Grachan

I guess you must have missed this one then. Watch and learn

Good one How about Peter Collins making no attempt to pass Ivan Mauger in his final ride in the 1976 World Final? Does that show everything that is wrong with the one-off system?

And the rest. Truth is, if people have zero interest in something they aren't even going to go if it's free.

Nobody is going to pay £10 to see something they have zero interest in, either.

I was there too, by the way. I don't think there can be any disputing that PC was a better rider than Malcolm Simmons - good as Simmo was. The general feeling on that trip too was that we were going to Poland to watch Peter Collins become World Champion. Interesting that there was a mix of 2 valves and 4 valves in that meeting. Phil Crump would also have been on a 4 valve obviously - and came third despite being a serial under-performer in World Championships. Another rider who looked exceptionally fast was Egon Muller. So fast, perhaps, that he couldn't handle the speed!

I'm sure I remember PC saying in an interview that the bike he had in 1976 was so fast that he deliberately disguised it during practice - taking bad lines and so on - so that nobody would see how fast he was.

I don't think he paid him off. As I recall the story, it said that Stancl came up to him before the race and told him not to worry as he wouldn't try to finish in front of him. I don't think there was anything about money changing hands.

The one Chris Harris used for Poole has suddenly gone up in my estimations.

I don't have a problem with it. I was just correcting your assumption that the rules were changed to allow it. They weren't. They were changed to prevent a rider riding for both clubs in a two-way tie.

The amazing thing about that Joker incident was that they didn't scrap it straight afterwards. I never liked the double points thing, but in the World Cup final it was particularly annoying.

Did you include the one when Ole Olsen waved all the Danes through on the last lap because he could no longer qualify? Was that the 84 Inter Continental?

Although he didn't win a race, so he did come 14th. (The only rider apart from the meeting winner who didn't win a heat).

Well, he does seem to be wearing one in the photos, which is odd as the rest of the team are wearing race jackets. But, surely, even if he got a race suit made that is showing real loyalty to his team - not a lack of it.

Poole didn't have a race suit this year. They wore race jackets.

No need to apologise. It was an interesting point.

It wasn't even that difficult. Just had to switch Matej Zagar and Darcy Ward round in heat 12 to stop Zagar or Madsen also getting 10.

Congratulations to Tai Woffinden - 2013 World Champion under the one-off format without even winning a race. And no engine failures.

I don't have the means to do that as I don't have a blank programme, otherwise I'd genuinely give it a go. Although several people have pointed out that it was possible. It's not so relevant anyway. Nobody is going to go through an entire GP season without winning a race and end up World Champion so it's a bit of a pointless argument - although the idea of whether or not you can win a 20 heat one-off without winning a race is quite intriguing. Also, nobody can win a Grand Prix without winning a race.

I thought we'd already ascertained that, under the old system, you could also go through an entire season without winning a race and still end up World Champion. But it never happened then and won't happen now either.

Can you point to the rule amendment that made Nick Morris a legal guest at King's Lynn. They said they had amended the rules to prevent the guests riding for both sides. This was the rule amendment: Supplementary Regulation - SR1810 A rider may guest for only one team in any leg of a 2-legged competition (home and away) This made no amendment to Nick's legality to ride in the away fixture, and he was over the allowed average. There is no amendment to the 5% being allowed only at home. It's not Poole at fault here. Obviously they were informed they could use Nick Morris in both legs, but there is no rule that seems to allow it. The rule amendment was a bit of a cock-up. No surprise there. The obvious thing would have been to allow Ellis to ride for Poole and Morris to ride for King's Lynn. But, at the of of the day, Poole were given permission to use Nick Morris, so, even it was, technically, apparently illegal they never cheated as they were given permission.

Which means you could also go through the entire qualifying system and win the final without winning a single race. In fact, it could even be to your advantage to get a low score in some qualifying rounds as it helped your draw in the next round - a tactic Ivan Mauger used to use quite often. Of course nobody has won a World Championship in either format without winning a race and are never likely to - but it seems it is mathematically possible in both.

Looks like you answered my question before I asked it!

I wonder if it is possible to win a one-off 20 heat meeting with 5 second places. My guess is you couldn't do it, or would at least need to win a run-off, but it would be interesting to see if it's possible.

Fortunate because the person who would have won failed to win because of an engine failure or whatever. Consequently, it must, therefore, mean that the person who did win only managed to win due to someone else's bad luck. Without that bad luck they wouldn't have won. Pretty self-explanatory really. And the exact same scenario could occur within a Grand Prix. A single engine failure could, for example, prevent a rider reaching a semi-final while their main rival wins an extra race, plus a semi, plus a final. So one engine failure could lose you 9 points instead of just 3. Both systems require the same amount of dedication and skill. I don't get why people try to undermine the Grand Prix system just because they think it's not the same as in the good old days of upright engines and monkey masks. It's just as good a system and gives an equally valid World Champion.

Likewise, you can be fortunate and win a one-off because another rider who should have won made that one mistake that you mention. Apples and oranges.