OGT

I wonder how the speedway's future will be affected when residents move into the "athletes" village over the road. We've seen over the years, many councils upholding new resident's complaints about noise from established motor sport venues and either close them down or impose operating restrictions, some of them frankly ridiculous. Really hope the same doesn't happen to the Brummies.

It's nothing new though is it? One of the last straws for me was in 2010 when Brum wanted to re-declare due to a long term injury for Chris Kerr. 2 other teams, Berwick and Stoke were in the same position. They were allowed to, Birmingham were denied. The BSPA chairman was Alex Harkess and Brummies were dicing with Edinburgh for the league that year. Draw your own conclusions. Speedway is like a form of water torture for many fans who eventually succumb and walk away. Fair play to the people who can put up with the nonsense, there'd be no speedway without them.

The interview with Alan Grahame is now up on Lee's YouTube channel. It's very good, I have to say, definitely worth a watch.

A Sky Sports day pass on Now TV is £9.99. That does for 24 hours, obv.

Bumped into Andy and Jill Grahame today. Talked about his Lee Ashby interview and he told me that next up will be brother Alan on, he thinks, July 1st. Now that will be interesting.

Many motorsports are looking to turn to biofuels now. Speedway, obviously, is there already.

I have to say I'm still struggling with the image of Josh Bates in his pants.

That meeting was in September 1972 actually, Arthur didn't make his debut until the first meeting of that year. He beat Graeme Smith in the Silver Helmet. Hans was a real star virtually from the off, I thought . The Wheels was just awful really, looking back. Went there for a stox meeting about 3 years ago and it hadn't changed much at all.

May 24th 1971, the Brummies returned to Perry Barr, with a 39 all draw in a challenge match v Long Eaton at the Perry Barr (later the Ladbroke) Stadium. The previous year, Chris Harrison had suggested to Joe Thurley, the then Doncaster promoter, that he try his luck at Birmingham, since there had been no league racing in the city since the ill fated 1957 season and a few open/challenge meetings 3 years later. Instead of phoning the Alexander Stadium as Chris had suggested, Joe mistakenly contacted the greyhound stadium over the road. Luckily they were open to hosting speedway there and so a new chapter in the club's rollercoaster history began. Anyone have any memories of that night or any trips to PB?

More toilet breaks for older viewers.

Talking of shortened tracks, I asked former Brummies promoter Joe Thurley back in 2007 why the old Ladbroke Stadium, Perry Barr track was shortened from 350 yards to 330 in 1974. His reply was that it wasn't shortened, they'd just measured it properly!

This was actually the first known example of sponsorship in speedway. Clever lad was Tommy, an abrasive character, but a dyed in the steel wool stalwart of his time.

Regarding the Alan Grahame, Chris Morton incident. If Grahame had taken a BV rider to the fence earlier in the meeting, then surely someone should have done the same to him, not put him through it onto the dog track, breaking his thigh and finishing his season and taking away one of the few bright sparks the Brummies fans had that season. The "punishment" didn't fit the "crime" in this instance.

As far as an app is concerned, the possibilities are endless. For example, how about each rider carries a helmet cam which fans can link to through the app, therefore experiencing the action first hand? Riders could also have a small digital display mounted on their handlebars on which supporters could send them messages during a race, such as "get your finger out", "how about team riding for a change", he's behind you", or "are you trying to artificially lower your average again so you can go back to Poole?!" Just a couple of ideas .

There have been "discussions" but the stumbling block is SISU not dropping the legal action against Cov City Council which concerns Wasps getting ACL (the company that operates the Ricoh) on the cheap. It's gone through the UK courts and as now awaiting a decision from the European Court. Any verdict in favour of SISU could impact Wasps, hence why they want the legals dropped. As always in these situations, it's the fans that suffer. The sooner Cov's owners sell up, the better for the club.

CCFC actually play at the Trillion Trophy Stadium, or St Andrews to give it it's former name.

Today would have been Kelly's 60th birthday. Such a tragedy he isn't around but happy birthday up there, Jellyman.

There are a myriad of other factors involved in F1 so it's a poor comparison to speedway. Try something like the Easy Kart karting series, same controlled engines, same tyres, same gearing even, just down to driver ability and set up. Some riders are better than others, some riders or their team can set up the bike better than others. Simple as that.

It's all about set up, too much power, too much spin, gets you nowhere.

Truly, truly terrible. I'd recorded it cos I was out and I need to contact Virgin Media for a new remote as I've worn the fast forward button out!

There's a school of thought in Motorsport, particularly the 2 wheeled variety, that having kids slows you down.

Damage limitation for Tai, nearer the top than before the meeting. That final was something else though. Not the best GP, but not the worst, roll on tonight's meeting.

You think he'd have done his homework and made his choice before going in, but he stands there scratching his head like me in the Chinese.

The late Zdenek Kudrna ruffled a few feathers.

Great days when the touring sides toured British tracks. I think Brum in the 70s at various times had Olching, young Poland, young Sweden and a Swedish club (maybe) at various times. Brilliant