Humphrey Appleby

I'm not sure it's entirely down to track dimensions. Whilst wider should be better, I think track shape and camber is far more deterministic than length and width. If the track preparation is rubbish and/or not cambered well, then having the extra width is pointless. You can get some good racing on small tracks. Costa Mesa is not entirely my cup of tea, but it undeniably produces entertaining racing on a ridiculously small track (or at least did).

I think it's fair to say many really can only be in it for the love of the sport or thrill of the chase, as there are certainly easier ways to make (and lose) money. I think the problem though, is that most appear totally out-of-step with the modern world - what people are interested in, how they communicate, and what they're prepared to tolerate. The problem is compounded by the fact the sport is so under-capitalised that it makes it difficult to really change anything even if you recognise the issues, and there seems to be no idea of how to attract sponsors or any other forms of funding that might help the situation. Similarly, any talented person who might be able to make progress on these things either wouldn't touch the sport with a bargepole, or very quickly become frustrated and move on. Years ago I was involved with the administration of a local football league and whilst most of the committee members were a lovely bunch who devoted a lot of time and in some cases their own money to running the competition, they'd been doing it for too long and were out of step with reality, to the point where I'm afraid to say they were actually detrimental to the future of the league. They had no clue about the importance of communication, how to leverage sponsorship, and certainly no idea about the Internet, and would likely have resisted any change anyway on the grounds that things 'had been done this way for 100 years' etc... I've seen the same pattern repeated in the motor sport clubs and competitions I've latterly been involved with - the result being that some formerly very big clubs are barely surviving, whereas the smaller ones prepared to move with the times are overtaking them. Quite simply it's sometimes better for the 'dedicated blazers' to stand aside than hang around, because it'll clearly signal that new blood needs to step in if the club/sport is to survive, and having something of a clean slate can encourage new people who otherwise couldn't be bothered dealing with the old politics. I'd accept speedway is more complex than amateur sport because it has significant costs and requires a reasonable investment on the part of the promoter, but as someone who's more or less an outsider nowadays, everything associated with the sport just seems incredibly old fashioned now. Even the photo of Len Silver (for whom BTW, I have every respect in sense of his contribution to the sport down the years) in this week's Speedway Star just evokes faint childhood memories of the type of person who ran rides at the end of the pier.

Because when it comes to the SGP at least, he's very selective in what he reports and on occasions it's been quite palpable nonsense. I accept that in what is a very small sector that you somewhat need to maintain good relations with those you're reporting on, but the sport is not being well served by many of the current international (FIM/BSI/OneSport) and domestic (BSPA/GSI etc..) arrangements and a supposedly independent journal should be critiquing that. After years of avoiding that and expressing only the mildest and largely irrelevant critical comment, it does suddenly seem like a conversion on the road to Damascus. In fairness it's what I've been saying for a long time is needed from the Star, but actually we're not a lot wiser from this latest piece as we don't really know what's behind it all. For example, why does someone (allegedly) not want Buster Chapman near the levers of power?

I think it's interesting that the Star is only now reporting on what appears to be the dirty laundry of the BSPA - beyond of course the theatre of arguments over points limits and eligible/ineligible guest nonsense. It's always stayed away from that in the past, so either there's a serious fall-out in the BSPA or Philippe has some sort of interest in reporting this. I think it's clear the current leadership has little idea how to address the problems - that came over from the Alex Harkess interview - but in fairness they are difficult problems to solve. One wonders what the BSPA office's interest is in trying to influence the choice of candidates though, unless of course someone is going to be held to account in the office for something if a particular candidate wins. The fiasco over the visas earlier this year was certainly down to the incompetence of someone.

The question is why now express an opinion these things after years of avoiding any critical comment?

I wonder though, whether BSI will claim credit for the wonderful promotion of this event, given how they've stated many times previously that the PZM is responsible...

Are people still bitter about something that happened over 30 years ago, and involved none of the current Coventry promotion? I also seem to remember reading some investigation into the actual facts of this, and that in reality Ochiltrees were only bit part players in the whole closing down of Leicester.

