Shale Searcher

Chris Sully had some green leathers in the late 1970's

In the 1970's at old Leicester, the grader attached to the tractor was lifted away from the track as it passed over the start gate, the starting area was never graded, I would imagine this was to leave it alone and not get constantly moaned at and called cheats for preparing the area with an advantage geared to the home team? I used to assist Tony Steele at Leicester at the starting gate when he first got involved in the early eighties, he took over from the Legend that was Todd Aitkin as our starting marshal... If anyone knows if the reason the start gate area was left alone that's different to my explanation, please feel free to post your info!!

I was making the point known, someone asked why track staff don't infill the ruts on the starting gate so riders don't have to, my reply was aimed at that question and a couple of others similar queries....

Correct me if I am wrong please. The wonder wheels in use today, are NOT the real wonder wheels that were originally designed? I am sure I remember vaguely that there were multiple smaller wheels integral to the machine??? And basically, the ones in current use are not true "WONDER WHEELS"??

Weather set fair as well, by the looks of it, a dry day, watery sunshine AM, clouding over in the afternoon, at the moment, the weather models are showing a dry day, temp around 8c - 9c. Bring it on!!!!!

I was referring to start gate ruts only, of course ruts elsewhere are left be so the riders can at least see them, and in dire cases widened so they can be "ridden through"

If a rut gets filled in by human or tractor, a rider choosing that rut immediately kicks all the dirt out! I don't think the modern day cat litter used on most tracks now compresses/bonds to the base or sides of ruts. Also, the huge amounts of dirt that builds up on the fence going in to turn one and three is left there, as if that gets dragged onto the racing line these days it like racing on marbles, and riders don't want it / or can't handle it.. if you drat it out mid track it also blocks up the grader, gets dumped on the back straight, and then takes an age for us track staff to disperse it (hence a delay) before racing can resume... Rock/hard place really springs to mind!!!

Where's that being raced?

Can you all remember the Coventry v ? Swindon (I think) meeting a couple of seasons ago.... when there were loads of exclusions in the first 4/5 heats? The commentators and a lot of the crowd seemingly went mad that the fans and viewers had been deprived of seeing top class riders due to these exclusions..... I agree, something needs doing, and strictly enforcing the 2 minute allowance I think is the fairest and easiest way forward. Everyone then knows including riders/mechanics, start marshals, managers and fans......

I think at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many lines you draw, rope off areas, etc, the riders will always push these lines/areas to the limit, and some beyond so they in their own mind are in control of the start grid... I reckon the clock at the start gate would kill most if not all the start delaying, mind games, riders rituals that goes on. Once the clock is activated and on a 2 mins or even a 90 second countdown, that's it, when it reaches zero, the green light goes on and that's it... If you miss the start, tough luck on you....

Barrow Boy, remember the guy we had at Leicester in the last couple of seasons at Leicester s old Blackbird Road Cicuit? The one who stood behind the starting gate, about 30 yards back and held a rope from the fence to the kerb to stop riders going back past that point whilst riders gardened.... Stopped um going back past the 4th bend? That kind of worked.... Should that role be brought back? Don't forget, at old Leicester, the pits were on the first bend..... And we're properly gated, not just a set back hole in the fence.. aid the pit marshall had to physically open that gate, riders couldn't just ride through, and nobodly in them days had fuel tanks with just enough fuel in to do 4 laps, or had clutch coolers etc...

Perhaps introduce bonus scoring, first to tapes gets an additional 3pts, 2nd to tapes 2 pts and 3rd to tapes gets 1 point, last to tapes gets nowt! So you could lose match big time, but being first to tapes to race would even the score up, no that's a silly idea, ok, just 1pt first to tapes, 1/2pt 2nd to tapes and 1/4 point to 3rd to tapes....... You could ride pants in meeting but get 10,for being first ready to race all night......!!!!!!

Barrow Boy, you remember at Leicester s Blackbird Road Track "the rope" held across the track around 30 yards behind the start gate? To prevent riders riding back round to the pits, or at least keep them on the start/finish line? Would that work in today's Speedway??

Going back to Leicesters Blackbird Road track, after a stocks meeting and a heavy dose or two of afternoon rainstorms, bring on the Colllins, no, not PC but brother Les! He was imense on deep tracks, couldn't gate to save his life, but his style coupled with bags of balls and a 4 valve Jawa, their wasn't a finer sight blasting round the tote bend boards.....!!!

Why should the rulings be altered? a level has been set, line drawn, you are one side of the line or tother.. Everyone knows where they stand then, don't they....? Good enough, not good enough.... Simples..

Anybody with any ideas with regards to a spray on track water proofed?

What and how is this "Nitro" obtained, put, and benefit???

It was invented by accident. In the late 19th Century a German scientist, Justus Liebig, discovered brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten. In 1902 the Marmite Food Company was founded in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, where the raw material was readily available from the town's brewers.

Has the lack of castor oil leaking on to the track also had a detrimental effect on how track surfaces bind together now as well??

Going back to this spray on protection..... I meant it to be sprayed on after the track is race ready, a bit like spraying PVA glue on a Cricket wicket, (the glued pitch) perhaps a substance could be applied to the track top that repels water to a certain extent, type of thing.......

I am a cricket fan as well, I really like pure test cricket, for what it is.... But I also like T20 flavour as well! it's a great fun couple or three hours entertainment, and you can catch it after a day at work.. perhaps domestic Speedway could learn a thing or two from T20 cricket and the way its packaged and presented...

Who's to say the job wouldn't have been picked up by someone else...??

Does anyone out there think that a racing surface could be protected from rain with a spray-on solution...? If you have the banking, half decent drainage, a well packed surface, why couldn't there be some sort of spray applied protector? It doesn't have to keep ALL the water out, just the bulk of it.......

All tracks have rakers, just don't rake much anymore. Their roles now are red flag holders... In the pre-eighties, red flags were ONLY used in daytime meetings, when it was said that riders could not see the red stop lights around the perimeter of the track, now red flags are used in all Speedway meetings, also in them days, we had to retrieve crashed bikes during racing! Could be quite scary, we also had to enter the track to pick up anything else that fell off, Inc helmet colours, chains and guards, the only thing we were not responsible for were the riders!!

We have fantastic drains, actually to good to an extent....... Clay easily washed out of racing surface.. We have fantastic drains, actually to good to an extent....... Clay easily washed out of racing surface.. We have fantastic drains, actually to good to an extent....... Clay easily washed out of racing surface.. Bloody hell!!!!!!!!!