The Speedway Show - Saturday 15th November 2025

[Fortythirtyeight]

6 minutes ago, RoundTheBoards said:

The thing is,(as many others have pointed out), there will be no one there to promote the club to. 

It's an enthusiasts collectors fair, and a bloody good one.  But no member of the general public is going to pay £10 to go and look at old speedway programmes, books and leathers.

It's entirely for existing speedway fans, and very devoted ones at that!   There will be no one there who has never been to speedway, and no one who doesn't know of the existence of Workington Comets.   In fact, I'd wager that the vast majority will have been to Workington as, like me, they are the kind of people who set out to visit every track in the country, and will have had Derwent Park and Northside ticked off their list already.   

Preaching to the converted in November is neither "thinking out of the box" nor "promoting the club".    Just go along and enjoy the nostalgia and the lovingly crafted collections.

If only DEAN MACHINE could see the facts that you have intelligently stated , let’s hope he makes a few quid on his stall , bless him and he might step down off his high horse.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

12 minutes ago, RoundTheBoards said:

The thing is,(as many others have pointed out), there will be no one there to promote the club to. 

It's an enthusiasts collectors fair, and a bloody good one.  But no member of the general public is going to pay £10 to go and look at old speedway programmes, books and leathers.

It's entirely for existing speedway fans, and very devoted ones at that!   There will be no one there who has never been to speedway, and no one who doesn't know of the existence of Workington Comets.   In fact, I'd wager that the vast majority will have been to Workington as, like me, they are the kind of people who set out to visit every track in the country, and will have had Derwent Park and Northside ticked off their list already.   

Preaching to the converted in November is neither "thinking out of the box" nor "promoting the club".    Just go along and enjoy the nostalgia and the lovingly crafted collections.

British speedway currently isn’t even preaching to the converted, it’s preaching to nobody at all, last month I went to the Stafford motorcycle show, thousands of motorbike fans over 2 days, there was one Indian guy selling curtains and another selling mobile phones, now it’s about £350 for a stall there, did they sell a curtain or a mobile phone case ? Probably not  but they are out there trying and it was just 2 stalls out of place but it was 2 more stalls than the whole of speedway had, we and I mean collectively and that includes every club have got to push our sport at every opportunity and every event possible, even if it’s preaching to the converted or even outside of our comfort zone, this is not a brag but with the different shows I’ve done I’ve done more to promote speedway than British speedway itself 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

4 hours ago, SJA said:

I cannot see the point of individual clubs attending such a show. Even if they were given the space they would still incur costs putting together banners, dressing the space etc. Then who do you get to staff the stand? The Owner, Promoter, Team Manager, Riders or volunteers? I would rather clubs focus on well coded social media posts aimed at potential new spectators. O know of one club that ran a small Facebook campaign aimed at men aged 25-40 in specific locations who were members of non speedway motor bike interest groups. This would appear a better use of any marketing money.

It’s £30 for a small stand at the speedway show fgs, it’s hardly marketing money 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

16 minutes ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

If only DEAN MACHINE could see the facts that you have intelligently stated , let’s hope he makes a few quid on his stall , bless him and he might step down off his high horse.

Well last year I made a good few thousand so that horse is well worth riding 

Edited Friday at 07:02 PM by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Neila]

1 hour ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Well last year I made a good few thousand so that horse is well worth riding 

And cleared the garage to get more junk in 😃 good luck

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

5 minutes ago, Neila said:

And cleared the garage to get more junk in 😃 good luck

Exactly, only the garage never seems to get cleared 

[tyretrax]

I suggested an exhibition to my local team in our home town on the weekend before we opened for the new season, there was no charge for a stand. Although it wasn't a bike show as such there would be bikes on show along with other organizations. No one was available, it was left to an independent group to have a small display, including a speedway bike, and handing out leaflets. Later in the season there was another open day that  was again suggested with the same response. I must say that there was a lot of people interested in the display many who used to go to speedway but didn't know it still ran.

Edited Friday at 08:15 PM by tyretrax

[Petecc]

Trade stands,  nostalgia or promotion,  it doesn't matter what you call it, everyone who wants the sport to continue has to try and do their bit. If by pushing an open door tomorrow keeps the door open then great. If you let the door close it gets locked. I will be there early tomorrow and also at the offroad show in Telford next year trying to keep a little bit of that door open.

[gjcone44]

no mention of a speedway fair on the British motor museum website

[Neila]

2 hours ago, gjcone44 said:

no mention of a speedway fair on the British motor museum website

All they do is hire a room out, so in a way why would you, justu like if  you hired the room for a big wedding, would you expect it to be on the motor museum website 😗

[old bob at herne bay]

Some very insular narrow minded thinking from head in the sands speedway “supporters” . Reflects fully the attitude of most “promoters” 

You never know you might get visitors to the show from the museum…… cross promotion of the event by parking some speedway bikes outside on a riders van .. or offering some freebies of club mercndise outside to promote the event. Really needs some on in PR at the BSPL to get off their a*** and do some work. 
Frankly I don’t hold out much hope…. But speedway lumbers along slowly sinking

[PotteringAround]

58 minutes ago, old bob at herne bay said:

Some very insular narrow minded thinking from head in the sands speedway “supporters” .

Sadly, there are indeed a lot of insular, narrow-minded, stuck-in-the-past, head-in-the-sand speedway supporters, who think it's still 1940s Britain with Hitler, Rickets Diphtheria and Ringworm.

