Grand Prix For Russia

[arnieg]

Long time since I've seen anything on this, looks like it is moving closer though:

 

Interesting report of FIM conference at http://irgiz.narod.ru/2008/03/2008mar05.html

 

On February, 21-24st in Geneva there passed(there took place) conference of the International motorcycle federation (ФИМ). One of the main questions who on it(her) have been considered(examined), steel development and the statement of preliminary calendars of the championships and Cups of the world for 2009-2010.

 

As to speedway disciplines and motorcycle races on an ice here for Russia there are pleasant news. In a preliminary calendar for 2009 the first and second endings of the personal world championship on motorcycle races on an ice is planned to lead accordingly in a Krasnogorsk (on February, 7-8th) and Ufa (on February, 14-15th). The third and fourth endings will pass(take place) as usually on artificial to an ice - in Germany and Holland.

 

The commission of speedway ФИМ has taken into account, that the sports club MEGA-Lada (Togliatti) has begun negotiations with the organizer of a series of GRAND PRIX of the personal world championship company BSI (Great Britain). From Russia the forward ordering on carrying out in 2010 of one of stages of GRAND PRIX in city Tolyatti is submitted.

 

Owing to remoteness of city from the central Europe, and also because of absence of experience of carrying out in city of competitions of a similar level, the commission of speedway ФИМ had been rejected the application of city Balakovo for carrying out of a stage of team championship of the world among juniors.

[Hazzman]

It was recently mentioned in the Polish Speedway press that a very serious bid/move was made for Togliatti to hold a Gp in 2009 or 2010. Hence it's disappearance from more 'simple' FIM meetings.

[Rob B]

I'd say its definatly going to happen in the near future.

[manchesterpaul]

For every year that has gone by without a GP in Russia i am more and more disappointed and surprised, more so the latter. I thought speedway is enjoying a resurgence in Russia at the moment?.

 

It does the SGP promoters no credit whatsoever that they have failed to include a (speedway) nation as enormous as Russia into the series. They put great efforts into nations where speedway is even more of a minority sport than it is elsewhere. They also place it into countries who run only a few meetings over the whole year and/or have no great tradition or history of speedway.

 

Russia has in the past, similar to other eastern bloc nations, had amazing attendances at events. They have always run lots of meetings and have a good history in the sport.

[Humphrey Appleby]

It does the SGP promoters no credit whatsoever that they have failed to include a (speedway) nation as enormous as Russia into the series.

 

Russia is not an enormous speedway nation. It has a handful of tracks that stage a relative limited number of meetings.

 

They put great efforts into nations where speedway is even more of a minority sport than it is elsewhere. They also place it into countries who run only a few meetings over the whole year and/or have no great tradition or history of speedway.

 

You still don't get it then?

 

IMG/BSI do nothing out of the goodness of their hearts, or to popularise the sport around the world. It's all about finding a local organiser willing to take the financial risk of staging a GP, and/or paying IMG/BSI for the privilege of doing so. Clearly no mug, erm.. I mean promoter has been found in Russia until now.

 

I wouldn't disagree that on the face of it, Russia is as deserving as some of the nations that have been awarded GPs. However, do not underestimate the difficulties of organising anything there. Until recently, it didn't even have a convertible currency, and there are no doubt still all sorts of legal minefields to negotiate as well.

Edited March 18, 2008 by Humphrey Appleby

[Subedei]

It was recently mentioned in the Polish Speedway press that a very serious bid/move was made for Togliatti to hold a Gp in 2009 or 2010. Hence it's disappearance from more 'simple' FIM meetings.

 

Wasn't Togliatti the name of the leader of the Italian Communist Party after World War II?

 

[manchesterpaul]

It does the SGP promoters no credit whatsoever that they have failed to include a (speedway) nation as enormous as Russia into the series.

 

Russia has in the past, similar to other eastern bloc nations, had amazing attendances at events. They have always run lots of meetings and have a good history in the sport.

 

 

Russia is not an enormous speedway nation. It has a handful of tracks that stage a relative limited number of meetings.

 

I put speedway into brackets so that the sentence would not read 'enormous speedway nation'. However, you have taken it to read just that. To clarify, i refer to Russia as a massive nation that has a long history of staging speedway.

 

Russia has a league system in place, that in itself constitutes the staging of some 42 meetings, hardly a limited number (compare Slovenia, Latvia etc.). It certainly stages more meetings than countries such as Norway etc, who were given the final Grand Prix of a season. That in an indoor hall that only held a few thousand. Norway is a country that gets relatively poor crowds at any sporting event, including it's major national sports.

