oldace

1978 was rained off twice if I recall, finally going ahead just over a fortnight before Wembley with the top four going straight to world final, it was the year of the sugar in the tank incident that stopped PC making it to Wembley in 1965, 1967 and 1969 6 went straight through to Wembley from the British final, 5 in 1972 but all those times the British final included the Aussies and Kiwi's. By 1975 it was just the Brits and only 4 went through, same as 1978. In 1981 the Brits only progressed to the Overseas final then the Inter Contintinental Final before the World final itself and because he was not racing in Britain Peter Collins was not allowed to take part. It was the only ever Wembley final with no guarantee of home participation although even without guaranteed places we still managed 4 riders in it

Run off

I am sure BSI will be delighted with your endorsement of their production although I suspect from the earlier bit it wasn't meant for BSI and was just another ill informed comment as to how the GP gets on our TV screens

The British Final in 1961 (won by Briggo as posted by JC) was only invented as a consolation big Wembley night because, for the first time, the world final wasn't there (it was in Malmo, Sweden) For 1962 and 1963 the meeting didn't exist, the format reverting to the series of British semi finals to find the qualifiers for the Wembley staged world finals. Both these years saw Peter Craven top the qualifiers but only recently has he been credited as British Champion for those years, previously there was a two year gap in the competition. From 1964 onwards it became the annual one off event we know today being staged at Wembley, West Ham 3 times and Wimbledon 3 times before settling into a long run at Coventry

Yes Belle Vue were at Newport the night after Tommy's death and you are correct it was the night PC "broke down en route" to Somerton Park. He later admitted to never having left home

Dave Jessup had a liking for drilling holes in things to reduce weight. He had drilled holes in the jubilee clip that secures the carb to the flange and unfortunately for him it broke letting the carb come lose. His second engine failure that night was a bit more costly, the engine seized

To be even more pedantic he wasn't on a max from his other 4 rides, Kennet beat him last time out, a win for DJ there would have given him outright second place. And even more pedantic still, it wasn't a chain failure that caused Jessup to stop in his first ride either

The late Terry Hardaker, he put so much into the junior dukes back in the day but there really was no way, even by the pitiful standards of the day, that he should ever have been allowed a centre green microphone

Think this has been gone over many time but the team is the ACU representative team. The ACU doesnt represent Northern Ireland and so the name Great Britain is totally correct. It was always really Great Britain even in the days it was known as England.

You can surely allow the odd snide remark about scientifically arranged pyramid shapes can't you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it will be 2 years on Tuesday (13th) but yes never forgotten

Really sad to hear. Simmo was one of the seventies superstar brits. He can only be in his late 60s as well. Hope he is comfortable for whatever time he has left

I think the GPs clashed with a basketball game he wanted to watch on telly, so I heard anyway

Not so sure on that one, they certainly didn't want to watch the 1982 world final

I am sure the Gollob/ Sayfutinov/weather and cost factors all played a part, a very small part though. The real reason being that the sheep like Poles have fallen for the one sport propaganda and staged what was effectively a boycott. It is a shame that OneSport couldn't see the value of having "Emil Sayfutinov World Champion" in their own series rather than deny the lad a chance at being such

Indeed, Phil Rising already told us the real reason the crowd was down. It was because there was a knockabout basketball game in a school hall somewhere nearby. That seems a reasonable explanation for the best part of 20,000 missing fans to me!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would it be much quicker? Belle Vue to airport 30 mins, check in 45 mins before flight, flight approx 45 mins, 30 mins to clear airport and another 30 mins to Armadale. If you get your toe down Belle Vue to Edinburgh is doable in 3 and a half hours easily

Nearly a full day with this and no one has posted the customary "how much do you earn then" standard reply. What is this forum coming to

R40 racinv castor is not outlawed in the slightest, its really just that there are far better synthetic and semi synthetic oils about nowadays that castrol r has become almost obsolete in the sport

Modern speedway bikes are no longer total loss oil systems so the smell is not as strong. The used oil that dripped out onto the track (later on into an oil catcher) was made the very strong smell

Right so you simply meant who is your favourite rider of all time then. In that case your selections are a little silly. You are saying joe and tom owen were bigger stars than craven or fundin

1977 actually. Prior to that it was the Second Division then the New National League

Not as daft as it sounds. They have played champions league finals finishing at close to 1AM to accommodate western TV so why not a SGP!!!!!!!!!!!

I suspect you knew which league Sidney was referring to (lets face it the riders he named gave it away for all but the most stupid) and wanted to amaze us all with your knowledge that pre 1965 the top league was the National League.

I think everyone bar one knew which league you were referring to Sidney. Couldn't really argue with your top 4 there Sidney