Of course we all love old Doris and Bob, who turn up at their club every week with their rattle, tartan blanket and Thermos flask. They tell us great stories of how when they lived in London, they would cycle to a different track every night to watch speedway, go dancing, have some fish and chips, and still have change out of a farthing. 

Doris and Bob love a Saturday morning in a village hall looking at a 1961 Ove Fundin rosette. 

But should Danny Ford spend "just £15" (plus fuel, plus food, plus 10 hours of his day) travelling a 320 mile round trip to a village near Coventry to talk to Doris and Bob?  Will this increase Poole attendance?  Will it increase his business turnover?   Of course not.

I ended up talking to Phillip Lanning at a meeting earlier this season.  He handles a lot of the marketing for Glasgow and Belle Vue (two of the more forward-thinking clubs in terms of marketing - and two of the clubs who don't bother wasting £15 at the village fayre).  He was saying how they both spent thousands on strategic partnerships with Facebook and the media company which owns the biggest local newspapers in Glasgow and Manchester.  (Reach Media, I think?).  He said the Facebook advertising won't necessarily be seen by existing fans as it's not targeted at them.  It can be targeted at very specific demographics of interest, and feedback is monitored.  Speedway has to move with the times and use the clever marketing technology which is available.  The social media generation of Youtube, TikTok and Instagram are who we need to attract.  Doris and Bob are not the future.   The past is a foreign country; They do things differently there.     

[gjcone44]

but most of the stadiums are still at the Doris and bob, stage. tired and worn out.

[therefused]

1 hour ago, PotteringAround said:

Sadly, there are indeed a lot of insular, narrow-minded, stuck-in-the-past, head-in-the-sand speedway supporters, who think it's still 1940s Britain with Hitler, Rickets Diphtheria and Ringworm.

Of course we all love old Doris and Bob, who turn up at their club every week with their rattle, tartan blanket and Thermos flask. They tell us great stories of how when they lived in London, they would cycle to a different track every night to watch speedway, go dancing, have some fish and chips, and still have change out of a farthing. 

Doris and Bob love a Saturday morning in a village hall looking at a 1961 Ove Fundin rosette. 

But should Danny Ford spend "just £15" (plus fuel, plus food, plus 10 hours of his day) travelling a 320 mile round trip to a village near Coventry to talk to Doris and Bob?  Will this increase Poole attendance?  Will it increase his business turnover?   Of course not.

I ended up talking to Phillip Lanning at a meeting earlier this season.  He handles a lot of the marketing for Glasgow and Belle Vue (two of the more forward-thinking clubs in terms of marketing - and two of the clubs who don't bother wasting £15 at the village fayre).  He was saying how they both spent thousands on strategic partnerships with Facebook and the media company which owns the biggest local newspapers in Glasgow and Manchester.  (Reach Media, I think?).  He said the Facebook advertising won't necessarily be seen by existing fans as it's not targeted at them.  It can be targeted at very specific demographics of interest, and feedback is monitored.  Speedway has to move with the times and use the clever marketing technology which is available.  The social media generation of Youtube, TikTok and Instagram are who we need to attract.  Doris and Bob are not the future.   The past is a foreign country; They do things differently there.     

Then you read that Belle Vue had some of the lowest crowds ever this season, so has that had any affect? 

[PotteringAround]

47 minutes ago, therefused said:

Then you read that Belle Vue had some of the lowest crowds ever this season, so has that had any affect? 

Can you provide a link to where you read this?

I go to Belle Vue quite often.  I'd say crowds have held about the same this year, after slight increases in the last couple of years.  Also noticed a switch with a better percentage of younger fans.

I'd like to see your link to where they have said they've had their "lowest crowds ever, this season".

[therefused]

17 minutes ago, PotteringAround said:

Can you provide a link to where you read this?

I go to Belle Vue quite often.  I'd say crowds have held about the same this year, after slight increases in the last couple of years.  Also noticed a switch with a better percentage of younger fans.

I'd like to see your link to where they have said they've had their "lowest crowds ever, this season".

They haven’t, but I’ve read on here multiple times this season that the crowds have been poor 

[therefused]

17 minutes ago, PotteringAround said:

Can you provide a link to where you read this?

I go to Belle Vue quite often.  I'd say crowds have held about the same this year, after slight increases in the last couple of years.  Also noticed a switch with a better percentage of younger fans.

I'd like to see your link to where they have said they've had their "lowest crowds ever, this season".

They haven’t, but I’ve read on here multiple times this season that the crowds have been poor 

[gjcone44]

i only missed about 4/5 meetings this year and there were 2/3 meetings where i thought it didn't look very good. i was away  [when British final was on , watched on my phone and was shocked when i saw that crowd. but we did have a few meetings when crowed was good, not sure if they did a couple of meetings when they gave away tickets to local community.

[YeOldPitGate]

34 minutes ago, gjcone44 said:

i only missed about 4/5 meetings this year and there were 2/3 meetings where i thought it didn't look very good. i was away  [when British final was on , watched on my phone and was shocked when i saw that crowd. but we did have a few meetings when crowed was good, not sure if they did a couple of meetings when they gave away tickets to local community.

Sad to read that re British Final doesn't seem that long ago when it was held at Coventry with Wiggy, Tatum, Morton, Havelock, Silver, Thorpe, Cox, PC when you would regularly have 10k plus turn up.

[gjcone44]

same with British league riders championship, that went down hill pretty fast. then got beyond a joke.