 

You still don't get it then?

 

IMG/BSI do nothing out of the goodness of their hearts, or to popularise the sport around the world. It's all about finding a local organiser willing to take the financial risk of staging a GP, and/or paying IMG/BSI for the privilege of doing so. Clearly no mug, erm.. I mean promoter has been found in Russia until now.

 

I wouldn't disagree that on the face of it, Russia is as deserving as some of the nations that have been awarded GPs. However, do not underestimate the difficulties of organising anything there. Until recently, it didn't even have a convertible currency, and there are no doubt still all sorts of legal minefields to negotiate as well.

 

Why the 'rolleyes' icon?.

 

It clearly benefits IMG/BSI to have a large attendance at the GP's. Norway, Latvia and even Slovenia can get relatively poor crowds for international football matches (competitive ones, ie European Championship), so surely it is wiser to stage a GP in a country that has a history of mass crowds at speedway events. I've not had time to check, but as far as i am aware the league matches draw crowds that outshine anything over here and in most of Europe.

 

As for being incapable of staging and organizing events in the country, i'm pretty sure in the wide realm of major sporting fixtures, Russia has staged some pretty big events.

Edited March 19, 2008 by manchesterpaul

[Humphrey Appleby]

To clarify, i refer to Russia as a massive nation that has a long history of staging speedway.

 

Yes, but speedway in Russia is popular in a limited number of places, as indeed it is in the major speedway nations as well. I'd certainly put Russia high up in the second tier of speedway nations, but population and geographical size isn't really much of a qualification for staging a GP somewhere.

 

It clearly benefits IMG/BSI to have a large attendance at the GP's.

 

It makes no difference to them at all. The local promoter, except where IMG/BSI promote the event themselves, assumes financial responsibility for a GP. IMG/BSI get the same sponsorship and television money regardless of how many fans turn up.

 

i am aware the league matches draw crowds that outshine anything over here and in most of Europe.

 

Yes, but how much is each fan paying? It's all very well getting 15,000 fans, but if they're only paying the equivalent of 1 pound each, then overall revenue is still the same as 1,000 fans paying 15 pounds each.

 

As for being incapable of staging and organizing events in the country, i'm pretty sure in the wide realm of major sporting fixtures, Russia has staged some pretty big events.

 

The physical ability of Russia to stage big sporting events is not really in question. It's the financial and logistical arrangements that are much more complicated than if you stage events in an EU country, as anyone who has ever done such a thing knows. For starters, unlike Latvia and Slovenia, everyone travelling to Russia needs a visa, then you have to make 'arrangements' to ensure your equipment isn't indeterminably held up at customs until after the event. And so it goes on...

 

[Hazzman]

Wasn't Togliatti the name of the leader of the Italian Communist Party after World War II?

 

Yes, it was.

 

Look here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togliatti

[iris123]

The physical ability of Russia to stage big sporting events is not really in question. It's the financial and logistical arrangements that are much more complicated than if you stage events in an EU country, as anyone who has ever done such a thing knows. For starters, unlike Latvia and Slovenia, everyone travelling to Russia needs a visa, then you have to make 'arrangements' to ensure your equipment isn't indeterminably held up at customs until after the event. And so it goes on...

Not surprising that the topic of Russia came up quite a bit at the Ice Racing GP in Berlin this weekend.

 

One well known journalist said "never again".He told a story about a group getting stopped by police and the policeman rolled up a bit of paper,told the driver of the car to blow in it and then said he had failed "an alcohol test" and had to pay a fine.

There was also an item in the Bahnsport mag about a group of riders getting stopped at the border and told the vehicle they were driving was against the law as it had 10 seats.They had to spend 9 hours at the border taking out 2 of the seats and "negotiating" so they could travel on.

Another told of the mistake of saying he was a journalist and having most of his equipment confiscated

Travel with a tour group would be the best bet,rather than alone

[f-s-p]

Not surprising that the topic of Russia came up quite a bit at the Ice Racing GP in Berlin this weekend.

One well known journalist said "never again".He told a story about a group getting stopped by police and the policeman rolled up a bit of paper,told the driver of the car to blow in it and then said he had failed "an alcohol test" and had to pay a fine.

