Number Of Speedway Tracks In The World!

[cityrebel]

i must say i'm suprised we have more tracks here than any other country.

[WembleyLion]

i must say i'm suprised we have more tracks here than any other country.

 

... and given that most of our tracks stage considerably more meetings than many tracks in other countries quite a chunk of World Speedway takes place in the UK!

[iris123]

... and given that most of our tracks stage considerably more meetings than many tracks in other countries quite a chunk of World Speedway takes place in the UK!

It shouldn't be forgotten though that lots of tracks stage meetins that won't be reported in the Speedway Star.In Denmark there are many meetings in the Danish 1 + 2 div as well as the "Old Boys" league and a few 80cc and 50cc leagues.This coming week Vojens will stage the 80cc World Championships which will consist of 6 meetings and maybe an international challene on top of that

Edited July 6, 2010 by iris123

[Danish Webmaster]

Acording to the officiel Danish Speedway Calendar, there are meetings at 20 tracks in Denmark in 2010.

 

The tracks are:

 

Brovst Speedway Center

50cc – 80cc – 500cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Elling (Silkeborg)

50cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Fjelsted Speedway Center

50cc – 80cc – 500cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Fladbro (Randers)

80cc – 500cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Gandrup

80cc and 500cc

 

Glumsø

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Grindsted

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Holstebro Speedway Stadion

50cc – 80cc – 500cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Holsted Speedway Center

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Korskro (Esbjerg)

50cc – 80cc – 500cc and 500cc Old Boys

 

Korsløkke (Odense)

80cc

 

Munkebo

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Outrup Speedway Center

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Skærbæk

50cc and 80cc

 

Slangerup Speedway Center

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Uhre (Herning)

50cc – 80cc and 500cc

 

Vejlby (Fredericia)

50cc and 80cc

 

Vissenbjerg/Bred

50cc and 80cc

 

Vojens Speedway Center

80cc and 500cc

 

PARKEN (Copenhagen)

SGP

[manchesterpaul]

I trust that there is no fiddling of the figures going on? By that i mean surely we are not counting Grass Tracks towards the total. It may be worth having a closer look at the German, Dutch and other countries. Also, i personally, would not include a track if it only stages Long Track racing.

 

If, with a little more time, we are able to establish a firmer list, it would only be right to categorize tracks to differentiate between a training track and one that stages bona fide meetings for paying spectators, be that in a league competition or a single annual meeting.

 

On the subject of training tracks, i feel 80cc ones should be kept in a separate section. Possibly, even if, people pay entrance to watch the meetings??? - not too sure on that, leave it to others opinions to establish.

 

Interesting thread and hope (i'll try) people can find a little time to make it accurate.

Edited July 7, 2010 by manchesterpaul

[DutchGrasstrack]

The Dutch and German tracks that are listed in post #1 are all proper speedway tracks. But the most only stage 1 or 2 meetings per year.

Edited July 7, 2010 by DutchGrasstrack

[iris123]

The Dutch and German tracks that are listed in post #1 are all proper speedway tracks. But the most only stage 1 or 2 meetings per year.

Exactly.There is no fiddling going on.Speedway tracks were wanted and speedway tracks are listed.Some enues host Longtrack and Speedway or grasstrack and speedway,but they are held on separate tracks not the same one .Some are totally separate ie the Teterow speedway stadium and the grasstrack or Ludwigslust Longtrack and the speedway track.Others i.e Herxheim have the speedway track inside the Longtrack.So the list as it stands is accurate

[Humphrey Appleby]

Does one count temporary tracks in stadiums, indoor speedway tracks, or multi-purpose 'speedway' tracks such as you get in Australia and New Zealand? Do you count Hackney twice if you visited it as the 'London Stadium'?

 

Anyway, my count would be 53 'pure' speedway tracks in Britain (only counting Hackney once), Poland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia and the USA. Sadly 17 of these are now defunct.

 

To this you can add 3 stadium tracks (Cardiff, Munich and Gothenburg), 2 indoor speedway tracks (London Arena and Manchester G-MEX), 2 ice racing tracks (Assen and Utrecht). I suppose you could also include Telford as well, but that's neither ice racing nor speedway.

