Arlington stadium

[HGould]

25 minutes ago, norbold said:

Excuse me!!!!

My apologies.

I did not realise it was a combined effort!

[M.D]

26 minutes ago, norbold said:

Excuse me!!!!

Thought you wrote that?

[norbold]

37 minutes ago, M.D said:

Thought you wrote that?

I did actually write the book. Ken is shown as co-author because a) it was his idea to write the book b) he provided a number of the illustrations, c) he had the contacts with former riders, promoters etc. who he put me in touch with and d) he gave me some first hand information on the later years . But I actually wrote the book.

[tonyd]

12 hours ago, noaksey said:

Depends if the lease he has signed allows him to sublet

If Deane / spedeworth have taken on the full lease of the stadium under a normal repair and maintain lease and ready to spend and carry out the repairs / conditions required to open it up to the public and racing again then I am sure he would have made sure he can sub-let within that lease. To purchase the stadium lease, carry out the required repairs and then allowing for other costs involved I bet he will not have much change from around a million to get the racing going again and the public back in supporting it

[tonyd]

28 minutes ago, norbold said:

I did actually write the book. Ken is shown as co-author because a) it was his idea to write the book b) he provided a number of the illustrations, c) he had the contacts with former riders, promoters etc. who he put me in touch with and d) he gave me some first hand information on the later years . But I actually wrote the book.

And very please we all are that you did write the book Norbold 👍🙂

[YeOldPitGate]

5 hours ago, tonyd said:

If Deane / spedeworth have taken on the full lease of the stadium under a normal repair and maintain lease and ready to spend and carry out the repairs / conditions required to open it up to the public and racing again then I am sure he would have made sure he can sub-let within that lease. To purchase the stadium lease, carry out the required repairs and then allowing for other costs involved I bet he will not have much change from around a million to get the racing going again and the public back in supporting it

Christ if those numbers are anywhere near accurate you can see why many aren't keen in getting involved in speedway and in this case thats without even owning the stadium. It does sound hopeful though lets hope they want speedway back maybe championship level if a team can survive on 800 - 1,000 punters per week ? 

[Fortythirtyeight]

10 hours ago, HGould said:

Having read an excellent "History of" book written about 20 years ago by Ken Burnett and with facts and figures from then and since it would seem that when run by the Dugards - Bob would write-off around £30-50k a year on the family hobby.

 

The Book also details 3 or 4 outside promoters prior to the early 2000's that suffered losses of up to £100k a year and similar ultimate outcome to the most recent one that closed in 2021 , none outside the family control and Company business to bale it out each season lasted more than 3 seasons. One of the issues for leasors of the stadium always seems to have been absolutely no income from food and drink etc which keeps some tracks safe from closure

Spedeworth are great benefactors of motor sport but I'd be pretty sure that some sort of deal has been done to ensure Spedeworth get the benefits or some benefits of the Bars and Catering, especially if they are paying to fix them. So Speedway would presumably continue not to benefit from that income stream?

The average CL attendences seemed to be at best around 1000, NDL about 500-600 and it's always been a track where PL in the week struggled in the main to attract big crowds, because of the quite large area Crowds are drawn from.

You'd think Spedeworth would want to run Cars as many weekends as possible, they seem to run Wednesdays too in the summer, so may be an increase in Stocks and Bangers.

PL might be the best option if they can attract the Crowds back. 

Would Spedeworth consider "Shaleing" the whole place ?, that might actually help Speedway to reduce maintenance and fence erection using the sort of foam based fence at KL which also services Northampton. 

Is 2027 viable with the huge upgrades needed or is 2028 a more realistic option.

At the very least the fact it's back in the game - 4 wheels and hopefully 2 - is very positive news. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article in the S/Star suggests it will take 5 to 10 years and half a million pounds to get the stadium up and running again 🫨 Wow!

[YeOldPitGate]

1 hour ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Article in the S/Star suggests it will take 5 to 10 years and half a million pounds to get the stadium up and running again 🫨 Wow!

If its that much money and time frame you would have to question why would they bother hopefully they must think they can have things back running much sooner.

[secsy1]

10 hours ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Article in the S/Star suggests it will take 5 to 10 years and half a million pounds to get the stadium up and running again 🫨 Wow!

Considering how quickly Mildenhall track and fence modifications took and after the fire the rebuild, it will probably be up and running for next year.

Hope speedway is in the plans so a stock car fence can easily accommodate a switch for a speedway barrier, unlike the problems and time involved the change over at Mildenhall.  

It is great news and Good luck and fortune to all involved, they deserve it.

[tonyd]

20 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Christ if those numbers are anywhere near accurate you can see why many aren't keen in getting involved in speedway and in this case thats without even owning the stadium. It does sound hopeful though lets hope they want speedway back maybe championship level if a team can survive on 800 - 1,000 punters per week ? 

If necessary / urgent repairs quoted are around £500,000, add to that general stadium repairs and maintenance, legal fees, insurance, the cost of buying the lease, general stadium running costs then the total adds up. Spedeworth are obviously looking at a long term future there so are willing to invest but I would not be surprised if they run close to the figure I quoted in the first year, I can also see the steel rope safety fence being removed and  being replaced with a concrete and steel one like Mildenhall and Aldershot while the repairs are going on. 

Obviously I do not know if any of this is factual but seeing how they rebuilt Mildenhall after the fire they show that they are not afraid to do things right and do things once to maintain a long term future.

 

[BangerBoy]

21 minutes ago, tonyd said:

If necessary / urgent repairs quoted are around £500,000, add to that general stadium repairs and maintenance, legal fees, insurance, the cost of buying the lease, general stadium running costs then the total adds up. Spedeworth are obviously looking at a long term future there so are willing to invest but I would not be surprised if they run close to the figure I quoted in the first year, I can also see the steel rope safety fence being removed and  being replaced with a concrete and steel one like Mildenhall and Aldershot while the repairs are going on. 

Obviously I do not know if any of this is factual but seeing how they rebuilt Mildenhall after the fire they show that they are not afraid to do things right and do things once to maintain a long term future.

 

Eastbourne already concrete with armco but think this needs to be replaced because has had issues sometime ago