Humphrey Appleby

I doubt there's even a thousand speedway riders in the whole world, and probably fewer than 300 professionals. On this basis, I'd have said the level of injuries is extraordinarily high compared a number of other motor sports. I accept that two-wheeled sport will always be inherently more dangerous than four-wheeled sport, and of course speedway has nothing like the money of F1 to spend on research. However, many people on here essentially identify that modern engines are too powerful and/or unrideable for the tracks they compete on, yet virtually nothing seems to have been done to actually look into that. Other motor sports reduced the power of the engines, changed tyre specifications, or introduced other measures to limit or negate the advances in technology, so I simply don't believe nothing can be done. Similarly, there must be things that can be done to improve track fences on the parts when air fence isn't practical (e.g. along the straights), or possibly improve rider protective wear.

Will the game come with earplugs to muffle the shouting...?

The population of Poland hasn't much changed since communist times, whereas most of the Germans were hurriedly deported from Silesia and East Prussia in the post-WW2 period and replaced by Poles from the parts of Poland that were absorbed by the Soviet Union (in what's now Ukraine and Lithuania). So I do wonder how much Germanic influence would have remained.

I commend you on your research. However, if you can find that information linked from the GP event pages, then I'll also congratulate you on your greater powers of observation. I had to scroll through three pages of news items to find the television information.

Quite so. I simply don't accept the line that 'riders have to accept the risks of the sport'. There are always things that can be done to improve safety, although whether it's economic is another matter. Unfortunately, motor sport competitors are their own worst enemies. I see it time-and-time again, even with things like competitors complaining they can't put a Go-Pro on their helmets - failing to understand that it's potentially weakening the helmet and creating an impact point. It comes to down to the fact that if they felt they were going to have a serious accident, they wouldn't do it in the first place.

Unlike the East Germans, I think the Poles particularly disliked communism. However, they had it for nearly 50 years and it undoubtedly influenced the social fabric and institutional structures of the countries where it existed - extensively to this day in some countries although probably less so in Poland. Not everything about communism was bad though, and probably its support for education and sports was one of its better legacies. Multisports clubs are not particularly unique across Europe, and there's probably a substantial British influence with respect to anything to do with the formation of the older clubs, even though multisports clubs are fairly uncommon in the UK nowadays. Because they'd likely have been murdered or sent to a gulag. Eastern Europeans who fought for the Allies were viewed with particular suspicion by the communist authorities, and Stalin didn't wanted any concerted opposition in his buffer states. Of course, it's now forgotten that Poland also had an irredentist policy to rebuild the claimed former homelands of the Poles (which were quite extensive in the era of Polish Commonwealth), which didn't endear itself to its neighbours.

You're quite right. I found it's on Fox Sports 5 at midnight tonight, but I had to guess it was on there and then search through the channel listings because it didn't show up by default. Would have been easier if there was something on the SGP website pointing out where it's being shown and even better when.

This is one of the positive things that it does. Why on earth should I not be able to view particular content from somewhere else in the world, particularly if I've paid for it? Geographical restrictions are old fashioned and outdated and the European Commission is perfectly correct to investigating these sorts of monopolist practices. But why let that get in the way of general uninformed rant...? But Philippe tells us the SGP is viewable in more than 100 countries... I'm still trying to find it here in Australia, a country that's actually staging a GP.

No chance of the SWC - just not a big enough event. And if a GP ever comes to London, it won't be there.

The fact remains that a couple of million quid or so profit a year goes out of the sport, regardless of who it's going to. Speedway is fairly alone amongst sports in that revenue from its premier event doesn't go back into speedway. I think Silesia was fairly comprehensively ethnically cleansed by the Poles after WW2, so not sure what traditions would have been left. I doubt anyone had much sympathy for the Germans given the events of WW2, and especially the high support for the Nazis in that part of Germany, but the civil proscriptions and forced deportations are a rather forgotten episode of the WW2 aftermath. I'd have thought the multi-sport aspects of Polish speedway clubs is more linked to their communist origins. I believe Wroclaw Olympic Stadium predates the 1936 Olympics by several years and was never actually used during those Games. As such the name is a misnomer.

That may be true, but better to still have the safety features in place. I remember when cricket batting helmets were introduced, all the old timers claimed that it allowed batsmen to play shots with less caution, and no doubt many will point out that it didn't prevent Phil Hughes from dying. However, what they fail to take into account is how many batsmen struck on the head have walked away with minimal damage. It's surely not beyond the bounds of possibility to have crushable barrier material with some sort of semi-rigid wall attached to it along the straights? So riders won't get pulled into the fence but there's some give if they hit it beyond anything but the most shallow angle.

The risks of being hurt on a motorway are far lower than on a speedway track though.

Well it's because people believe it'll allow the British leagues to fit around the likes of the SGP and SEC - competitions that don't benefit Britain in any way, and with riders that Britain can't afford.

Yes, but I think the point needs to be made that Bianchi was the first driver killed in F1 for 20 years, whereas 1 or 2 drivers used to be killed every season before there were substantial safety improvements in the 1980s. Moreover, Bianchi was effectively killed in a freak rather than preventable accident (e.g. drivers burning to death because there's no extinguishers available). You'll never eliminate risk completely, just as you can't prevent road deaths entirely. However, you can look at ways of reducing the risk, and speedway is well behind the curve in that respect compared to other motor sports. I'd guess any rev limiter would need to be reactive according to wheel spin conditions, rather than merely cutting revs at a given rpm. The idea being that power is available under wheel spin conditions, but reduced if there's too much grip.

