AndyJ

The use of Proboards IS free but their site states that they charge if you wish to use your own domain (such as the http://www.speedwayupdates.co.uk domain). As long as you're happy to use THEIR domain (e.g. http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com) it looks like they provide their boards for free.

According to 'whois' records you've paid for the www.speedwayupdates.co.uk domain until July-2015. This means that you've paid to have control over where this URL 'points'. The Proboards (http://www.proboards.com/getting-started/forum-domain-linking) site suggests that they expect payment of $14/yr in order for domains 'pointing' at them to reach one of their forums. My points is that you may be paying for something that you don't really need. You could essentially forget about the www.speedwayupdates.co.uk domain and allow it to lapse - saving you the ~£10/yr that you must pay to keep control of it. This would also mean that you no longer need to pay the additional fee to ensure the domain links to the Proboards forum. In other words everyone would just need to use http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com rather than http://www.speedwayupdates.co.uk to access the forum and it'd be completely free. Effectively all you're paying for is a redirect.

Is it really worthwhile paying the ~£10/yr for speedwayupdates.co.uk domain registration and $14/yr for Proboards to allow you to link the domain to the forum? IMHO http://speedwayupdates.proboards.com is perfectly fine and easily found via Google...

Apologies if this topic has been covered before (I'm sure it must have been but can't find it) but, after stumbling across the below video I felt I just had to share the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUw_cs6CsEs It's a 1995 race between Seb Ulamek, Billy Hamill, Piotr Swist and Joe Screen and involves Screen stalking the team-riding Swist and Hamill for the majority of the race, seemingly unable to find a way past, he somehow bursts through a tiny gap and claims the victory in front of a rapturous crowd. I recall seeing the race being repeatedly played on the screens at Belle Vue in the late 90's and a while back saw some poor quality uploads of it on Youtube. Today I finally found a quality recording of it (the above link). Now I'm sure there are plenty of races that many would rate higher - for example contains many crackers - but the Screen video for me is a reminder of how lucky we Aces fans were to have experienced such Screen magic on a regular basis during his first spell with the club. If only all his exploits were available to watch today. Any other recommended 'must watch' races?

Isn't it scientifically proven that cannabis is (a) less harmful and ( less addictive than both alcohol and tobacco? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rational_scale_to_assess_the_harm_of_drugs_%28mean_physical_harm_and_mean_dependence%29.svg this is also true of ecstasy and LSD. As such isn't it ludicrous that the more damaging drugs are legal whilst less harmful ones are still criminalised? If somebody wishes to take these drugs in the privacy of their own home, harming nobody but themselves, then surely it is a gross misuse of public funds arresting and charging such people.

I've no idea about Speedway Star's circulation figures but, by my reckoning, this forum has had just over 1,600 members visit it since 1st June and just over 1,000 members have actually posted something. Considering a proportion of the forum activity is from fans who no longer attend, the BSF clearly represents a minor subset of spectators. Perhaps reaching out via the Speedway Star is an attempt to establish opinion from a larger majority? Undoubtedly many of the thoughts and suggestions made on here will be echoed by ALL fans of our sport so I do agree that it is puzzling why he, and all other promoters, wouldn't want to embrace this forum.

To be honest I think their time would be far better spent visiting Football, Rugby, Ice Hockey or taking a trip to the US and experiencing US Football or Baseball. If other tracks are following the seemingly established model of 'play some music, have an announcer/roving mc then rely on the 15 races to fully entertain the paying punters' they are unlikely to find much inspiration.

Take a bow Johnny the Spud. Agree 100% with your post. Sounds so simple and glaringly obvious but it's amazing how many seem completely clueless with regards to putting on, or at least trying to put on, an entertaining experience.

Seems like only yesterday when I had the pleasure of witnessing a 16-yr old Joe Screen making his debut for Belle Vue. A debut that involved him winning his opening race in 62.2 (not a clue why but that race win stuck in memory and refuses to budge) and scoring a mightily impressive 10pts. Over the next few years his races were often worth the entrance money on their own. Absolutely breathtaking to watch him stalk an opponent for 3.5 laps before blasting round the outside and claiming a well deserved standing ovation. Still can't believe so many years have snuck by since then and that Joe's retirement is nearing. All the best Joe and thanks for the memories!

Seeing imaginary zeroes SCB?! Didn't the quote say 3-400?