Do kids even go out riding bikes these days, assuming they're allowed out of the house unsupervised in the first place?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. And it's all very well people saying the Ethiad is contractually responsible for doing the promotion, but they wouldn't know much about speedway and surely the series organisers should have a role as well. 26,000 isn't a bad first effort if the figures are accurate, but it isn't exceptional either and the experience of other prestige GP venues is mostly a decline in numbers after the first year.

You can obviously buy the stadium whether it's freehold or leased, but if it's a reasonably long-term lease then it effectively amounts to the same thing. If speedway is still going in 2035, then worry about the leasehold issue then...

It's only a success if the meeting makes money. Maybe Melbourne did, maybe it didn't, but the long term sustainability is based on a fair return for the host promoter. And yet it seems the SGP is going to Teterow next year.

I don't know what I've got to do with it - I haven't made any criticism of the Australian GP. Bottom line though, is I don't much care what's agreed on paper and when. BSI don't really seem to take responsibility for much, and everyone else seems to be blamed when things go wrong. It's also undeniable there's a trail of disgruntled former promoters left in the wake of a number of now defunct GPs.

Questionable whether they're actually poorly prepared or designed to produce a particular result or favour particular bowlers. Even on road though, you can watch batsmen actually bat.

There have been many more test matches played than GPs staged, and you can probably count on a couple of hands how many test matches have been abandoned due to a poorly prepared pitch.

I thought Moonraker country was in the Brazilian jungle, or maybe in outer space...

I've haven't heard him for a while, but Tapp isn't a bad commentator.

The upgrade to iOS 9.1 seems to have fixed the problem.

Another happy relationship between BSI and a (former) GP promoter..

Philippe will tell you it's the local promoter's job to advertise the GP, and weren't we told that the track had to be the shape it was because of some football championship to be played at some point in the future (ignoring the obvious fact there was no pitch at the time).

I was referring to Melbourne, and to some extent the wider state of Victoria. Yes, I'm aware of Mildura and I'd guess Undera, but they're some distance from Melbourne. More generally, saying speedway is alive in Australia is like saying it's alive in Europe. Yes, Australian and Kiwi speedway fans are more likely to fly or drive to a GP, but the long distances are still going to limit the casual audience. Where did I say 30k wouldn't be a success? In fact I think that would be a pretty good crowd for an Australia GP, but I've followed the SGP long enough to take unverified ticket sales with a pinch of salt. For example, I think the first NZ GP was initially reported as 25k, but the actual numbers turned out to be well below this.

I was thinking more about giveaways - those going to sponsors, the media and even for promotional reasons.

I'd have said it's not too bad if the figure reflects full price tickets. There will undoubtedly be some walk-ups, so it's probably reasonable for a non-speedway region. Of course, attendances have been known to be exaggerated in the past, and there's often a pattern of declining attendances after the first year.

Think Finland is dropped, isn't it? Mind you, Philippe said Teterow was only a rumour.

It's all viral. Everyone who needs to know about the GP will already know about it... It's longer though, isn't it? I suspect it's easier to get away with narrower bends on a shorter circuit where entry speeds will be lower. There seems to be plenty of space to build a bigger track - one can only assume the size is limited by the materials and (air) fencing needed.

I think you are being a bit sensitive. It might have been a wider printing error, in which case there probably isn't much that can be done. These things happen and I'm sure most people subscribing to something like Backtrack won't stop buying it because they're read of a random printing problem. I have a similar problem trying to read the electronic version of the Speedway Star on an iPhone as it just hangs without loading (although it has worked in the past). It's perfectly reasonable to publicly ask whether other people have the same problem as it might just be my device, or the version of the operating system I'm running. I don't hold that against Pinegen who are most likely blameless (at least for that). Bottom line though, is that paying customers are entitled to post what they like about a product on a forum, and there's plenty of positive stuff about Backtrack on here to balance any perceived criticism up.