I wonder if some sort of electronic traction control safety device could be developed, whereby it allows more power if the wheel is spinning, but reduces it if the wheel grips too much?

I agree it's a problem to obtain unbiased technical advice, whether from tuners or riders. However, F1 seems to manage, accepting that it has much more money for research. There are motor sports research facilities around that given an explanation of the issues and end result that should be achieved, could probably work out a theoretical specification for an engine and its ancillaries. Obviously that would need to be tested with experienced riders, preferably ones newly retired who should have less self interest.

I didn't think what he said was all daft, although he's coming from the perspective of a sport that's much better able to leverage good television and sponsorship revenues. He also does identify part of the issue that riders and fans have little attachment to each other these days, although his proposed solution is obviously unworkable as things currently stand. With respect to the large screen, there's so few fans on the terraces these days that I doubt it would block the view of anymore.

There are two primary differences with cricket. Firstly, international cricket generates large revenues which is distributed to the grassroots of the sport, unlike speedway where the revenues from the premier event go to a private US corporation. Secondly, cricket interests rich and influential people and can therefore always leverage better sponsorships and even bailouts if necessary. Such people are barely aware of the existence of speedway, if at all.

Whether there are or not, it doesn't mean that the power of the bikes shouldn't be looked at. I suspect there are less injuries and deaths than in the earlier days of the sport, but could as much be down to better safety equipment and improved medical care. However, there seem to be more serious injuries these days than I remember in the 80s, although I have no empirical facts to go on. The same argument used to be advanced about seat belts, full face crash helmets, tub cockpits and no doubt Hanss devices as well. All these things are undoubtedly more restrictive more for the competitor, just as when I wear a neck brace and rib protector when I go karting. However, the point is the equipment provides protection against potential injury, and that for me must be the trade-off. No-one would suggest they're any guarantee against injury, but I think it's difficult to rationally argue that competitors are better protected without it. And there's also the factor that if bikes are simply too powerful for the circuits and/or difficult to ride, that's definitely something that should be seriously looked at. Of course, speedway is somewhat unique in that less power can actually be less 'safe' than more, but it can't be beyond the bounds of possibility to come up with acceptable power/performance parameters.

There are risks involved in motor sport, but I don't accept they can't be reduced. F1 used to be incredibly dangerous and everyone said it was the decision of the drivers to participate, but the drivers eventually made a stand and it was demonstrated that the sport actually could be made substantially safer. Obviously bikes are inherently more dangerous than cars as it's difficult to surround them with external protection, but I'm sure it's not beyond the bounds of possibility to look at better protective equipment, consider engine power, consider crush zones on the straights, even look at track surfaces.

Harkness was at least honest, and there would have been no point in pretending everything in the garden is rosy as we can all see it isn't. However, whilst I don't imbue the chairman of any membership organisation with a magic wand, he was just plain wrong on a number of points which he claimed the BSPA can't control. There are some things that are beyond the control of BSPA, like the availability and costs of stadiums and changing socioeconomic preferences, but the development of British based riders is most certainly within their control to a reasonable extent. The number of riders being developed in a sport like speedway is directly linked to the availability of training programmes, team opportunities, costs and wages. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy that if you reduce the number of opportunities, either by having doubling up or smaller teams, then there's going to be less interest in competing in the sport. I can accept that Edinburgh (and Glasgow) are out on a geographical limb and there's not even much of a grass track scene (if any) in Scotland these days, but if he as chairman can't see the bigger picture, then the future does look bleak. Rider wages are also entirely within the control of the BSPA, however much it may be claimed otherwise. Every business can only pay out what it afford in the long term, and allowing wages to spiral out of control way beyond what's affordable for the sport is entirely self-afflicted. Similarly the use and abuse of guests and other ridiculous team building regulations that are continually flaunted by one member or the other. There are other things that can't entirely be solved by the BSPA, but could be solved if there was collective will within the professional speedway community. The issue of engines and equipment needs an international approach, as does the problem of fixture scheduling, but it needs the heads of the respective professional speedway authorities to be trying to sort these things out. Similarly, questioning the structure of the sport and who's skimming off the cream (such as it is). The problem is these issues don't directly affect the BPL, even if it there is a knock-on effect in some cases (e.g. with respect to equipment costs). Any chairman needs to be thinking as much about the top as the bottom. In fairness, we don't how the interview was edited for publication, so some things may not have come across as intended. There isn't any blueprint, and there's never going to be whilst the sport is run by hobbyists rather than professional promoters.

The promoters ultimately have to control the sport as they're the ones who put the money in and take the financial risks. You can't have a third party telling you what to do without any comeback when it's not their money on the line. What's needed is for promoters to remove themselves from the day-to-day decision making and vest that authority in a Commissioner (or maybe a three person Commission) with no links to any track. The promoters appoint the Commissioner(s) for a given period, define the general terms of reference and operating parameters, but then leave the actual guidance and administration of the sport to the Commission(er). If the promoters don't like what the Commissioner(s) are doing at the end of their term of their office, then they can replace them. The Commission(er) should also provide guidance as to the structure of the sport, consider rider development issues, and recommend appropriate and constructive team building rules/restrictions. I'm not sure it has to be a full-time position (although it would be better if it was), but would need to be remunerated in some way so that you attract some half decent talent.

I doubt my views on certain things in the sport would set the right tone.

Hmmm.. that should fill about a paragraph, even with the comments of the BSPA Chairman.

How many motor sports have a national league system?