There was also an item in the Bahnsport mag about a group of riders getting stopped at the border and told the vehicle they were driving was against the law as it had 10 seats.They had to spend 9 hours at the border taking out 2 of the seats and "negotiating" so they could travel on.

Another told of the mistake of saying he was a journalist and having most of his equipment confiscated. Travel with a tour group would be the best bet,rather than alone

Another view on the subject was from a friend who was watching the ice racing team championhips in Krasnogorsk. I think he had payed for the train and visa before hand and in the end the four days cost him 250 € (including hotel, meals, drinks and tickets). By the sound of his voice I'd say he had the time of his life...

 

I've only been to Russia once, in St Petersburg for a couple of days so that doesn't really count when talking about a GP in Togliatti. I'd say that would be a pretty wild excursion...

[Conkers]

Looking at the Bikes and kevlars of the Togliatti Ice riders, and the fact they are "quite well off" I am not surprised they have applied for a GP.

Iris123 posted a link to the pics of their stadium a few months back, which show they have the money to back them up.

 

 

[spanner47]

Not too sure if russia will ever follow ukraine and drop the visa requirement, would certainly attract more visitors if it did. A friend looking at going to the champions league final in moscow this season reckoned £92 for the visa. If you live in london or edinburgh and can do it by hand, then it's cheaper. But it's certainly something that would put me off.

[21st century heathen]

It's certainly a factor, but I would have thought that as a relatively expensive trip it would be one most people would be prepared to pay. Particularly as a one-off trip (rather than a repeat trip such as Cardiff or Prague). A GP in Russia is something that would interest me. I doubt anything else would ever tempt me to go there. Mostly because there are lots of places I'd like to go to for a variety of reasons, all of which 'out-rank' the reasons for going to Russia. I could do a couple of trips for the cost of going to Russia under any other circumstance than going to see speedway.

[Humphrey Appleby]

A friend looking at going to the champions league final in moscow this season reckoned £92 for the visa.

 

According to the Russian embassy website, it's 'only' 45 pounds for a single entry visa. That's still a significant cost though, quite aside from the pointless bureaucracy from a tourist perspective (recognising that European countries probably reciprocate the favour for Russians).

 

My general rule is not to travel to countries that insist on visas. It's just a racket, and I refuse to jump through hoops to spend my money in another country.

[Hazzman]

According to the Russian embassy website, it's 'only' 45 pounds for a single entry visa. That's still a significant cost though, quite aside from the pointless bureaucracy from a tourist perspective (recognising that European countries probably reciprocate the favour for Russians).

 

My general rule is not to travel to countries that insist on visas. It's just a racket, and I refuse to jump through hoops to spend my money in another country.

 

It was probably the cost of a visa for which the person's proposed place of accomdation charged. I know that when the English footy fans visited Moscow - hotels were happy to do the necessary paperwork if provided with the relevant info.

[Humphrey Appleby]

I know that when the English footy fans visited Moscow - hotels were happy to do the necessary paperwork if provided with the relevant info.

 

It's not a case of being happy to do so - I think they have to do so if they want anyone to stay there. To obtain a visa, you either need a letter of invitation, or some sort of documentation from a tour company or hotel.

 

Total bureaucratic nonsense, and one wonders how far we've come since Soviet times.

 

 

[Ron Butler]

Maybe it would be wiser from the international supporter viewpoint to wait until Russia becomes more welcoming

to the western world before seriously considering adding them to the Grand Prix calendar

[spanner47]

T.P.Tours had a trip planned for russia last season, but due to lack of numbers it was cancelled. I know of 4 people <who usually travel independently> who had hoped to go. If Mr Easter is reading this, could he inform us of why he thinks people weren't interested. Was it the cost? Or didn't folk trust the russian league to gaurantee the fixtures. Or does he think people just didn't fancy russia. Would love to know, as i've never known a T.P.T. trip cancelled before.

[Nikkif]

It's certainly a factor, but I would have thought that as a relatively expensive trip it would be one most people would be prepared to pay. Particularly as a one-off trip (rather than a repeat trip such as Cardiff or Prague). A GP in Russia is something that would interest me. I doubt anything else would ever tempt me to go there. Mostly because there are lots of places I'd like to go to for a variety of reasons, all of which 'out-rank' the reasons for going to Russia. I could do a couple of trips for the cost of going to Russia under any other circumstance than going to see speedway.

We could do Russia and Cardiff together

I had to get a Russian visa very last minute early this year, and I used a company based in London to help me - they were amazing. So helpful, and very very quick!