Track Lengths

[Neil Grantham]

I purchased the excellent 'Homes of British Speedway' by Bamford/Jarvis

 

I have noticed that a significant amount of tracks are/were 440 Yards long

 

Anyone have a theory why this might be?

Neil

[Sotonian]

I purchased the excellent 'Homes of British Speedway' by Bamford/Jarvis

 

I have noticed that a significant amount of tracks are/were 440 Yards long

 

Anyone have a theory why this might be?

Neil

They were around football or rugby pitches.

[britmet]

I have noticed that a significant amount of tracks are/were 440 Yards long

Anyone have a theory why this might be?

Neil

 

Because 4 laps make a mile !

 

.

 

[RobMcCaffery]

I purchased the excellent 'Homes of British Speedway' by Bamford/Jarvis

 

I have noticed that a significant amount of tracks are/were 440 Yards long

 

Anyone have a theory why this might be?

Neil

 

I'd imagine it's where the track was once an athletics track and these tended to be quarter miles. Scunthorpe's Quibell Park was certainly an example of this, although it was still an active running track at the time, much to the Saints' inconvenience.

[britmet]

Athletic tracks:

 

Old Meadowbank, Edinburgh,

 

Birmingham Alexander Stadium, (today's Perry Barr Greyhond & Speedway stadium.)

.

.

[Shadders]

Birmingham Alexander Stadium, (today's Perry Barr Greyhond & Speedway stadium.)

They're not the same place are they?

 

 

Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium stands on the site of the old Crystal Palace dirt track.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I assume that the track at White City Stadium in London was partly laid on top of the athletics track?

Edited April 16, 2010 by Shadders

[RobMcCaffery]

They're not the same place are they?

 

Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium stands on the site of the old Crystal Palace dirt track.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I assume that the track at White City Stadium in London was partly laid on top of the athletics track?

 

Just to correct the Birmingham confusion there have been two Perry Barr greyhound tracks and two Alexander stadia.

 

The current stadium east of the Walsall Road was the old Alexander Stadium and housed athletics and the the Brummies until the big closure mid-season 1957. There was a brief revival later but that was it until the current revival. In the meantime the Birchfield Harriers had long since moved to a new Alexander Stadium further north. After a period of dereliction the old stadium was re-opened for greyhounds and eventually speedway so the current stadium is most definitely the track from the immediate post-war era.

 

In the seventies and eighties the Brummies raced at the original Perry Barr Greyhound Stadium which was sited on the other west side of Walsall Road on the site of the present-day One Stop shopping centre. The story goes that Joe Thurley and John Berry had intended to enquire about the Alexander Stadium but contacted the dog track in error - a mistake that gave some great years in a stadium that was a credit to the sport and sadly-missed.

 

I hope this clarifies.

[britmet]

More than once on a Monday evening in '71/'72 a visiting rider would turn up in the pits at the last minute, admitting that they'd walked the track and been waiting, wondering where the others were. Eventually to realise they were at the wrong track ! They'd gone to the original Alex Stadium on the other side of the road.

 

.

[Red Panda]

Am I correct in thinking though that Wimbledon was the only track to have the start and finish lines in different places......................and that at one time it was defined as the only legal speedway track because of this???????????????

 

Or was it my imagination....................

 

RP

[AndyM]

Am I correct in thinking though that Wimbledon was the only track to have the start and finish lines in different places......................and that at one time it was defined as the only legal speedway track because of this? Or was it my imagination....................

Although i never went to Wimbledon, I do recall the start and finish lines being in different places, though why that would make it the only legal speedway track i can't imagine.

 

Getting back to the question, we now have far too many tiny tracks and not enough of the big, wide open spaces. A couple of tracks the length and width of Hyde Road with multiple riding lines would improve speedway dramatically IMO!

[Red Panda]

Although i never went to Wimbledon, I do recall the start and finish lines being in different places, though why that would make it the only legal speedway track i can't imagine.

 

Getting back to the question, we now have far too many tiny tracks and not enough of the big, wide open spaces. A couple of tracks the length and width of Hyde Road with multiple riding lines would improve speedway dramatically IMO!

 

When I first started going to Poole it still had the footie pitch in the middle and it did make racing fun....................til John Davis took out one of the lamp standards before they allowed us use of the flood lights.....................

 

Hyde Road......................Loved it and went to a good few meetings there.........................always something to talk about after the meeting................

 

RP

 

[Neil Grantham]

Although i never went to Wimbledon, I do recall the start and finish lines being in different places, though why that would make it the only legal speedway track i can't imagine.

 

Getting back to the question, we now have far too many tiny tracks and not enough of the big, wide open spaces. A couple of tracks the length and width of Hyde Road with multiple riding lines would improve speedway dramatically IMO!

Went to Wimbledon a couple of times, and yes, at that time the two lines were separate (according to the book, 23 yards - and accordingly the track length over these years was measured over 4 laps not one - up to 1275 yards at it's longest)

 

Hyde Road was a great racing track. Had a couple of great visits when the fair was still there for the BLRC, with the likes of Olsen, Collins, Carter etc

[RobMcCaffery]

Although i never went to Wimbledon, I do recall the start and finish lines being in different places, though why that would make it the only legal speedway track i can't imagine.

 

It was just a bit of humour, nothing serious. The wording was that "all races should be over four laps". Some wit then claimed that only Plough Lane staged races that were over (more than) four laps so it was the only legal track.

 

A story floated round in the seventies that the extra bit of straight tacked onto the four laps brought the total race distance up to an F.I.M. minimum but it doesn't seem to have ever been backed-up and I suspect was just an attempt to try to find some logic in the situation. The argument earlier in this thread that it was to give riders at the start a decent run into the shortened track's first bend and to give riders a proper race up to the line off the last bend seems most plausible. Of course it could just have been a ploy to fool the opposition into shutting-off early.

 

I can't remember ever seeing such an arrangement elswewhere but a track where the latter approach could have worked was Mildenhall in its early days where I remember many riders still had the back wheel out as they crossed the line on those tiny straights.

 

As for Hyde Road it was quite simply the greatest speedway track that I ever had the pleasure of visiting, thankfully many times. It was a magical place and the sight of Ivan Mauger and Soren Sjosten showing the Leicester Lions home in my first First Division match in 1972 will live with me forever, as will the privilege of watching Chris Morton and Peter Collins turning speedway nearly into an art form in later years. Precious, precious memories.

 

I hope that they can get that new track built and that it can be a worthy successor.

 

Edited April 20, 2010 by rmc

[Ian]

Athletic tracks:

 

Old Meadowbank, Edinburgh,

 

Birmingham Alexander Stadium, (today's Perry Barr Greyhond & Speedway stadium.)

.

.

 

I donćt think Old Meadowbank was ever an athletics track, although Powderhall and New Meadowbank both were. Old Meadowbank was Leith Athleticćs football stadium, I think.

 

 

[cyclone]

I donćt think Old Meadowbank was ever an athletics track, although Powderhall and New Meadowbank both were. Old Meadowbank was Leith Athleticćs football stadium, I think.

 

The athletics track was indeed the adjacent New Meadowbank stadium (nb it was called New Meadowbank in the sixties before the Commonwealth Stadium was developed later) and if you stood on the apex of the third/fourth bend you would see athletes practising whilst the rest of us were enjoying the speedway.