 

There's also a handful of longtracks and grasstracks as well, but in the case of grasstracks I'd only count them if they were in a proper stadium. I've been to plenty of grasstrack meetings held in various fields, but I'm not sure you can describe them as tracks as such.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

David's list is only CURRENT Speedway tracks!! So you wouldn't be counting Hackney even once!!

Though, as I sit here but a half-mile away from the magnificent looking new Olympic Stadium positioned in the same part of Stratford-le-Bow as the former Hackney Wick Stadium, who knows we may soon be able to list that as an occasional current British Speedway venue!!

[Humphrey Appleby]

David's list is only CURRENT Speedway tracks!! So you wouldn't be counting Hackney even once!!

 

Yes, but at what point do you consider a track defunct? Some tracks are still physically there (e.g. Oxford), but haven't staged a meeting in a while. Others only irregularly stage speedway, and speedway may not even be the main function of the track.

[iris123]

Yes, but at what point do you consider a track defunct? Some tracks are still physically there (e.g. Oxford), but haven't staged a meeting in a while. Others only irregularly stage speedway, and speedway may not even be the main function of the track.

Just read the first post again......then admit you got it wrong.No way does Hackney or Oxford come into the "active tracks at present" category.Nor does Munich or a lot of the others you were totting up

[Humphrey Appleby]

Nor does Munich or a lot of the others you were totting up

 

Whilst I'd agree Munich and Oxford (and no doubt others) shouldn't be counted as active, there's still the question of what actually constitutes a speedway track, and at what point do you consider a track inactive? There must be a number of tracks in Australia and New Zealand that only infrequently stage speedway, and are of a length that technically constitutes a longtrack rather speedway track if you follow FIM definitions. Conversely, there was even a 'longtrack' somewhere in Germany (don't know if it's still active) that was short enough that it could be considered a speedway track.

[iris123]

Whilst I'd agree Munich and Oxford (and no doubt others) shouldn't be counted as active, there's still the question of what actually constitutes a speedway track, and at what point do you consider a track inactive? There must be a number of tracks in Australia and New Zealand that only infrequently stage speedway, and are of a length that technically constitutes a longtrack rather speedway track if you follow FIM definitions. Conversely, there was even a 'longtrack' somewhere in Germany (don't know if it's still active) that was short enough that it could be considered a speedway track.

Well the question was if a track had held a meeting last year and or was hosting one this year.So anything that falls out of that category shouldn't be considered.And you are trying to complicate matters.I guess you might be thinking of Hechthausen,nr Hamburg.The track is only around 400m but is not considered a speedway track and is not here listed.The reason being is that the line-up and the bikes ridden are not speedway riders/bikes No-one considers Wimbledon to be currently active for speedway meetings,just because stock cars race there.And it wouldn't be considered a currently active speedway track if those shorttrack bikes held a meeting there either

[manchesterpaul]

Being lucky enough to go to quite a few meetings abroad the last couple of years i was wondering last night just how many active tracks there are in the world at present?

So with Speedway Star world preview issue at hand i went through listing the tracks which had at least 1 meeting listed for 2010.

They dont list Aussie,Kiwi tracks, so help on those would be appreciated.

 

I included one offs for GP's and have included Northside,Iwade and Lydd in the Uk.

Please add/amend etc so that we can get to a proper figure for how many tracks there are in the world at present that are in use.

 

Amended now with your info,not added Debrecen or Wittstock as some doubt over those

 

Glad you made clear the list, rightly, is for active tracks. To get over the problem of tracks that haven't staged a meeting recently or are planning to stage one down the line, one should make the list for the CURRENT year. Some of the one-off GP tracks are pretty unlikely to stage a meeting again or at least in the near future, which makes a listing for each specific year the right path to follow. One can always add a couple of extra little lists of tracks planning to hold meetings or having held meetings recently, particularly in respect of one-off tracks.

 

 

 

 

Looks correct, if you use the 1 meeting per year factor.

 

Örebro and Lindesberg don't hold a meeting this year, but hold more of a "practise track" status. Don't know how active they are at the moment.

 

Bollnäs and Östersund are known as ice racing tracks, but speedway is also allowed at these tracks, at least for practise. Not sure about the activity in either Bollnäs and/or Östersund.

 

Järfälla is a stand-alone 80cc track that holds four 80cc meetings this year, among them the Swedish Youth Pairs Championship.

