedway star is on the shelves at Morrisons. I get mine via subscription, and today for the 1st time for a while, it turned up on Thursday 

[RoundTheBoards]

On 12/1/2025 at 8:58 AM, JamesHarris said:

What a pathetic response. We've had Grand Prix's for the last 30 years. Prior the 1995 yes we had the World Final and yes the cover reflected that. The World Final preview edition was always good. The front covers always reflected the news and events of the week. Fair enough there is not much action in the close season but just accept that the current format is dull and uninspiring. 

I agree, you have made a pathetic response.

At least you agree that back in the day we had a one-off world final, and now we have G.P.s.   Back then, the Star had photos from the world final in the following week, and now they have photos from the G.P.s in the following weeks.   In the other weeks, we get a photo of whatever is being reported from that week, just as we always have.  The only difference is that the internet makes it much quicker to get information these days, and we can now get rapid information from abroad, which we couldn't do back in the day.   And of course, modern digital editing means they can produce much more striking cover photos.     So really, no one knows what you were moaning about in the first place!

[RoundTheBoards]

40 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Long time since I retired from speedway  and taking a sub to the Speedway Star.  Randomly used to pick up the odd copy in WH Smith Canterbury. 

Is the magazine no longer stocked by what used to be W H Smith  now known as T G I Friday or something ?? Failed to find a copy in  the few local branches down this way in East Kent. 

I know a good many years ago (10 years or more) WH Smith wanted a payment to stock Speedway Star in their shops, so the Star stopped stocking it there.    (That was a long time ago, so it may well have changed, and the Star may be back on the WHS shelves - I don't know).

But I do know it is stocked in Asda, Tesco and Morrisons.   When my subscription copy is delayed in the post, I usually have a read through one in Asda when I'm shopping.   

[SteveLyric2]

25 minutes ago, RoundTheBoards said:

I know a good many years ago (10 years or more) WH Smith wanted a payment to stock Speedway Star in their shops, so the Star stopped stocking it there.    (That was a long time ago, so it may well have changed, and the Star may be back on the WHS shelves - I don't know).

But I do know it is stocked in Asda, Tesco and Morrisons.   When my subscription copy is delayed in the post, I usually have a read through one in Asda when I'm shopping.   

I thought WH SMITH were no more!?

[RoundTheBoards]

48 minutes ago, SteveLyric2 said:

I thought WH SMITH were no more!?

I know it's being rebranded after the sale, but the last time I passed our local one I'm sure it still had WH Smith up.   It's not a shop I go in really, so I wouldn't know.  Like I say, I know they stopped stocking the Star many, many years ago, but it's easily found in the big supermarkets.

[Neila]

1 hour ago, SteveLyric2 said:

I thought WH SMITH were no more!?

Most shops were taken over after a buyout, now being renamed TG Hughes or something like that, some shops closed

[truthsayer]

On 11/30/2025 at 11:42 AM, JamesHarris said:

Does anyone still buy the Speedway Star? It's outdated and irrelevant in todays media. 

It kinda just is British speedway really. Old fashioned, naff and only enjoyed by a dwindling audience of a certain age.

[Wild Man Vic]

I have said for many years that "Speedway Star is probably a better magazine than the sport in this country deserves".

With all the goings on this winter that statement is probably more true than ever!

[truthsayer]

6 hours ago, Wild Man Vic said:

I have said for many years that "Speedway Star is probably a better magazine than the sport in this country deserves".

With all the goings on this winter that statement is probably more true than ever!

A photocopied bit of A4 is better than the the sport deserves.

SS is just propaganda. Decent enough in the pre-internet age but hardly asking the difficult questions to make it stand out from other information sources.

Businesses need to be their own media these days. Speedway hasn't understood (or embraced) that and it's just one of the many problems on the list of things that need to be fixed if the sport has any chance of surviving in anything like it's previous form.