Little Thumper

The trouble with vans in the 70s and 80s was that they were pretty primitive vehicles designed for builders and Herberts delivering things. Many vans didn't have radios or seats which you could endure for more than 30 minutes. If you wanted music, you had to dangle your transistor radio from somewhere. It is not surprising that speedway riders zipping up and down the motorways looked for something a little more sophisticated than the bog standard Transit and were overjoyed with the arrival of the big estate cars. But don't despair, dear friend, if you have a bit of a soft spot for 70s and 80s light commercials, pop to some of the northern NL tracks and some of the guys are still using them.

Perhaps they expect more than 15 measly minutes of action for their money?

The great advantage of the Citroen was that it had the self-levelling suspension so you could plonk your bike on the rack at the back and the thing would just level itself up. In the day, outside the Hyde Road pits, there would be a whole line of these. All the riders seemed to have them. Riders just seemed to have one bike and managed pretty well. In the unlikely event of it packing up, one of your team mates would lend you theirs. And I'm not quite sure why modern clutches and chains are so rubbishy and seem to need adjusting every 30 seconds. If your chain stretches on the ride from the pits to the start line, perhaps you need to get a better chain! You didn't see Peter Collins faffing about with his bike once he left the pits and you certainly didn't see some minion running behind with a spare bike just in case he fancied a change! ........and I certainly don't remember any of the greats such as Peter Collins, Chris Morton, Ole Olsen and all the others feeling the need to employ somebody to waft cold air over them with a fan!

Two bikes and a trailer! In my day, speedway riders strapped their trusty bike on to the back of one of these and off they went! I've been to some meetings recently and every man and his dog seems to have one of those Renntruck vans. No wonder costs are going through the roof if riders are expecting this kind of pampering. Mr Speedway Promoter, pay riders whatever you like but don't assume that the long-suffering supporters are going to subsidize your indulgences.

Now you are teasing! Go on, ex Colts rider or not? Matt Williamson perhaps?

Give us another clue......might it just be an ex Belle Vue Colts rider?

I have a suspicion that you may be incorrect. I might hazard a guess at Rob Shuttleworth but no doubt someone a little more savvy than myself will tell me he is going elsewhere.

These things work on a Need to Know basis. Clearly, if troublemakers like uk martin and gustix got to know where this extravaganza is being held, then they might just pitch up and wave banners or let the tyres down on the fat cats' fancy motors. Or worse still, perhaps one of the miscreants that loiter about on this forum might hide in the bushes and observe some goings-on that were, shall we say, less than savoury. A slap up meal, a few glasses of sherry and before you know it, all kinds of hanky panky might break out. Be patient, uk martin, when the time is right, the British Speedway Propaganda Association website will bring you up to speed with all the important, sport-saving matters such as re-branding, green helmet covers and multiplying various numbers together to arrive at the number that you first thought of. Keep the faith!

I see on the Farcebook thing that Mark Man in the Middle Northall won't be pitching up next year as apparently he has found some gainful employment to occupy his time. That's a great shame as I always enjoyed his banter with the Bod in the Box and his contribution certainly helped hold the thing together. I fear that he (and his capable assistant) may have got a little fed up with having to lug all those speakers about and wire them up before every meeting and it is probably time that the good people at Buxton invested a small amount of time and money into getting the permanent PA system back into working order. I gave the Bod in the Box a nice crisp 20 pound note at the last meeting to replenish his collection of Bachelors and Mantovani LPs and I would be highly disappointed if the thronging masses were deprived of this aural feast because somebody hadn't got some high fidelity speakers up and running. I know you do look in here from time to time, so wishing you all the best, Mark.

Just heard about a change to the venue for this year's National Development League AGM. It has been decided that now that gustix has shown a keen interest in taking over the promotion at Stoke and because he is obviously passionate about reforming the whole shebang, then this year's NDL Jamboree is going to held at gustix's house! You might need to get a bulk order in to Mr Kipling, gustix because this crowd can hoover it up like there's no tomorrow! Have a good one.

I've always thought that if you haven't touched/broken the tapes, then you haven't false started. If you do touch the tapes, you IMMEDIATELY go back 15 yards. Riders stay at the start. If you do break the tapes, then you are EXCLUDED, no ifs, no buts, no going back 15, no reserves, no appeals. If a rider wants to risk slightly anticipating the tapes going up, then good luck to them.

Thanks for that! Guy was certainly getting the hang of it towards the end and he seems prepared to have a go at just about anything, I've never seen speedway sidecars in the flesh but I did a bit of sidecar passengering on the road circuits in my younger day and always like seeing a bit of three wheeled action. Speedway sidecars would be just the kind of thing to enliven speedway meetings but obviously it would only work at the bigger tracks.

Well, that is very sad indeed. I wonder when they will start building the breeze block excuses for houses on the site?

Well if you are 100% sure then you can't be guessing! You have spoilt Mr Pipe's little secret so you might as well spill the beans and tell us how you have acquired this piece of information. Nobody will grass you up to Pipey, so reveal all.

I believe that the current rate of inflation is around 1%. Do the good people at Workington Speedway give any justification for a nearly 7% rise in the price of admission or do they just want fewer spectators to turn up?

Thanks for that, Buster.

And in the unlikely event, that anyone is slightly interested, here is a picture that I took some 15 months earlier when some bloke was spending a small fortune doing the place up for doggy racing. When that bright idea hit the buffers, the local diy brigade moved in, had it away with the fixtures and fittings and trashed everything else. I shall pop over in the next few weeks and see if the demolition has taken place.

You are so unkind! I'm going to cross you off my Christmas card list, so there.

Aha, so you are just guessing! Surely, the chap must have more than one shirt? If you are correct, I hope they are paying him a good mileage allowance because he is going to be racking up a few miles. If he is living in Scotland then at least he will be used to it being bloody freezing for 11 months and 2 weeks of the year.

YOU said that you could change the thread title in 2 minutes. That was over 2 minutes ago. It still says Elite League Speedway. So, was it not as easy as you thought?

Go on then. show us.

So how do you know that? Are you a close friend of Mr Pipe's? Why do you think Mitchell Davey wants to come to Buxton?

I'm going to stick with old name because I like it better. And what's more, now that we are coming out of that EU thing, I'm going back to feet and inches. I never did quite manage all that millimetre/centimetre nonsense.

Well done Argos! I shall let Reverend Flowers have your contact details so he can hook up with you. By the way, I'm loving the new catalogue. So the answer was Thornton Road, Ellesmere Port, once the home of the mighty Gunners.

So, what speedway track is this? First correct guess wins a night out with Reverend Flowers.