 

The more i think about this topic practice tracks should not be included in the main list. If a rich speedway rider builds his own practice track in his own grounds or a field somewhere you would then have to include that. 80cc i now think should not qualify as the sport itself is for 500cc bikes.

 

Certainly Ice Speedway should have it's own section such as Long Track and Grass Track ie separate sports in their own right.

 

 

i think Jämtarna in Östersund are planning to have some "beginners" and practice session during the summer since

Svemo gave them a "practice track" status.

 

Also David you could (sson) add Visby since they still use the old track or practice i think?.

They have also been granted a permission by the city environmental office

for their new track so they have taken a huge step forward to the building of their new track.

 

Again if one uses qualification as 'current' then any new tracks to have planing permission will pop into the list as and when/if they are up and running.

 

And what about the training mini tracks..? There's a number very active in the UK..: certainly at Scunny, at Iwade and I 'm fairly certain at Arlington...

These are seperate tracks in their own right..

 

Now there WAS some sort of training track facility at Burton-on-Trent until recently. It got almost zero publicity when it was there - and I wonder if it's still there but still largely off the radar..?

 

Once more training tracks need to have their own list?

[manchesterpaul]

Does one count temporary tracks in stadiums, indoor speedway tracks, or multi-purpose 'speedway' tracks such as you get in Australia and New Zealand? Do you count Hackney twice if you visited it as the 'London Stadium'?

 

Anyway, my count would be 53 'pure' speedway tracks in Britain (only counting Hackney once), Poland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia and the USA. Sadly 17 of these are now defunct.

 

To this you can add 3 stadium tracks (Cardiff, Munich and Gothenburg), 2 indoor speedway tracks (London Arena and Manchester G-MEX), 2 ice racing tracks (Assen and Utrecht). I suppose you could also include Telford as well, but that's neither ice racing nor speedway.

 

There's also a handful of longtracks and grasstracks as well, but in the case of grasstracks I'd only count them if they were in a proper stadium. I've been to plenty of grasstrack meetings held in various fields, but I'm not sure you can describe them as tracks as such.

 

 

David's list is only CURRENT Speedway tracks!! So you wouldn't be counting Hackney even once!

 

Got to admit puzzled as to why Hackney is raised as a potential venue to be debated, why not bring in New Cross and West Ham etc? Cardiff would count. Munich would be on a recent years list (and, sadly, unlikely to surface on a future list). Gothenburg i guess may turn up on a future one as well. Maybe the list should be for the current year and those 'definitely' staging a meeting next year.

 

 

Yes, but at what point do you consider a track defunct? Some tracks are still physically there (e.g. Oxford), but haven't staged a meeting in a while. Others only irregularly stage speedway, and speedway may not even be the main function of the track.

 

 

Just read the first post again......then admit you got it wrong.No way does Hackney or Oxford come into the "active tracks at present" category.Nor does Munich or a lot of the others you were totting up

 

Awww! so harsh LOL He may have just temporarily missed the mention of 'current'. Don't worry Humphrey don't go spending your hard earned pennies on counselling you aren't a failure in life because you 'just gone and got it wrong'

 

 

Whilst I'd agree Munich and Oxford (and no doubt others) shouldn't be counted as active, there's still the question of what actually constitutes a speedway track, and at what point do you consider a track inactive? There must be a number of tracks in Australia and New Zealand that only infrequently stage speedway, and are of a length that technically constitutes a longtrack rather speedway track if you follow FIM definitions. Conversely, there was even a 'longtrack' somewhere in Germany (don't know if it's still active) that was short enough that it could be considered a speedway track.

 

Again clearly Oxford and their like are not current tracks. Some of the closed down tracks will appear on lists in future years, most won't.

 

 

Well the question was if a track had held a meeting last year and or was hosting one this year.So anything that falls out of that category shouldn't be considered........No-one considers Wimbledon to be currently active for speedway meetings,just because stock cars race there.And it wouldn't be considered a currently active speedway track if those shorttrack bikes held a meeting there either

 

Agree with the main sentiment of hosting a meeting this year. However, i would value a track that has been granted permission to hold a meeting next year as equally or possibly more valid than one that had a meeting last year but is now closed down or demolished. Clearly Short Track bikes don't come under speedway.