Given that a drop from £17 to £10 would require either a 70% increase in adult attendance, a dramatic cut in costs, a lucrative sponsorship deal or some combination of the three methinks it extremely unlikely that promoters will ever price the product this way. A real shame because the product on offer and the facilities on offer are realistically only worth £10. Irrespective of the costs involved the simple fact is that £17 is considered overpriced by many potential customers. As an example I used to attend Belle Vue with 3 mates every week back in the days when we had Joe Screen, Jason Lyons, teams with 3 heat-leaders, a far healthy crowd/atmosphere and basically a far more entertaining experience. These mates drifted away after their college days but recently showed interest in popping along again - until they discovered the £17 cost and literally the consensus was "Ouch! How much?! £10 and we'd be there!". I didn't push too hard to persuade them because I feared that one experience of today's £17 racing would likely kill their interest for good. To me Speedway promotions have been squeezing the wallets of an ever dwindling band of die-hards for far too long. The costs have been driven down by diluting the standards yet the entry has continued to rise. I don't doubt that the promoters are having a torrid time with most losing money hand over fist - and dropping the admission would certainly add to their woes - but this doesn't change the fact that Speedway is dying on it's feet with crowd's worryingly low. Dropping the admission to £10 will certainly increase the crowds but, without the associated drop in costs, it'd be financial suicide.

EL and PL should be merged in 2014 as a £10 sport. NL is a £5 sport

Cheers Chadster. Was indeed Tokyo Melody I was thinking of (although I recall it sounding far more impressive blasting out of the Hyde Road speakers than it (Youtube upload) did when played via my laptop just now!).

Haven't trawled back through this thread to see if this has already been mentioned, but 'Fanfare for the Common Man' is eternally wired into my brain as a Speedway tune. Not one that is heard very often but the tune immediately conjures up images of the good old Hyde Road days. Quite a few 80's tracks do this too but annoyingly the songs/artists are refusing to co-operate with my memory. There is another one springing to mind that I can't for the life of me recall the name of. Perhaps some Belle Vue fan can make sense of my inane attempts at translating the tune into writing... Dum dum de dum dum Ner na ner na ner ner ner. Anyone?!

Isn't the point in the other thread the ALL posts should be a link to specific racecard - with zero discussion (and thus no requests)? Glad to see that somebody else (Phil) appears to prefer the old-style racecards. Consolidating scorecard and racecard into the one big mess makes it far harder to follow imho.

I recall reading an article from a former promoter who, when we hosted the World Final at Wembley, said his own share of the profits was enough to buy a couple of houses. I believe these events were promoted by the BSPA who then shared the proceeds and, theoretically, kept the money directly in the sport. Whether it was actually put to any good use for the benefit of British Speedway....?! Not a clue who promoted the one-off World Finals directly before IMG/BSI involvement though. Suspect it was on similar lines to the above but with some input from Sweden, Denmark and Poland?

Very unexpected news SGP and I can only hope that your sources are solid!

Not sure if there are any geographical limitations enforced but the excellent Eurosport Player (http://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk/subscription.shtml) for £2.99 a month (if you subscribe for 12mths) will give you access to the GP coverage. Not sure if WTC is also on Eurosport too...? As for the EL, I suspect that the only streaming you're likely to acquire would be 'pikey' versions of the Sky Sports coverage. Doubtful that EL promoters would see much value in selling streamed coverage.

As I understand it Ticketline (presumably whose office you were in when trying to purchase these tickets) were only provided with certain blocks/rows. I rang them to try purchasing as ticket as near to the start as possible- yet the best they could offer me were either corner or backstraight. Finally managed to source tickets in U9, courtesy of a BSF member, and there were hundreds of free seats behind us. Not quite sure who was actually selling these!

Watched the majority of the replay on Sunday and, aside from the fact that Scott and Sophie appeared to have been cut out of the shortened coverage (unless they were on before or after the segment I viewed) I was extremely happy with what the £2.99/month Eurosport Player coverage looks like. Wonder what the chances are of them stepping in to fill the breech if/when Sky drop league speedway.....? EDIT: yeah I know that the GP coverage involves them paying for a feed whereas league speedway would involve the expense of filming and producing - so probably not very likely at all....

No matter how hard a speedway rider works it is surely impossible to burn 1500 calories in such a short period of time. Perhaps if a speedway rider rode continuously for an hour then this figure would be believable - but 5 races or 5 minutes of effort?! No chance! A boxer apparently burns in the region of 1100/hour!

Whilst I don't doubt that racing speedway is physically taxing methinks Tai is exaggerating somewhat! A heavy person running at 8mph for an hour would burn less than 1500 calories. 5 minutes of speedway racing would burn far less than a tenth of that.

OK, perhaps flagship may have been the wrong word. What I meant is that British speedway is perhaps at its lowest ever point and this is a meeting where the bulk of our regular supporters are likely to be attending. Supporters who are already frustrated by many issues. A shambolic GP is hardly likely to improve this.

Fingers firmly crossed that this resolves it. Given the current state of British speedway we can I'll afford for our flagship meeting to be shambolic.

Cheers for your feedback both I've sent you a PM Phil....