[WembleyLion]

If a rich speedway rider builds his own practice track in his own grounds or a field somewhere you would then have to include that.

 

I once read Jason Crump has done just that - has his own starting gate as well!

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

No-one considers Wimbledon to be currently active for speedway meetings,just because stock cars race there.And it wouldn't be considered a currently active speedway track if those shorttrack bikes held a meeting there either

 

Ah but it would be bloody great if they did though!!!!

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Yes, but at what point do you consider a track defunct? Some tracks are still physically there (e.g. Oxford), but haven't staged a meeting in a while.

 

Hmm, even though clearly Hump has got it wrong (though won't admit it!!! ) it does raise an interesting side-thread...:

Venues which have staged Speedway here in the UK and are still standing and where in theory they could again...

Clearly Oxford and Plough Lane are at the top of such a 'list' but there's also the following I could think of...:

 

Sunderland's Boldon Greyhound Stadium

Hull's The Boulevard is also I believe still going as a dog track,,

 

Odsal - behind Wimbledon, THE most famous stadium still available, though not sure now if a track could that easily be located around the Rugby League pitch..?

Barrow - a similar question about fitting a track in now..

 

Ellesmere Port - this is still there isn't it?

Long Eaton though may recently have bitten the dust..?

 

Though not needed due to the superb site at Normanby, the original home of Scunthorpe Speedway, Quibell Park velodrome's still there I believe..

 

Milton Keynes - again not sure but is the newly revamped dog track not the same venue used as the Knights' second home..?

 

In the Second City there's both Hall Green and the Bordesley Green Wheels Project sites - though obviously we all hope Perry Barr is kept.

 

One here for our Malc: definitely an original venue: Great Yarmouth dog track - stages motor sport in the form of Stocks too...

Also Stock Car venues, Brafield and Aldershot have both previously staged Speedway haven't they?

Not sure if the ill-fated Skegness is still potentially available too (Cleethorpes probably a better bet up there - though that would be a bona fide new venue..)

 

Carmarthen - of course! Nothing happened at the Showground to the old and much missed home of the Dragons...

 

Portsmouth..? The dog track got sold..: for redevelopment I suppose..?

Walthamstow also got sold for housing but that's yet to happen...!! The seats from the 'Stow are at a Speedway operation at least: Uncle Len's latest cuckoo-act to spruce up Rye House!!!

 

I'm sure speedyguy would be on hand to point out that the sites of tracks at California and Hastings are still not built on.. True too I believe of Nelson in Lancs..? Though to include those three is pushing it a little...!

 

Another fav of our trusty SLP scribe is Crystal Palace... The soon to be defunct National Athletics Stadium sits on the same footprint as the former Speedway track and FA Cup venue.

And co-incidetally the same can, of course, be said of the new Wembley..!!

 

Then there's Hove dog track - that's still functioning and I think once staged Speedway..?

 

Now Scotlnd's always been rich pickings for these sorts of venues. I'm deffo no expert at all on what's left up there but maybe some of the following..?:

Albion Rovers' ground, once home of the Coatbridge Tigers.

Shawfield - is that still a dog track..?

Blantyre..? One or both venues used by Glasgow..?

St. Mirren's Love St. was home to Paisley...: I think this might be history now though.

Cowdenbeath - though is still, I think, staging Stock Cars..?

Edinburgh's famous Meadowbank...? Like CP, an Athletics venue now...

 

There may well be others. And yes I KNOW this isn't what david asked!!!

[manchesterpaul]

......And yes I KNOW this isn't what david asked!!!

 

Nooooooo! you do know now that we are going to have to wade through myriad posts in order to find ones relating to the topic's title as this thread veers into a different subject matter

 

Your comments would have made an interesting thread in it's own right.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Nooooooo! you do know now that we are going to have to wade through myriad posts in order to find ones relating to the topic's title as this thread veers into a different subject matter

 

Your comments would have made an interesting thread in it's own right.

 

Fair point!!

 

Have copy & pasted into said new thread which is - coz no International perspective - in Speedway General!!!

 

Here indeed:

 

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=55596&pid=1755815&st=0entry1755815

Edited July 7, 2010 by Parsloes 1928 nearly